Short answer: no. Ohio does not require you to hire a licensed agent to sell a house you own. You can sell it yourself, and you can sell it directly to a buyer.
The longer answer is what that commission actually buys, what you pick up when you skip it, and which of the three routes fits a house in Toledo, Maumee, Perrysburg or Sylvania.
What the commission costs here
A February 2026 survey of Ohio agents put the state average at 5.90%, a little above the national 5.70%. On a Toledo house at a median around $135,000, that is roughly $8,000 off the top, before anything else is deducted.
The 2024 NAR settlement changed how the two sides are quoted. The seller side and the buyer side are now negotiated separately, and a seller is not obligated to cover the buyer agent. That made the number more negotiable than it used to be. It did not make it small.
The three routes
List with an agent
You get MLS exposure, which is still the widest audience a house can reach, plus someone handling showings, offers and paperwork. You pay for it in commission and in time: the house has to be presentable, you live around showings, and the buyer will almost certainly be financed.
Financing is the part sellers underestimate. A mortgage brings an appraisal and an inspection, and either one can reopen the price after you thought it was settled.
Sell it yourself
No listing commission. You handle pricing, marketing, showings, negotiation and coordination with the title company. If the buyer brings an agent, you are usually still negotiating over that side of the fee.
It works best when you already have a buyer in hand, a neighbor, a tenant, a relative, and what you really need is the transaction handled.
Sell direct to a buyer
No listing, no showings, no commission on either side, because there is no agent on either side. The trade is price: a direct cash offer is below full retail, and it should be. What you buy back is certainty and a date.
Where the money goes on a listed sale
- Commission, roughly 5 to 6% depending on what you negotiate
- County conveyance fee, see below
- Title work and closing fees, split by local custom and then by whatever the contract says
- Prorated property taxes through the closing date
- Repair credits after the buyer inspection, which is where a surprising amount of money leaves
- Holding costs, every month of taxes, insurance, utilities and mortgage while it sits
The conveyance fee, and a local detail worth knowing
Ohio counties charge a conveyance fee when the deed transfers, and the rate is not the same everywhere:
- Lucas County (Toledo, Maumee, Sylvania): $4.00 per $1,000 of sale price, plus $0.50 per parcel
- Wood County (Perrysburg, Rossford): $3.00 per $1,000, plus $0.50 per parcel
On a $150,000 house that is $600 in Toledo and $450 in Perrysburg. Small money next to the commission, but it is exactly the kind of thing a national buyer gets wrong, because it assumes Perrysburg is in Lucas County. It is not.
How we fit
We buy in Toledo, Maumee, Perrysburg and Sylvania, and nowhere else. Not a national iBuyer, not a call center in another state. That radius is the entire business.
- No agent commission. Zero. There is no agent on either side of the deal
- Any condition. No repairs, no cleaning, no painting, no staging. You do not fix a thing
- No showings, no open houses, no strangers walking through the kitchen
- Closing in 7 to 14 days, or later if you need the time. You pick the date
- Closing costs handled case by case and written into the offer before you sign
We also buy with tenants still in place and with back taxes owed, which is where most buyers stop.
The comparison that actually matters
Not the sale price. The net, and the date. A listed sale at a higher number, minus commission, minus repair credits, minus four more months of carrying the house, often lands closer to a direct offer than sellers expect. Sometimes it is still higher, and when it is, we say so.
If you want that number to compare against, tell us about the property. Address and phone, that is the whole first step. No obligation.
General information, not legal or financial advice. Commission rates are negotiable; county fees current as of August 2026.