'Look Ma, no agent!'; Hot real estate market has sellers flying solo.(A SECTION)

Byline: MICHAEL POLLICK michael.pollick@heraldtribune.com

Darren Adams is the kind of seller who would give real estate agents the heebie-jeebies, if they weren't too busy to notice.

He plans to unload a $380,000 Port Charlotte waterfront house without any help from them.

Using Adams' uncle's money and Adams' legwork, Adams Properties LLC has plunked down cash for two homes, fixed up both, and is attempting to sell them simultaneously -- all on its own.

Real estate agents would call Adams a FSBO (pronounced fiz-bo), a slang acronym for the "For Sale By Owner" sign he puts in the front yard.

"The houses we buy, they sell themselves," Adams said. "We don't need a fast-talking Realtor."

In Southwest Florida's red-hot spring 2005 real estate market, the average price of an existing single-family home is a monstrous 30 percent higher than a year ago.

While no hard statistics are available on local FSBOs, it is clear that the frothy market and the stories of bidding wars are persuading more and more people to try selling on their own, or at least not paying a …