Inside thousands of Australian houses, a revolution is taking place in the form of do-it-yourself real estate sites.

It's a fairly new concept here, taking up just 10 per cent of the real estate market, but in the united States, the sites now claim 25 per cent of all sales. In Canada, DIY sites account for nearly half of all sales.

Peter Butterss, Chief Executive of Buy My Place, said, "[People] are saving on commission and marketing dollars, which on a average home is up to $15,000. They are staying in control and they know what is happening. The other benefit is the homes that are selling on Buy My Place are selling on average within 15 days, so the speed to which the selling can take place is much faster."

But agents believe home owners will lose out.

Real estate heavyweight Tim Fletcher, said, "I think that people who do this, in most instances will lose much more, much much more than the fee they're trying to save."

But Peter Butterss hopes other agents can learn from the websites. "Nothing remains the same forever and the cream always rises, so if you look at our market it's in that $250,000 to $270,000 bracket. I think we add a great deal of value to those sellers and buyers. In some markets where people are not as keen to save money they will probably continue to use good agents, and of course there are good agents."

Rick Skrezelinski worked as a real estate agent for years, but opted for DIY, when it came to selling his 80 year old father's house.

"We discussed it with dad and we went to plenty of auctions ourselves, and we just decided, well, rather than paying someone else a hefty commission, that we could save and so here we are today. We've sold our house and it's all good."

It could cost from $250 to sell your home the DIY way.

Rick explained, "I wrote my own blurb, took my own pictures, sent it in, and for a nominal fee, extraordinarily low fee, they posted the internet ad for me. They also arranged the board. It was delivered, I could have my own numbers on the board, my own contact numbers, it was just too easy."

However, agent Tim Fletcher warns home owners about going it alone,

"I've been in the business for 40 odd years and I genuinely believe the agent who is doing the job properly... negotiates well, markets the property well, has a very good data base and in essence gets every buyer in the marketplace to that property."