How to sell your house without an agent

An agent's commission on a Malawian house sale is real money. Here is what you get for it, and what you have to do yourself if you keep it.

What you are actually paying an agent for

Three things: reach, filtering, and the paperwork chase. Reach is putting the property in front of buyers you do not know. Filtering is keeping the time-wasters away from your gate. The paperwork chase is pushing the lawyers, the searches and the transfer along until it completes.

Commission rates are negotiable and vary by agent — get the figure in writing before you sign anything, and check whether it is exclusive, because an exclusive mandate means you pay it even if your cousin finds the buyer.

Pricing it yourself

Look at what comparable houses in the same area are actually listed at — same neighbourhood, similar plot size, similar condition — and be honest about where yours sits. A house priced 30% over the area is not a house that sells slowly; it is a house that never gets viewed, because buyers filter by price before they look at anything else.

Decide your floor before you start, and decide it privately. Every buyer will ask if the price is negotiable. Knowing your real number in advance is what stops a long viewing turning into a bad decision.

Photographs, because this is the whole listing

Take them in the morning or late afternoon, never at midday. Open every curtain, turn every light on, and move the cars, the buckets and the washing. Photograph the front elevation, the sitting room, the kitchen, each bedroom, the bathroom, the yard, the wall and gate, and the quarters if there are any.

Landscape orientation, horizon level, one clear subject per shot. Fifteen honest photographs sell a house faster than five flattering ones, because the buyer who arrives already knowing what they will see is the buyer who makes an offer.

Writing the advert

Lead with the facts a buyer filters on: bedrooms, bathrooms, plot size, the area, the price. Then the things that cost money to add and are therefore worth naming — walled and gated, borehole, solar, quarters or BQ, ceiling, tiled, standby water tank. Then whatever is genuinely distinctive about the house.

Say what is wrong with it in one honest line. It costs you nothing — the buyer will see it at the viewing anyway — and it makes everything else you have written believable.

Viewings and safety

Never show a house alone. Fix appointments rather than letting people arrive at will, and take a name and a phone number before anyone comes through the gate. Keep valuables out of sight.

Take no payment in cash and no deposit before there is a written agreement. When you have a buyer, both sides instruct lawyers and the transfer runs the same way it would have with an agent involved — that part does not get simpler because you sold it yourself.

Common questions

Is it legal to sell my own house in Malawi?

Yes. There is no requirement to use an agent. You will still want a lawyer for the sale agreement and the transfer.

What does an estate agent charge in Malawi?

Commission is negotiated rather than fixed and varies between agents. Ask for the percentage, whether it is charged on the asking price or the agreed price, and whether the mandate is exclusive — all three in writing, before you sign.

How long does it take to sell a house in Malawi?

A well-priced house in a sought-after area can go in weeks. An over-priced one can sit for a year. Price is almost always the variable, not the market.