How to sell your house without an agent in Victoria.

Understand the Section 32 Vendor’s Statement

The most important legal requirement specific to Victoria, and the first thing to sort.

Under the Sale of Land Act 1962 (Vic), every vendor selling a residential property in Victoria must provide the purchaser with a Section 32 Vendor’s Statement before the buyer signs the contract.

What’s included: Certificate of Title with encumbrances · Council and water rates notices · Planning and zoning information · Body corporate info (if applicable) · Building permits in the past 7 years · Owner-builder defect insurance · Government notices.

How to get it: Must be prepared by a qualified conveyancer or solicitor. Cost: $500–$1,200. Engage your conveyancer first — Section 32 preparation takes 1–2 weeks and you can’t begin marketing until it’s ready.

Research your market and set an accurate price

Pricing is where private sales succeed or fail. Price too high and your property sits on the market. Price too low and you’ve left money on the table.

The comparable sales method: Find properties similar to yours sold in the last 3–6 months within 1–2 km. Weight: land size, beds/baths, condition, parking, aspect, and time on market. Filter for sales that completed at listed price — sales that sat for 60 days then sold below tell you the market wasn’t there at that price.

Free sources: realestate.com.au “Recently Sold”, Domain sold properties, Valuer-General Victoria. Unreserved’s AI Valuation Tool goes deeper — it scores your property against comparables and weights buyer-relevant attributes for your specific suburb.

Prepare your property for sale

The high-ROI improvements in Melbourne’s current market:

• Fresh paint — neutral, light tones (Dulux Lexicon Quarter). Cost: $3,000–$6,000. Return: $10,000–$25,000 in perceived value.
• Professional landscaping — first impressions at the kerb. $500–$1,500 pays outsized dividends.
• Kitchen and bathroom refresh — re-grout, replace tapware, update lighting. $1,000–$3,000.
• Decluttering and depersonalisation — costs nothing. Buyers need to see themselves in your home.
• Professional styling — for premium properties, $2,000–$5,000. Regularly returns $15,000+ in sale uplift.

Choose your platform and create your listing

Photography: Not optional. Professional property photography in Melbourne: $350–$700, plus $150–$250 for floor plans. For premium properties, twilight photography ($200–$350 extra) outperforms standard daytime images.

Listing copy: Headline that captures the property’s most compelling attribute. Description that tells the story of living there. Clear call to action. Buyers in Richmond aren’t buying a 3-bedroom house — they’re buying a lifestyle. Your copy should sell the life.

Listing tier: Rule of thumb — if your suburb has 80+ active listings on REA at any time, upgrade. Standard listings get significantly less visibility in high-volume markets.

Conduct inspections

Private inspections give you advantages over agent-run open homes. You know your home better than anyone — when a buyer asks “why are you selling?” or “what’s the local school like?”, you answer authentically.

• Book in small groups — 2–3 parties max per session.
• Have your Section 32 available for interested buyers.
• Present fully styled: open blinds, ambient lighting, comfortable temperature.
• Prepare a one-page info sheet: floor plan, council rates, body corporate fees, school zones.
• Follow up within 24 hours of every inspection.

Managing offers and negotiating

This is where most FSBO sellers leave money on the table — not because they’re bad negotiators, but because they’re negotiating with a single buyer with no competitive pressure. The antidote is created competition.

Evaluating offers — consider more than price: finance condition (pre-approved or not?), settlement period (matches your timing?), deposit size (10% standard, larger = more skin), cooling-off waiver. In Victoria, buyers have 3 business days to cool off on a private treaty sale.

From accepted offer to settlement

Once you’ve accepted verbally: conveyancer prepares the Contract → both parties sign (cooling-off begins from buyer’s signing) → buyer pays 10% deposit into trust → conveyancers exchange and run pre-settlement searches → pre-settlement inspection in the week before → settlement (30–90 days from signing). Title transfers, keys handed over, no commission cheque.