Want my job? You can have it. For those ambitious types, you can hire yourself as your own real estate agent.

As of last fall, the Competition Bureau removed the Canadian Real Estate Association’s ability to enforce anti-competition laws regarding their Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This ruling has made it possible for all real estate agents, not just members of the CREA and full-service realtors, to list properties on MLS, Canada-wide, for a fee.

What this also means for homeowners planning to sell is that you can hire a “discount” realtor simply to list their property, and then proceed to do the rest of the real estate work yourself.

So with a flat fee, you can list your home. You won’t be required to hire a real estate agent to be listed, which was part of the process before last October’s decision.

Now, if an owner pays the fee to be posted on MLS, he or she will be left with all of the leg work a real estate agent would typically take care of: open houses, signage, showings, staging, photography, legal hassles, advertising beyond the listing. It’s quite the load of work, when you’re already dealing with the stress of moving and buying a new home.

However, you can stand to save money here – quite a bit for the ambitious ones – if all you want is the nation-wide exposure of an MLS listing. You will save some money on real estate fees, making up for it in the work they put into selling the home. There are a number of services and resources, often offered by discount realtors, that can guide you in the right direction.

And hey, you might even love it, like I do, and decide to make a career change.

Another benefit to this change in the real estate laws is that the increase in competition will bring the costs of hiring a real estate agent down as discount options and cost-effective programs become available.

But the option may not appeal to you.

Although a listing is a very valuable tactic and is said to be a factor in most Canadian home sales, trust me when I tell you that selling a home usually requires a little more marketing.

Also, when a home is privately sold, the buyer expects the price to be more negotiable considering the money the seller is saving not having to pay commissions and other fees. So the intention to save money could potentially backfire.

You may want to consider the emotional attachment you have to your home before you attempt to do much of the marketing and negotiating yourself. It often helps to have an intermediary who can take an objective look at the situation. You may value your home at a price that reflects the time and memories spent there rather than the home itself and the current real estate market. A price that’s too high for the value won’t get you many bites on your listing.

An agent can also offer an informed approach, gained after years of watching market trends and tracking neighbourhood prices, to selling your home. Without this insider knowledge, you may find yourself flying blind.

I love my job. I love interacting with sellers and buyers, promoting a sale, drumming up showings. I thrive off of it.  All of those extra services and background work is what I do best, and the same goes for many other professional real estate agents I know.

So if the thought of doing it all yourself makes you sweat, there is always the traditional route of hiring a real estate agent to do your selling, and all the nitty gritty details that go with it, for you – worry-free.