NOFEE › Guide

How to sell your home without an agent

Selling privately is legal everywhere — and in much of Europe it is far less risky than people assume, because the legally dangerous part of the transaction is handled by a mandatory, neutral notary regardless of whether an agent was involved.

1. Gather your documents first

Serious buyers — and their mortgage lenders — ask for the same paperwork everywhere. Having it ready before you list is the cheapest speed advantage you can buy:

• Proof of ownership / land register extract
• Floor plans, site plan, and a floor-area calculation
• Energy performance certificate (mandatory in the EU before marketing — see below)
• For apartments: building rules, owners' association minutes, service-charge statements, reserve fund balance
• Records of renovations, repairs and warranties
• Any outstanding mortgage details, so the lender's release can be arranged in time

2. The energy certificate is not optional

Across the EU, an energy performance certificate must be available to prospective buyers, and key figures usually have to appear in the listing itself. Germany fines violations (§ 108 GEG); Poland has required the seller to hand the certificate over at the sale contract since 28 April 2023. Order it before you advertise, not after.

3. Price it against transactions, not asking prices

Asking prices on portals are aspirations; recorded transaction prices are facts. Most European countries publish real transaction data — Germany through the local valuation committees (Gutachterausschuss / BORIS land values), Poland through the Register of Property Prices held by the district authority. Use those, then sanity-check against comparable live listings and, crucially, how long they have been sitting there.

Rule of thumb: if two weeks pass with no serious enquiries, it is almost always the price — not the photos.

4. Make the listing do the qualifying

• Daylight photos, tidy, landscape, no distorting wide angle. Ten good images beat thirty mediocre ones.
• Include a floor plan. Listings with one attract measurably more qualified enquiries.
• Disclose known defects honestly. In most jurisdictions an "as-is" clause does not protect a seller who concealed a known defect.
• Answer fast. The most common silent killer of private sales is simply slow replies.

5. Qualify buyers before you spend time on them

Ask early and plainly: cash or mortgage, and if mortgage, is there a decision in principle from the bank? One question at the start saves weeks with buyers who cannot complete.

6. Closing: who is legally required, and where

This is the part that decides how risky a private sale actually is, and it differs sharply by country:

In the notary countries — which is most of continental Europe — the contract is void without notarisation. That means the highest-risk document in the whole transaction is already being drafted by a state-appointed, impartial lawyer whether or not an agent is in the picture. That is the honest, structural reason private sales are safer there.

7. What the commission actually buys

Three things, in practice: reach on the major portals, time (viewings, calls, paperwork chasing), and negotiation. Portal reach is directly available to private sellers in Germany, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Estonia and New Zealand. Time is the part software can genuinely replace. Negotiation is the part worth thinking hardest about before deciding.

8. The mistakes that cost the most

1. Overpricing at launch — costs more than any commission.
2. Documents produced only on request — repels exactly the serious buyers.
3. Concealing a known defect — liability survives an "as-is" clause.
4. Not checking financing — leads to collapsed closings.
5. Missing mandatory listing disclosures — an avoidable fine.
6. Slow replies — the quiet deal-killer.

→ Detailed German guide · → Detailed Polish guide