All For Sale by Owner Sites Reviewed, and What You Should Know Before You Sell

Selling your own home often called for sale by owner (FSBO) or selling privately can be appealing if you’re watching costs and want full control. The idea is simple, you handle the marketing, inspections, negotiations, and paperwork yourself, and you pocket the agent’s commission you would otherwise pay.

In practice, it’s a bigger job than it sounds, and the result you get depends on how well you manage each step from pricing and legal documents to advertising and buyer follow-up. This guide walks you through how private selling works in Australia today, which for sale by owner sites actually help, and the legal must-haves by state and territory so you avoid nasty surprises later. You’ll also see where private sales struggle in the real world especially exposure on the major portals and what a good agent still brings to the table in a hotly competitive market.

Key Takeaways

• FSBO is legal but paperwork-heavy: Rules differ by state (e.g., NSW contract before advertising, VIC Section 32, SA Form 1, ACT EER, QLD seller disclosure from 1 Aug 2025), so line up a conveyancer early to avoid delays or contract issues.
• You can’t list directly on realestate.com.au: Private sellers must use a licensed FSBO site; confirm which portals and what ad tier (Standard/Highlight/Premiere) you’re actually getting.
• Savings vs. sale price trade-off: You may save on commission, but weaker exposure and DIY negotiations can reduce your final price, budget for quality photos, featured ads and fast buyer follow-up.
• Choose FSBO providers by visibility and support: Compare portal coverage, upgrade costs, metro/regional pricing, photo limits and real human help, cheap packages can be a false economy if your ad isn’t seen.
• Have a pivot plan: Set clear enquiry targets for the first 2–3 weeks; if interest is slow, switch to a top local agent who can manufacture competition and protect your price.

Next step: Compare top local agents. Request three free appraisals and line up their fees, marketing plan, days on market, recent suburb results, and negotiation approach, then choose the one who can create the strongest buyer competition.

What “For Sale by Owner” Really Means (and What It Doesn’t)

When you sell without an agent, you become the project manager of your own campaign. That means you’ll set the price, book a photographer, write the ad, upload the listing, run open homes, screen buyers, negotiate offers, and steer contracts to settlement. You’ll also be responsible for getting the legal documents right before you advertise in some states, and providing mandatory disclosures in others. The big catch most sellers don’t realise is portal access: you can’t list directly on realestate.com.au as a private individual, so you’ll need an approved FSBO service (a licensed intermediary) to place your ad there on your behalf, and those services charge their own fees. Domain access varies by package and provider, and pricing is often higher for private sellers than it is for agencies on subscription deals—so factor this into your budget from the start.

The Legal Checklist You Must Get Right (By State & Territory)

The rules below are not “nice to have”, they’re legal requirements that can affect your ability to advertise, your negotiations, and even whether a buyer can walk away. If you’re selling privately, line these up early with a licensed conveyancer or solicitor.

• New South Wales (NSW): Contract before advertising
  In NSW, you must have a Contract for Sale prepared before you advertise the property for sale. That contract includes the prescribed documents and must be available to prospective buyers when you begin marketing. This applies whether you use an agent or go private.

• Victoria (VIC): Section 32 (Vendor Statement)
  You must provide a Section 32 Vendor Statement disclosing key information (title details, planning, services, owners corporation matters, and more) before the buyer signs a contract. Getting this wrong can unravel a sale, so use a conveyancer who knows the detail. 

• Queensland (QLD): New mandatory Seller Disclosure (from 1 Aug 2025)
  QLD’s Property Law Act 2023 introduced a mandatory seller disclosure scheme starting 1 August 2025. Private sellers must give buyers a standard disclosure statement and documents before contract. There are limited exceptions, but assume it applies to typical residential sales. 

• Western Australia (WA): No general vendor statement, but beware disclosure duties
  WA does not have a universal vendor statement like VIC’s Section 32. However, agents (and sellers) must not engage in misleading conduct, and buyers often make offers via the Offer and Acceptance form. If you’re selling privately, take care with what you say in ads and at opens, silence on a material issue can still be misleading. 

• South Australia (SA): Form 1 (vendor disclosure)
  SA requires a Form 1 disclosure to be served on the purchaser. Agents often prepare it, but in a private sale you’ll organise it with your conveyancer and you’re responsible for accuracy and timing.

• Australian Capital Territory (ACT): Energy Efficiency Rating (EER)
  ACT requires an EER assessment for residential sales, an accredited assessor provides a rating that must be disclosed in advertising and to buyers. It’s been mandatory for decades, so plan and budget for it early.

• Tasmania (TAS): Contract updates with vendor disclosure options
  TAS has updated its standard form contract to include vendor disclosure and cooling-off options, strengthening clarity for both parties. Check with your conveyancer which options suit your sale and how to present them correctly. 

• Northern Territory (NT): Approved Contract of Sale
  In the NT, you must use an approved Contract of Sale of Land form. The NT Government strongly recommends using a licensed conveyancer or solicitor; DIY conveyancing is possible, but risky for first-timers

Still on the fence? Have a look at some reasons why using a real estate agent could really help you out.

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How to sell your home without an agent

If you want to sell your property without an agent it is worthwhile to seek assistance from one of several available “for sale by owner” websites. They can assist in preparing advertising and ensuring your property is listed on the main real estate websites  (primarily realestate.com.au and Domain).  

Below is a list of some of the websites helping owners in Australia to sell their properties without an agent:

• Real Private
• For Sale By Owner
• buyMyplace
• No Agent Property
• Agent In A Box
• Real Estate Your Way
• Sell My Property Now
• For Sale For Lease
• Private Property List
• Cubbi – no longer offering selling packages
• Your Hot Property
• Property Now

For a flat fee or ongoing monthly rate, many of these websites will include extras like for sale signs, monthly reports, brochures and advice from property experts.

Some real estate websites, like realestate.com.au, don’t allow individuals to list properties. To get around this, for sale by owner websites generally secure a real estate licence. Part of their value comes from being able to list properties on realestate.com.au and others as an ‘agency,’ even though they are not technically agents and do not charge agent fees.

We analyse these websites in more detail throughout the article. Scroll to the end for an overview of each.

How big is Australia’s for sale by owner market?

You might think “why don’t more people sell their home themselves and save the agent commission?” It’s a valid thought. But the reality is that doing it well takes time, expertise, exposure and those are exactly the reasons why the majority of sellers still use a real estate agent.

Here’s what the data and industry commentary tell us:

• Across Australia, hundreds of thousands of homes sell each year. While we don’t have a government-released figure that shows “exactly how many were sold by the owner without an agent,” industry reviewers say the FSBO segment makes up only a very small fraction of total sales. One longstanding review noted FSBO listings accounted for “around one per cent of all properties sold in Australia”.
• Some FSBO websites say “the method is becoming more popular” and point out that private sellers can achieve good outcomes when done correctly. For example, a guide for NSW private sellers notes that “homes sold by owners in NSW spend about the same amount of time on the market as those sold through agents”.
• On the flip side, FSBO providers themselves recognise the broader market context: for example, one site says “DIY house sales are not a new trend … but we estimate around 25% of all property sales in European countries are FSBO. Australia is still well behind.” This means Australia’s FSBO market is much smaller than some overseas markets.
• One of the practical barriers is exposure: You cannot list directly on the major portal REA Group’s realestate.com.au as a private individual, so FSBO sellers must use a licensed intermediary or platform. That adds complexity and cost which reduces appeal for many home­sellers.

What this means in everyday terms for you as a first-time seller:

• If you choose to sell privately, you’re stepping into a small niche of the market, most other sellers will be using agents. That means you may be going against the grain and need to work harder on exposure and negotiation.
• It also means your choice of marketing and listing platform will matter more than you might expect. Because you’re not operating with the same database, buyer networks or listing volume an agent might have, your listing has to work harder to reach the right buyer.
• On the positive side: for sellers who are confident, have a property in good condition, in a fairly standard suburb, and willing to invest time, FSBO can work and save you thousands. But the “easy alternative” idea doesn’t always hold, selling privately still involves the full process of pricing, marketing, negotiation and paperwork that many sellers underestimate.

We were surprised to discover that most for sale by owner websites don’t have the numbers to support a large network of interested buyers. Half had sold fewer than 200 properties in the past 12 months.

Private Property List sold just eight properties. Cubbi sold 55, and Real Estate Your Way sold 70.

For Sale By Owner and buyMyplace made the most sales in the past year, with 922 and 491 property sales respectively. But that’s still significantly less than what the larger national real estate agencies are selling.

In addition to poor sales data, we also discovered these websites don’t have many properties listed. Private Property List, Cubbi and Your Hot Property each had fewer than 100 properties listed. (Note: We collected our data in mid-November 2015, so these figures may have changed.)

Our findings show that for sale by owner websites sold an extra 300 properties in the last 12 months compared to the 12 months before. That growth is nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of homes sold every year by agents.

The graph below shows which for sale by owner websites have grown the most in the past 12 months.

However, some parts of this graph are misleading.

While Cubbi and Agent in a Box experienced the highest growth (400% and 200% respectively), Cubbi increased its number of properties sold from 10 to 55.

Agent in a Box’s performance was slightly more noteworthy, selling 219 properties in the past 12 months compared to 75 in the 12 months prior.

For Sale By Owner sold the most properties overall, with 922 in 14-15 and 944 in 13-14. But it contracted by 2 per cent this year.

How Australia’s for sale by owner market compares to the UK’s

You might think Australia’s for sale by owner market just needs time to mature. Sure, it’s sleepy now, but there must be overseas markets where for sale by owner is thriving?

To answer this question, we examined for sale by owner data from the United Kingdom. The UK’s property market is more mature than ours, and local property analysts often use UK data to predict Australian trends.

We found that for sale by owner has similar market penetration in the UK as in Australia. Of the 1.2 million properties sold in the UK every year, just 10,000 are sold by owners who don’t use agents. That’s less than one percent of all property sales.

The biggest change to the UK industry most recently is the emergence of a hybrid real estate model called Purplebricks. It operates both online and offline using professional agents and charges one-tenth of traditional real estate property fees. Purplebricks has managed to capture a 62% share of the online industry and is now the third largest real estate agent in the UK in just under two years. At the moment they cover around 5% of the entire real estate market with experts predicting coverage of at least 50% by 2020. They plan to open offices in Australia before the end of 2016.

The verdict

The importance of a real estate agent as an intermediary is reflected in the numbers, both in Australia and in the UK. Excluding off market transfers, agents generally sell between 90% and 95% of all residential properties in Australia – and this probably won’t change any time soon.

While Australia has plenty of for sale by owner websites, most are too small to be of real significance. However, the emergence of the hybrid real estate model in Australia may shake things up a little in all areas.

If you have extensive real estate experience and don’t need the extra services of an agent, for sale by owner might be for you. For the rest, it can’t hurt to contact a couple of agents in addition to exploring for sale by owner options.

How to find an agent worth their commission cheque

You might hate paying agent fees. But that doesn’t mean it’s always a good idea to sell your home yourself. As we mentioned earlier, working without an agent means you could end up selling your home for a lot less.

Instead, you should find a great agent whose value exceeds their commission cheque. They should be committed to getting you the best sale price possible.

We’ve offered tips for how to find a good agent in our guide to preparing your home for sale. At a minimum, you should meet with an agent in person and find out about:

• Their experience
• Current listings
• Number of homes sold last year
• Average time it takes them to sell a home
• The difference between asking and sales prices of homes they’ve sold
• How they would market your property
• References

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A quick look at Australia’s for sale by owner market

If you plan on selling your home yourself, there are plenty of websites to help make your job easier. All 12 websites include options to list on realestate.com.au. If you’d like to advertise on Domain, be prepared to pay more.

1. Real Private

Real Private “aims to provide our clients with all the benefits of a traditional full service agency. The internet has become virtually the only property search method used by potential buyers and we believe that with some assistance from the owner, the cost for selling your home can be reduced by 95%.” They say that they are able to be cheaper than all of their competitors by providing everything a traditional real estate does other than conducting inspections.

It offers two ways to pay . Both include listings on the main Australian real estate websites and up to 25 photos online.

• From $399 until your property sells
• $199 a month

You can also pay extra for additional services like photography and home brochures. Listing your property on Domain.com also attracts an additional cost.

2. For Sale By Owner

For Sale By Owner says it: “helps you to sell your property yourself without incurring the high commission normally associated with the sale of a property. We give you access to tools that were previously only available to traditional estate agents.”

The website offers a Sell My House package which costs $699 (excludes 1200 x 900 photo board) or $969 (includes 1200 x 900 photo board). The package includes:

• Listing on realestate.com.au, domain.com.au and other portals
• For sale sign
• Three property reports and weekly campaign reports
• Printable brochure
• Phone support

3. buyMyplace

buyMyplace claims to be Australia’s leading online for sale by owner real estate marketing and advertising service.

Packages start at $695 and include:

• Listing on all major real estate websites
• Professionally installed for sale sign
• 12 photo spots for online listings (premium packages include professional photos)
• Printable brochures
• Free home value estimate report
• Automatic email forwarding

You also have the option to sell via auction for $895 in conjunction with any package. The prices listed are for metro areas only -selling in rural areas may be more expensive.

4. No Agent Property

No Agent Property claims to be “the longest running website in Australia that helps owners sell their properties without paying commission to real estate agents, and it is one of the largest.” It offers two packages:

• Premium ($675) – Listing on its website, for sale sign, 20 photos with every listing, guide to selling your home, email alerts, reports, RP Data property reports, online account manager and customer support
• Ultimate ($965) – Same as premium, plus listing on Juwai.com, a Chinese property portal, and social media exposure.

There is also the option to create a custom package to suit your particular needs.

5. Agent In A Box

Agent in a Box says it is “Australia’s most exciting, low cost and simple to use marketing, knowledge and support hub, designed to enable you, the Home Owners of Australia, to reach all buyers and sell your own property privately without paying commission.”

It has three packages:

• Web Essentials ($299) – List your property on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au
• Premium ($499) – Everything in Web Essentials, plus list your property on other Australian property portals, a For Sale sign and a social media campaign
• Ultimate ($699) – Everything in Premium, plus listing on juwai.com, a brochure and professional proofing and editing of your ad copy.

6. Real Estate Your Way

Real Estate Your Way aspires to be the number one online marketplace to sell, buy or rent real estate and property in Australia. It has three packages:

• Silver (free) – listing on Real Estate Your Way
• Gold ($219) – listing on realestate.com.au
• Platinum ($709) – listing on realestate.com.au and Domain, for sale sign

7. Sell My Property Now

Sell My Property Now “was created to assist vendors who both wanted to save the many thousands of dollars that are required to be paid to traditional real estate agents and who wanted to take control of the sales process of their property as who better knows your home and all its key points than you, the home owner.”

It offers two packages:

• Classic ($498) – listing on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au, up to 33 photos of your property, 24/7 buyer enquiry phone line service
• Premiere Ad (price dependent on postcode) – includes everything in the Classic package as well as a premiere ad on realestate.com.au

8. For Sale For Lease

According to For Sale For Lease, the best person to sell your home is you. Anything an agent can do, you can probably do better. It offers two packages, which both include listings on all the major real estate websites (Domain costs extra).

• Monthly option – $299, plus $99 per month until sold
• Until sold – $695

9. Private Property List

Private Property List offers for sale by owner packages in South Australia and Western Australia.  You can choose from two packages:

• Sales package ($649) – suits private sellers looking to list their property for sale online.
  • Listing on realestate.com.au and other portals
  • For sale sign
  • Unlimited support
  • Weekly report
  • Core Logic market assessments
  • Brochure templates
• Monthly package ($169) – suits professionals looking to list their property for sale online.
  • 1 month listing on realestate.com.au and other portals
  • Email forwarding
  • $99 per month after initial month.

You can also pay for Add Ons like printing of your brochures and different signages.

10. Cubbi – no longer offers selling packages

Cubbi is mainly used to help tenants find properties to rent, but it also helps people sell their homes without agents.

Cubbi offers three for sale by owner packages:

• Lite ($399 until sold) – Listing on realestate.com.au and Domain, basic support
• Professional ($499 until sold) – As above, plus premium support, property valuation reports, discounts on professional photos, for sale sign
• Executive ($1599 until sold) – As above, plus speed dial support, 12 professional photos, floor plan, large for sale sign, professional copywriting, upgrade to featured listing and 100 professionally printed brochures

11. Your Hot Property

Your Hot Property is for homeowners dissatisfied with traditional real estate agencies and associated high costs. Packages start at $449 to advertise on realestate.com.au and other websites, or $699 to include Domain.

12. Property Now

Property Now has a sense of humour. On its homepage, it warns visitors “Don’t pay for your real estate agent’s new Lexus! You’re not a charity! Sell your own home with no commission on realestate.com.au.”

Property Now charges a flat fee of $694 for all residential, land and rural property sales. This fee includes:

• Advertising on realestate.com.au and others
• Unlimited support
• For sale sign
• Email forwarding
• Printable brochures
• Access to a members’ only guide to selling

There are also a selection of available add-ons such as glossy flyers and professional photography.

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Conclusion

There is obviously an emerging market for services which help owners sell their own property and it could save you some money when selling a property. However, there’s a reason why only about 1% of vendors in Australia opt to sell their home without a real estate agent. When you pay for a real estate agent, you’re paying for expert local knowledge, support from an actual person, marketing help and so much more. You’re also paying for someone else to do it all for you, freeing up your time to do things that are much more interesting! Top real estate agents will work hard to get you the best price for your property. Which Real Estate Agent makes finding top real estate agents in your area simple – we’ve already done the research for you!

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