not sure how things work in your jurisdiction, but to sell in our area you basically need to work with an agent to get into the market of home buyers; FSBO just doesn't work. The minute I'm on the hook to pay THAT level of commission, I'm not doing anything in this area; there's so little a real estate agent can do they're definitely going to be responsible for marketing, images, staging etc. From my experience selling anything to real estate agents is a uphill battle. They are understandably extremely cheap. This looks interesting but I think you need to focus on defining your potential market a little more.

Exactly. I bought and sold in July. We were in a rush to sell as we had made a firm offer and were facing an unknown market with lockdown just beginning to ease. My realtor staged the condo, built a slick site under their domain with a 3d (Cardboard-compatible) virtual tour and detailed floorplan, put it out on social media, bought ads, printed glossy brochures to leave in the front hallway, and of course put it out on the MLS central listing service. We sold for more than identical pre-Covid listings, enough above what we'd have taken to cover both Agents' fees. FSBO would have been a false economy for us.

When I've browsed FSBO property listings they are usually overpriced and/or in disrepair, where the seller has taken a similar level of care with their property maintenance as they are taking with the act of listing it.

I think use of Realtors is an example of a Nash equilibrium. Other buyers and sellers use them, so you have too, even though it would be optimal for buyers and sellers for none of us to use them. When I look back at the five properties transactions I've done, it feels like I've paid a lot to Realtors, but in each transaction using a Realtor was the optimal choice.

Maybe. My neighbor sold his house in under a week last month FSBO. He's a handy contractor that put in a lot to make the home look nice though.