Most Kiwi homeowners only sell a handful of times in a lifetime. Each one is a decision worth tens of thousands of dollars, and yet the way Kiwis sell has stayed mostly unchanged for decades. That is starting to shift. With websites like Trade Me Property and Realestate.co.nz now central to how buyers shop, more homeowners are realising the marketing can be unpicked from the percentage commission. The home still sells. The proceeds just look very different at the end.

What changes when the commission is no longer baked in

Commission has always been the biggest single cost of selling a home in New Zealand, often two to four percent of the sale price plus GST and a marketing levy. On a typical home that is the difference between a settlement cheque and the deposit on your next home. When the commission is no longer baked in, the maths quietly tilts in the homeowner’s favour. The total cost of selling drops by an order of magnitude, and the rest of the process stays much the same.

Buyers do not behave any differently when a home is sold privately. They open Trade Me Property, they shortlist by photos and price, they walk through at the open home, they make an offer through their lawyer. The transaction itself is identical. The only thing that changes is who is in the middle, and how much of the proceeds reach you at settlement. The story has shifted from is private selling possible to why would you not consider it, given the maths.

How to put it all in motion with Market My Place

Market My Place handles the listing, photos, signage and online reach so the home presents the same as anything else on the market. You set the price, take the calls, run the open homes and accept the offer that suits you. There is no commission. The savings stay with the people who actually own the home. If you have been quietly running the numbers in your head, this is exactly the kind of move the numbers tend to point to.