Here's my situation:

I own a house in Metro Detroit. I have moved to the great state of Tejas, and I intend to live the rest of my life south of Amarillo, West of Shreveport, LS, East of Clovis, NM and north of the Rio Grande.

I owe $147,000 and change on the joint in MI. The market is in near shambles. I've found an agent that will take 5% to list the joint. From what she is telling me (and others as well) I have to be prepared to take a couple grand to closing to dump the place. If I list at $160,000 and sell at $158,000 then when you figure in comission I'll about break even. Since I'm in a position where I have to either sell at a loss or break even, I was thing about trying my luck with a real estate broker.

My logic is this: If he buys my house at what I owe, then he can flip it at $158,000 or even $156,000 (priced VERY competitivly for that market) and walk away with 8 to 10 Grand, and I'm out from under.

What do y'all think? Am I high on drugs?

the contract is everything.  if you breakeven in both cases-dump it.  the broker has to pay the buyers' agent their half, so don't appear too desperate.

The broker doesn't have to pay anybody if he keeps it as a pocket listing (that's what I'd do).  I'm a real estate broker and land developer.  I buy homes from folks all the time.  Its obvious that I wouldn't do so if it wern't beneficial to me.  Usually I can help someone get out of a house that may otherwise loose it to the bank, so their happy.  I get it at a decent deal that I can then fix what's needed and sell it to a buyer myself, having to pay no comission to anyone.  Usually nets me around 15-20k for my trouble.
If you have any RE questions, IM me and I"ll do what I can.