Selling without an agent is legal in BC. Here is what a mere posting actually buys you, what you still have to pay, and what you take on yourself.
You save the listing side, not the buyer's side. The paperwork, the disclosure risk, and the pricing call all move onto you.
The honest framing is that private sale saves you the listing side of the commission and nothing else. The buyer will almost always arrive with an agent who expects to be paid, and that amount comes out of your proceeds either way. What a full listing buys is the work between those two facts: setting the price from real comparable sales on your block, writing the disclosure so it does not create liability later, holding the line in negotiation, and getting the contract through subject removal and completion without a clause that costs you money. On a Burnaby detached lot the pricing call alone usually moves more money than the listing commission.
Private sale is legal in British Columbia and thousands of homes change hands that way. The two common routes are a private-sale network such as PropertyGuys.com, a franchise operation that charges a one-time flat fee and states that the price varies from market to market rather than publishing a national figure, and a mere posting bought from a licensed brokerage. The Canadian Real Estate Association defines a mere posting as a listing where the member has chosen or agreed not to provide services to the seller other than submitting the listing for posting on the board's MLS® System. Either route puts the property in front of buyers. Neither one prices the home, screens the buyer, or negotiates the contract for you.
Selling a home privately is legal in British Columbia, but a private seller cannot post to the MLS® System or REALTOR.ca directly, because only a member brokerage can submit a listing. The route onto REALTOR.ca is a mere posting, which the Canadian Real Estate Association defines as a listing where the member has agreed not to provide services to the seller other than submitting the listing to the board's MLS® System. A private seller in Burnaby still normally offers a commission to the buyer's agent, still completes the Property Disclosure Statement, and is still bound by the Home Buyer Rescission Period, which since 3 January 2023 lets a buyer cancel within three business days for a fee of 0.25% of the purchase price. Jersey Li is a Burnaby REALTOR® with Sutton Group - 1st West Realty who handles those steps as part of a full listing.
| Factor | Jersey Li | Selling Privately (For Sale By Owner) |
|---|---|---|
| Getting onto REALTOR.ca | Full MLS® listing submitted through Sutton Group - 1st West Realty. | Not possible directly. A private seller must buy a mere posting from a licensed brokerage, or use a network such as PropertyGuys.com that reaches REALTOR.ca through partner CREA-member brokerages. |
| What a mere posting includes | Not applicable; the listing is full service. | By CREA's own definition, a mere posting is a listing where the member has agreed not to provide services to the seller other than submitting it to the board's MLS® System. Everything else is yours. |
| Cost | Negotiable commission set in the listing contract, paid on completion out of the sale proceeds. | A one-time fee paid up front whether or not the home sells. PropertyGuys.com states the price varies by market and does not publish a national figure. Mere-posting fees are set by each brokerage; there is no standard rate. |
| Buyer's agent commission | Set by you in the listing contract and paid on completion. | Still applies in most sales. If a buyer arrives with an agent, that agent expects payment, either from you or from their own buyer. This is the part private sale does not remove. |
| Setting the asking price | Built from recent comparable sales at the block level within your Burnaby neighbourhood, before the listing goes live. | Yours to determine. Public sold data helps, but it does not adjust for condition, exposure, renovations, or the strata's financial position. |
| Property Disclosure Statement | Completed with you, with the questions explained, because an inaccurate answer can be actionable after completion. | Yours to complete alone. This is the single largest legal exposure a private seller takes on. |
| Home Buyer Rescission Period | Handled as part of the transaction. A buyer may cancel within three business days for 0.25% of the price, and the timing rules are strict. | Applies to you identically. The right cannot be waived, so a private seller has to count the three business days correctly. |
| Screening and qualifying buyers | Financing, deposit, and subject conditions are checked before an offer is accepted. | Yours to do. A collapsed sale after subject removal costs weeks of market time and can weaken your position on relisting. |
| Negotiation | Jersey negotiates on your behalf against the buyer's agent. | You negotiate directly against a licensed agent who does this professionally and owes their duty to the buyer, not to you. |
| Showings and access | Scheduled and attended so you are not hosting strangers yourself. | Yours to schedule, attend, and manage for safety. |
| Legal work | A conveyancing lawyer or notary is required either way. Jersey coordinates with them through to completion. | Required either way, and worth budgeting more for, since the lawyer is your only professional check on the contract. |
| If it does not sell | No commission is paid. The fee is contingent on completion. | The up-front fee is already spent. This is the main financial risk of the private route. |
| Factor | Jersey Li | Selling Privately (For Sale By Owner) |
|---|---|---|
| When you pay | On completion, out of the sale proceeds | Up front, before the home sells |
| What happens if it does not sell | No commission owed | The fee is not refunded |
| Buyer's agent commission | Set by you in the listing contract | Still typically payable if the buyer has an agent |
| REALTOR.ca exposure | Included in the listing | Through a mere posting or a partner brokerage; confirm it is included before paying |
| Legal and conveyancing | Lawyer or notary required, coordinated for you | Lawyer or notary required, and doing more of the work |
Send the address and the timeline. Jersey will give you the honest read, including when the other option is the better one for your situation.
Which option fits better depends on your specific situation. Use this guide as a starting point, then book a call to apply it to your actual property.
| Scenario | Jersey Li | Selling Privately (For Sale By Owner) |
|---|---|---|
| You already have a committed buyer at an agreed price | ||
| Selling to a tenant, neighbour, or family member | ||
| You need to find a buyer in an open market | ||
| Detached Burnaby lot with a wide plausible price range | ||
| Likely multiple-offer situation | ||
| Testing interest privately before committing to a listing |
If you already have a buyer, a neighbour, a family member, a tenant, and you only need the transaction papered properly, private sale plus a good real estate lawyer is a sensible and genuinely cheaper choice. If you need to find the buyer, the calculation changes. You are still paying the buyer's agent, you are still legally exposed on disclosure, and you are pricing the home yourself against a market you do not watch daily. Look at the listing-side commission on your price point and ask whether you would rather keep that number or hand off the pricing, the liability, and the negotiation.
Yes. Private sale is legal in British Columbia and no law requires you to hire a REALTOR®. What you cannot do is post the listing on the MLS® System or REALTOR.ca yourself, because only a member brokerage can submit a listing. To appear there you buy a mere posting from a licensed brokerage, or use a private-sale network that reaches REALTOR.ca through partner CREA-member brokerages.
The Canadian Real Estate Association defines a mere posting as a listing on an MLS® System where the member brokerage has chosen or agreed not to provide services to the seller other than submitting the listing for posting on the board's MLS® System. In plain terms, you pay a fee to appear on REALTOR.ca and you do everything else yourself: pricing, showings, disclosure, negotiation, and managing the contract through to completion.
In most sales, yes. Roughly speaking, the buyer arrives with their own agent, and that agent expects to be paid. You can offer nothing, but then buyers working with an agent either skip your property or ask their agent to charge them directly, which reduces what they can offer you. This is the part private sale does not eliminate. You are saving the listing side of the commission, not the whole commission.
PropertyGuys.com does not publish a national price. Their own site states that they charge a one-time flat fee instead of a percentage, and that the price varies based on where you live, from one market to another. To get a real number for Burnaby you have to request a quote from the local franchise. Ask specifically whether REALTOR.ca exposure is included in the quoted package or sold as an add-on.
The Property Disclosure Statement. It is a legal document where you answer specific questions about the condition and history of the property, and an inaccurate answer can be actionable against you after completion. An agent walks you through those questions and knows which answers create exposure. On your own, you are relying on your own reading of a form written in legal language, and the consequence lands months after you have spent the money.
Yes, identically. The Home Buyer Rescission Period has applied to residential resale contracts in British Columbia since 3 January 2023. A buyer can cancel an accepted contract within three business days for any reason and pays the seller 0.25% of the purchase price. The right cannot be waived or contracted out of, and the day of acceptance does not count toward the three days. A private seller has to count the deadline correctly without a brokerage checking it.
When you already have the buyer. If you are selling to a tenant, a neighbour, or a family member at a price you have both agreed on, there is no marketing problem to solve, and paying a full commission to document a deal you already made is poor value. In that situation, hire a real estate lawyer, budget properly for their time, and keep the commission. The calculation only changes when you need the market to find you a buyer.
Every fee, dollar figure, and legal rule on this page comes from the company's own published material or from the regulator. Pricing changes, so check the original before you rely on it.
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