Selling a House Privately in Canada: Costs and Options

What You Should Know

• Selling a house privately is also known as For Sale By Owner, or FSBO
• You won’t pay a listing agent’s commission, and paying the buyer’s agent is optional, though most sellers offer around 2.5% to keep their listing competitive
• You can list your home on a MLS by paying a flat-fee to a discount brokerage
• Selling a home without a real estate agent means that all of the work is put on you, including negotiating offers, communicating with buyers, and coordinating services

Selling a house privately means doing it without a real estate agent, and is usually called For Sale By Owner, or FSBO. It is legal in every province, and the appeal is the money you keep by not paying a listing agent any real estate commissions. What it costs, and what you give up, depends on the route you take. This page compares the three options open to you: a fully private sale, a flat-fee MLS listing and a discount brokerage, along with what each one costs, what else you pay at closing, and the rules in your province.

There are a lot of moving parts involved in selling a home, and many of these steps are usually taken care of by a real estate agent. Here are the steps to selling your home privately in Canada. For the full process in detail, from valuation methods through to closing, see our step-by-step FSBO guide.

Before anything is listed, you need a defensible number and a home that shows well:

• Value it: Compare what similar homes nearby recently sold for, known as a comparative market analysis. Our home value estimator is a starting point, and a home appraisal gives you something more precise.
• Prepare it: Declutter, put excess furniture into storage, and handle repairs, paint and landscaping now rather than mid-listing.
• Budget for staging and photography: Both tend to pay for themselves.
• Consider a pre-listing inspection: Finding problems before the buyer's inspector does removes a reason to negotiate you down.

Pricing is where private sellers tend to lose the most money. Getting it wrong can cost more than the commission you saved.

You can list on the MLS without a real estate agent by paying a discount brokerage a flat fee, a service called a flat fee MLS listing or a mere posting. The brokerage lists your home and makes changes when you ask, and does nothing else: no help with offers, no finding buyers. The flat fee is the only cost of getting onto the MLS, and no commission is charged by that brokerage when you sell.

Your listing will also specify what you are offering a buyer's agent, if anything. Decide that before you post, since it is the largest single variable in what you keep.

You can list outside the MLS too, or do both:

• Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace carry real estate listings at no cost.
• Craigslist still runs a real estate section in Canadian cities, but draws far less traffic.

Expect more unserious enquiries from free channels, and keep on top of every listing so you don't miss a buyer.

Listing your home is not the same as selling it. Real estate advertising ranges from signage and word of mouth through to digital marketing and online ads.

You will also be hosting viewings and open houses yourself, with no agent screening visitors, so set a process before the first booking to ensure safety during the showings:

• Get the visitor’s details: Ask for a full name and phone number, and call the number back to confirm. If a caller won't give a name, it might be better not to book.
• Keep a written log of every appointment: name, contact details, date, time, who attended.
• Keep a companion: Having a second adult present for every showing is ideal, and it's always best not to run an open house alone.
• Remove valuables: Remove medication, cash, jewellery, spare keys, chequebooks and anything showing account or identity numbers. Lock away what you can't remove.

You can also take some other safety measures like walking behind visitors rather than ahead of them, and keeping your phone on you. You can also inform someone outside the house of your schedule, and text them when the showing ends.

Without a listing agent negotiating for you, you are your own advocate. Get every offer in writing, and retain a real estate lawyer to handle the contract, conditions and contingencies.

A deposit is never paid to you directly. Decide who holds the deposit before you accept anything:

• Listing Brokerage: Normally the listing brokerage holds it in a regulated trust account. Selling privately, you have no brokerage, so it should be made payable to your real estate lawyer in trust. If you use a flat-fee MLS brokerage, ask whether it will act as deposit holder. Some will, some won't.
• Lawyer: Name that lawyer as the deposit holder in the agreement, along with the amount and the deadline, typically within 24 hours of acceptance.

In Ontario, RECO's deposit insurance covers deposits held in brokerage trust accounts up to $200,000 per claim. A private sale with no brokerage falls outside it. Once in trust, the money stays there until both sides sign a mutual release or a court directs otherwise. Neither party can pull it out alone, and that is the point.

Closing involves a lot of paperwork, which is why a lawyer is needed. A lawyer, or a notary in Quebec, is mandatory: only they can transfer title. They will handle the documents and coordinate with other professionals when necessary.

If your buyer was represented and you agreed to pay their agent, that commission comes out of the sale proceeds at closing. Because commission is normally split roughly evenly between the two agents, paying only the buyer's side means you save the listing half. If your buyer was unrepresented, you pay neither.

Selling your home without a real estate agent puts a lot of work on you. In order to not only be able to sell your home by yourself, but to sell your home for the best possible price, you’ll need to be able to do the following:

• Value your home
• Coordinate with other professionals, such as buyer’s agents, home stagers, photographers, lawyers, notaries, mortgage lenders, home appraisers, and home inspectors
• Marketing and communicating with buyers
• Negotiating and handling offers

If you’re able to handle all of this, and you have the time and motivation in order to do so, there are still some drawbacks to a FSBO listing. Here are some pros and cons of selling a house privately in Canada.

Pros and Cons of Selling a House Privately

Pros	Cons
Keep more of your money by saving on real estate commissions Full control over the sale	Requires time and attention to deal with buyers Will need to handle marketing, negotiating, and communication Will need to do your own research, rather than have someone guide you Can leave money on the table Lack of training and experience

If you’re able to take over the tasks that a real estate agent does, then selling a house by yourself can be a great way to save money while also having full control over every little detail of the sale. However, if you’re not up to the task, you might risk leaving money on the table just to save money on commissions. Selling a home takes a lot of work, and some owners might not have enough free time to sell their home effectively. You’ll also need to be skilled with negotiating and marketing, which isn’t something that comes easily to people not familiar with it.

Most private sellers still offer a commission to the buyer’s agent, the agent who brings a buyer to your listing. It is not an obligation, but offer nothing and fewer agents will bring buyers through the door. What you save either way is the listing side. On a $500,000 Ontario home, a 2.5% listing commission is $12,500, or $14,125 once HST is added. Whether that is worth the work depends on your own skills and knowledge. Mispricing the home or negotiating poorly can cost you more than the commission you saved, which is why it may be worth working with a local real estate agent instead.

Marketplaces without MLS access:

• duProprio serves Quebec only, with packages at $1,199.95, $1,599.95 and $1,999.95 plus taxes. Quebec MLS listings need a licensed broker, so nothing here reaches the MLS.
• PropertyGuys.com is a franchise network operating across much of Canada. Each franchise sets its own packages, so ask yours for pricing.
• PropertySold.ca is a national FSBO marketplace covering every province, with paid and free listing options. It takes no commission on a sale.

Free channels: Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace both carry real estate at no cost, and Craigslist still runs a real estate section in Canadian cities but draws far less traffic. None of them reach the MLS.

Flat-fee MLS brokerages: Only a licensed brokerage can place a listing on the MLS and Realtor.ca, so if that matters to you, you need a flat-fee brokerage rather than a marketplace.

• Easy List Realty, the brokerage behind ForSaleByOwner.ca, charges $499 to list until it sells, across BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. A non-MLS listing on its own network is $149.
• ComFree has three packages: $597, $997 and $1,197 plus tax, rising by listing duration, photography and support.
• OneFlatFee is British Columbia only, priced at $2,499.

Besides selling your home by yourself, you can still save on commissions by choosing to work with discount real estate brokerages and agents. You’ll have all the support and services of a real estate agent, but the commissions are lower, letting you save money.

Brokerages such as One Percent Realty charge a fixed fee rather than a percentage. In Ontario, that is $7,950 on homes under $400,000, $9,950 from $400,000 to $900,000, and 1% plus $950 above that, all plus tax, with the buyer's agent's share included. British Columbia starts at $9,950 under $500,000 and works differently above that, so check the figures for your own province.

Other ways to reduce selling costs:

• Negotiate the commission rate: Commission is not regulated in any province, and nothing obliges you to accept the figure first quoted.
• Offer the buyer's agent less: A lower co-op commission reduces your total, though it can reduce showings.
• Buy services individually: Some brokerages will price a valuation, paperwork review or negotiation help separately rather than as a package.
• Sell to an unrepresented buyer: With no agent on either side, you pay no commission at all, which is the largest saving available and the hardest to arrange.

You don’t need to be a licensed real estate agent in order to sell your own home in Ontario, but you will still need to work with a real estate lawyer. If you want to list your home on MLS, your listing will also need to be checked by your listing brokerage, whether it be a flat-fee discount brokerage or a listing agent. That requirement comes from the Trust in Real Estate Services Act (TRESA) and its regulations, administered by the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO).

Selling a House Privately in Quebec

Just like other provinces, you can sell your property by yourself in Quebec. However, you won’t be protected by Quebec’s Real Estate Brokerage Act if you don’t work with a licensed real estate agent. You also can’t have your listing on a MLS without the deal being supervised by a Quebec real estate broker.

Selling a House Privately in British Columbia

If you’re looking to sell your house privately in BC, there are many FSBO services that you can use. An example is OneFlatFee, which lists your home on the MLS for a flat fee of $2,499 in Vancouver.

Selling a House Privately in Alberta

If you’re selling a house privately in Alberta, expect to provide a Real Property Report with evidence of municipal compliance. This comes from the standard Alberta Residential Purchase Contract rather than from statute, so it can be varied by agreement, and conventional condominiums are generally exempt. Preparing one requires an Alberta land surveyor. Otherwise, FSBO listings in Alberta are just like any other province.

No, it is a choice rather than an obligation. Most private sellers offer around 2.5% to stay competitive with agent-listed homes.

Fees vary by province, firm and complexity, and disbursements such as title searches and registration are billed on top. Legal fees typically cost from about $800 to $2,500+. A real estate lawyer, or a notary in Quebec, is mandatory, since you cannot transfer title without one.

Rules differ by province, but nowhere can you conceal a known latent defect, meaning a hidden problem you are aware of that an inspection would not reveal and that makes the property dangerous or unfit. Patent defects, the visible ones, are generally the buyer's to find. British Columbia uses a Property Disclosure Statement, and Quebec sellers owe a legal warranty of quality under the Civil Code. Non-disclosure is one of the few things that can follow you after closing.

Not freely. An accepted offer is a binding contract, and a buyer can sue for their losses or seek an order compelling the sale. You can exit cleanly only if a condition fails, if the agreement gives you a right to terminate, or if the buyer signs a mutual release. Never accept an offer you are not prepared to complete.