Why Kiwi Homeowners Are Taking Back Control of Their Home Sale!
Every weekend across New Zealand, there’s a familiar scene in thousands of kitchens. A couple sits at the table, looking at a rough sale price on a scrap of paper.
“If we sell around $900k… how much of that disappears in commission?”
When you do the maths, it’s confronting. On a typical New Zealand home, the total fees and costs involved with a traditional agent-led sale can easily climb into the tens of thousands of dollars.
That’s not a rounding error. That’s school fees, a chunk off the next mortgage, debt gone, or the renovation you’ve been dreaming about.
Buy My Home (BMH) exists for a very simple reason:
Agents want you to believe you can’t do this without them—because their livelihood depends on it. We exist to prove you can.
The game has been tilted for a long time
For years, the story Kiwi homeowners have been sold goes something like this:
- Selling a home is “too complex” for everyday people.
- The paperwork, compliance and negotiation are a mysterious dark art.
- “Everyone” uses an agent, so you should too.
The result? Most of the time, the default decision is to sign the listing agreement, nod along to a commission structure you didn’t design, and hope the final number is worth it.
From a marketing perspective, it’s actually a very clever narrative:
- You are cast as the anxious, inexperienced homeowner.
- The agent is cast as the only guide who can safely lead you to “SOLD”.
Donald Miller would say the story framework is textbook: one hero, one guide. The twist is that in this version, the guide collects a five-figure fee at the end.
Behavioural reality: why smart Kiwis still default to agents
Daniel Kahneman, in Thinking, Fast and Slow, explains loss aversion – the idea that we feel the pain of a loss about twice as strongly as the pleasure of an equivalent gain.
Translated into property:
- Losing $20,000–$30,000 in commission feels painful…
- But the possibility of under-selling your home by that amount feels terrifying.
So we choose the path that feels safest, even if the numbers suggest another option might be smarter.
A few more psychological levers get pulled along the way:
- Status quo bias: Almost everyone you know used an agent. Doing anything else feels “risky”, even if it’s rational.
- Information overload: LIMs, building reports, marketing channels, legal forms, negotiation tactics – when everything feels complex, you outsource the whole thing.
- Fear stories: You hear more about the one DIY sale that went badly than the many private sales that went just fine.
From a psychology lens, the current system is brilliant at turning your uncertainty into someone else’s recurring income stream.
The myth: “Agents always get you a better price”
One of the most repeated lines in the industry is:
“Agent-listed properties sell for more than private sales.”
On the surface, it’s compelling. But it hides a few key realities:
- It ignores the net position. Getting, say, $10,000 more on the sale price doesn’t matter if you paid $25,000 in commission to get there. What matters is what ends up in your bank account at the end.
- It compares structured machine vs. solo amateur. Historically, “private sale” in New Zealand often meant “one lonely listing on a classifieds site with no strategy”. Of course a full campaign will usually outperform that.
- It underestimates modern sellers. Kiwi homeowners in 2025 are not the same as in 2005. We manage Kiwisaver, run side businesses, Airbnb rooms, and understand digital tools. The idea that you can’t possibly manage a structured sale with the right support is getting outdated fast.
As Tony Robbins would put it, “It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.” Deciding how you sell your largest asset is one of those moments. It deserves better options than “sign here and hope for the best”.
A new story: the confident, well-equipped homeowner
BMH is not an anti-agent crusade. We’re not here to throw rocks.
We’re here for homeowners who look at the numbers and say:
“If I had the right tools, data and guidance, I could do a lot of this myself – and keep the commission instead of handing it over.”
Think of BMH as a platform + guidebook built specifically for private sellers in New Zealand:
- Education first Plain-English guides, checklists and walkthroughs for every key step – pricing, marketing, open homes, negotiation, legal next steps. No jargon, no scare tactics, no hidden agenda.
- Data, not guesswork You shouldn’t need a licence to understand what similar homes are selling for, or how buyers are behaving in your area. We want to make that level of insight normal for everyday Kiwis.
- Modern marketing, simplified Clear, structured ways to get your property seen – without being pushed into bloated “campaign packages” that primarily serve the agent’s brand.
- Support without the hard sell You stay in the driver’s seat. We’re the co-pilot with the map, not the person grabbing the steering wheel and charging a percentage of the destination.
You are the hero of this story. BMH is just the guide handing you the plan, the tools and the confidence.
Who we’re building BuyMyHome for
BMH is for the Kiwi who reads this and quietly thinks:
- “I’m not helpless. I just don’t want to make a six-figure mistake.”
- “If someone laid the steps out clearly, I’d happily do the work.”
- “I want control over my sale, but I don’t want to reinvent the wheel or guess on the legal stuff.”
You might be:
- A first-time seller sitting on strong equity and watching every dollar.
- A family upsizing and trying to keep your next mortgage as low as possible.
- An investor who’s tired of watching commission chew through your returns.
You don’t want “cheap and nasty”. You want fair, transparent and in your control.
Our promise to New Zealand homeowners
As we bring BMH to life, this is the standard we’re holding ourselves to:
- Radical clarity You’ll always understand what things cost, what you get, and what your options are. No buried surprises.
- Evidence-led guidance Where we use numbers, trends or examples, we’ll do the work behind the scenes to make sure they’re grounded in reality – not just convenient marketing lines.
- No pressure, ever Our mission is to empower your decision, not push you into one. If you decide an agent is right for your situation, that’s still a win: you made the call with your eyes open.
- Built for Aotearoa’s market (minus the buzzwords) Legal requirements, typical buyer behaviour in places like Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and the regions, and the very Kiwi way people actually search, talk and negotiate around property – that’s what we’re designing around.
Where we go from here
This article is our first public “we’re here” moment, not the finish line.
Over the coming months, BMH will be rolling out:
- Tools to help you compare commission vs DIY in clear dollars.
- Guides that turn “I have no idea where to start” into a simple checklist.
- Stories and case studies from New Zealanders who’ve sold privately – the wins, the lessons, and the playbook they wish they’d had.
If you:
- Want to keep more of your home’s value in your own hands,
- Believe Kiwis are capable of more than we’ve been told, and
- Like the idea of a smarter, fairer way to sell property here…
…then follow BMH on LinkedIn and watch this space as we build.
Stephen R. Covey wrote, “We become what we repeatedly do.”
For decades, we’ve repeatedly signed away a slice of our biggest asset by default.
It’s time to prove that everyday Kiwi homeowners, with the right support, can do something different – and keep the “For Sale” sign working harder for the person who actually owns the house.
citations for your reading pleasure:
REINZ August 2025 New Zealand Property Report (median prices): https://www.reinz.co.nz/libraryviewer?ResourceID=787 REINZ
REINZ August 2025 summary article: https://www.reinz.co.nz/Web/Web/News/News-Articles/Market-updates/REINZ_August_2025_Data_Many_Regions_See_Price_Growth_Amid_Slower_Sales.aspx REINZ
Global overview quoting REINZ median price data: https://www.globalpropertyguide.com/pacific/new-zealand/price-history Global Property Guide
RNZ – “Is it worth paying a real estate agent to sell your house?” (Cotality analysis: 76% vs 65.1%, private sale share): https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/566902/is-it-worth-paying-a-real-estate-agent-to-sell-your-houseRNZ
settled.govt.nz – “What you should know before you sell privately” (10% private sales, REINZ price comparison): https://www.settled.govt.nz/blog/what-you-should-know-before-you-sell-privately/ Settled.govt.nz
Wise Up NZ – “Sell your own home NZ” (approx. 10% of sales are private): https://wiseup.nz/selling-property/selling-a-house-guide/sell-your-own-home-nz Wise Up
AgentFinder – “How much real estate commission should I pay?” (2.95–3.95% then 2–2.5%): https://www.agentfinder.co.nz/blog/how-much-real-estate-commission-should-i-pay Agent Finder NZ
Trade Me Property – “Paying agent commissions” (tiered 3% then 2% example): https://www.trademe.co.nz/c/property/article/agent-commissions Trade Me
MoneyHub – “Real Estate Agent Fees – What to Pay & How to Negotiate”: https://www.moneyhub.co.nz/real-estate-agent-fees.html MoneyHub NZ
Opes Partners – Real Estate Agent Fees Calculator: https://www.opespartners.co.nz/calculators/real-estate-agent-fees-calculator opespartners.co.nz
