Selling your own home is legal, it is more common than most sellers think, and on a R2 million property it keeps around R140 000 in your pocket instead of an agent's.
It also means the work is yours: the price, the photographs, the viewings, the negotiation. This page sets out what that actually involves, what it costs, and where homely does the parts you should not have to do on your own.
How selling privately works with homely
1. List your property for free
Create your listing on homely with your photographs, your description and your asking price. Anywhere in South Africa, no listing fee, and no commission at the end of it. You can change the price or the detail whenever you want.
2. Price it on evidence, not hope
Use your estimated valuation and recent sold prices nearby as your starting point, then use the calculators to see what you would actually walk away with after bond settlement and costs.
3. Get your documents ready before you need them
Compliance certificates, your title deed details and your rates account hold up more sales than price ever does. Starting them while you are still marketing saves you weeks later.
4. Run your own viewings and take offers directly
You choose the viewing times and you deal with buyers yourself, which means the person answering questions about the geyser is the person who replaced it. The enquiries, the viewings and the offers stay together on homely, so you always know where a given buyer got to.
5. Hand over to a conveyancer for transfer
Once you accept an offer, a conveyancing attorney registers the transfer at the Deeds Office. This part is the same whether you sold privately or through an agent.
What you save, and what you still pay
Estate agent commission in South Africa is usually between 5% and 7.5% of the selling price, plus VAT, and it is negotiable rather than fixed by law. On a R2 million home at 7% that is R140 000, before VAT.
Selling privately removes that commission. It does not remove the rest. You still pay for compliance certificates, bond cancellation and clearance figures, and those costs are the same whichever route you take. Knowing the real number before you start is the difference between a saving and a surprise.
For the full breakdown, read what it costs to sell a house privately in South Africa.
Is it legal to sell your house without an estate agent?
Yes. There is no law requiring a South African homeowner to use an estate agent to sell their own property. The Property Practitioners Act, which replaced the Estate Agency Affairs Act, regulates people who trade in property on behalf of other people. Selling your own home is not that.
What you cannot do yourself is the transfer. Only a conveyancing attorney can register a property transfer at the Deeds Office, and you would be using one through an agent too. The conveyancer is also the person holding the deposit in trust, which protects both sides.
For what the Act changed and who it covers, read the Property Practitioners Act explained.
What you need to sell
Most private sales do not fall apart on price. They stall because a certificate was ordered three weeks too late. Get these moving early: an electrical certificate of compliance, a gas certificate if you have a gas installation, an electric fence certificate if you have one, and a beetle certificate if you are in the Western Cape or KwaZulu-Natal with timber in the roof.
You will also need your title deed details, your rates and levy accounts up to date, and your identity documents. If there is a bond on the property, give your bank its 90 days' notice as soon as you decide to sell. Skipping that notice can cost you roughly a quarter's interest for nothing.
The full checklist is in the documents you need to sell a house in South Africa.
What you take on when you sell privately
The commission saving is real, and so is the work behind it. You are the one writing the listing, taking or arranging the photographs, answering the messages that come in at nine on a Sunday evening, and standing in your own lounge explaining the damp patch. Sellers who enjoy that tend to do well. Sellers who want to hand the whole thing over and hear about it in six weeks usually do not.
Two parts catch people out. The first is negotiation: it is harder to hear a low offer on your own home than on someone else's, and the discipline is to answer with your numbers rather than your feelings. Knowing your walk away price before the first offer arrives makes that much easier. The second is qualifying buyers. Before you take your home off the market for someone, ask whether they have a bond pre approval or proof of funds, because an accepted offer from a buyer who cannot raise the money costs you weeks.
None of this needs an agent's licence. It needs preparation, and a willingness to be the one who answers the phone.
Running your sale through homely
homely works anywhere in South Africa. Whether you are in Polokwane, Gqeberha or the middle of the Karoo, you list on the same platform, for free, and run the same process.
The point of doing it here rather than on a spreadsheet and a phone is that the sale stays in one place. Your listing, the enquiries it brings in, the viewings you schedule and the offers you receive all sit together, so you are never reconstructing who asked what from a week of messages. Your estimated valuation and the calculators sit alongside them, which means you can answer an offer against your own numbers in the moment rather than working it out afterwards.
That is the whole design. Selling privately asks you to be organised, so homely does the organising and leaves you the decisions.
Selling in the Cape? See how selling privately works in Cape Town.
Common questions about selling privately
Is it legal to sell my house without an estate agent in South Africa?
Yes. No South African law requires you to use an estate agent to sell your own property. The Property Practitioners Act regulates people who sell property on behalf of others, so it applies to agents rather than to an owner selling their own home. The parts you cannot do yourself are the conveyancing and the registration of transfer, which a conveyancing attorney handles either way.
Do I need a conveyancer if I sell privately?
Yes, and you would need one through an agent too. Only a conveyancing attorney can register the transfer at the Deeds Office. The seller normally nominates the conveyancer, and the buyer pays the transfer costs. Selling privately does not change this part of the process at all.
How much does it cost to sell a house privately?
You still pay for compliance certificates, bond cancellation and rates clearance. Budget roughly R1 500 to R4 000 for an electrical certificate of compliance, R800 to R2 000 for a gas certificate if you have gas, and R4 000 to R8 000 in bond cancellation attorney fees. What you do not pay is the agent's commission. Listing on homely is free.
How do I price my property without an agent?
Start with recent sold prices on comparable homes in your suburb rather than asking prices, which tell you what sellers hoped for rather than what buyers paid. homely gives you an estimated valuation as a starting point, and our calculators show what you would walk away with at different prices. An overpriced home sits, and a home that sits attracts lower offers.
How do viewings work when I sell privately?
You schedule them and you run them, which means you decide which days suit you and you answer questions about the home from someone who has actually lived in it. Ask for a name and a contact number before confirming a viewing, and do not conduct viewings alone.
How long does a private sale take?
The sale itself depends on your price and your market. Once an offer is accepted, transfer in South Africa typically takes eight to twelve weeks, driven by the bond approval, the compliance certificates, the rates clearance and the Deeds Office. Selling privately does not make transfer slower; being slow to get your documents together does.
What happens if a buyer brings their own agent?
That is the buyer's arrangement, and you are under no obligation to pay a commission you did not agree to. Put it in writing before you accept the offer so there is no argument later about who owes what.
Can I switch to an agent later if the private sale does not work?
Yes. Selling privately does not lock you into anything, and nothing stops you listing with an agent afterwards. Just make sure you have not signed a sole mandate with anyone in the meantime.