Selling without a real estate agent is legal, common, and can save you tens of thousands in commission. Here is exactly how it works in Christchurch — the steps, the paperwork, the costs you avoid, and where it gets hard.
Start with your rating valuation on the Christchurch City Council property search, then sanity-check it against recent sales on homes.co.nz or OneRoof for your street. Rating values are set in bulk and can be years out of date, so treat them as a starting point, not a price. If the house needs work, price the condition it is in today — not what it would fetch after a renovation you are not going to do.
You will want the record of title (available from Land Information New Zealand), the LIM report from the council, any code compliance certificates for building work, and — in Canterbury — your EQC or private insurer settlement documents if the property has an earthquake claim history. Buyers ask for all of this. Having it ready removes weeks of back and forth.
In New Zealand you cannot transfer a property title without one. A private sale is perfectly legal, but the sale and purchase agreement and the settlement itself still go through a lawyer. Call one before you take an offer, not after.
Private sellers usually list on Trade Me Property, put a sign up and run the open homes themselves. That works, but it is your weekends, your phone number, and your negotiation. The alternative is skipping the market entirely and selling directly to a buyer who already wants the property as-is.
Most offers arrive conditional on finance, a builder's report, a LIM, or the buyer selling their own house. Every condition is a date the deal can fall over. Fewer conditions means a more certain sale, even at a slightly lower headline number.
Your lawyer handles the transfer, pays off any mortgage, and the balance lands in your account on settlement day. You hand over the keys. That is the whole thing.
These are typical Christchurch figures on a mid-range home. Your numbers will differ, but the shape of it rarely does.
| Cost | Through an agent | Selling to Eazy Sell |
|---|---|---|
| Agent commission | $15,000 – $25,000+ | $0 |
| Marketing and photography | $4,000 – $7,000 | $0 |
| Staging and styling | $2,000 – $5,000 | $0 |
| Pre-sale cleaning and repairs | Varies | $0 |
| Legal fees | $1,200 – $2,500 | We pay up to $2,000 |
The saving is real, but so is the work. You are the one fielding calls, running open homes, and reading offers written by someone else's agent. Buyers on the open market also expect a tidy, presented, move-in-ready house — which means repairs, cleaning and styling before anyone walks through the door.
And there is no guaranteed timeline. A conditional offer can sit for weeks and still fall over on finance, leaving you back at the start while the rates and mortgage keep ticking.
If that trade-off does not suit — because the house needs work, because it is an inherited property, or because you simply want certainty on a date — selling directly is the other way to avoid commission.
We buy Canterbury houses as-is. No commission, no marketing spend, no staging, no open homes, and we pay up to $2,000 of your legal fees. You choose the settlement date, and you do not clean, repair or tidy a thing.
It is not for everyone — if your house is presentable and you have time to run a full campaign, the open market may well get you more. But if you want a firm number and a fixed date, tell us about the property and we will come back to you.
Tell us about your property and we will come back to you. Prefer to talk? Call 027 450 8838.