- By my estimate, selling an apartment yourself takes about 80 hours of work.
- The agent takes over documents, marketing, viewings and negotiations; you are left with about 8 hours.
- An agent is worth it when their work raises the price or shortens the sale by more than their fee.
The short answer: it depends on what your time is worth and how much risk you want to take on. With an inexpensive flat in a block that sells itself, the difference may be small. With a premium apartment, where buyers compare dozens of listings, a professional sale usually more than pays for itself.
What you do yourself and what the agent does
Selling an apartment is several projects running in parallel: documents, preparing the property, materials, listings, answering calls, viewings, negotiations and formalities with the buyer's bank and the notary. Below I have set out the owner's estimated time in both scenarios.
| Task | Selling on your own | With an agent (your time) |
|---|---|---|
| Documents: land register, certificates, owners' association or cooperative | 8 h | 2 h |
| Photos, description, publishing and refreshing listings | 10 h | 0.5 h |
| Calls and messages from interested parties | 20 h | 0 h |
| Viewings, including the wasted ones | 27 h | 0 h |
| Negotiations, preliminary agreement, the buyer's bank, the notary | 15 h | 4.5 h |
| First conversation, valuation and approving the strategy | 0 h | 1 h |
| Total, estimated | approx. 80 h | approx. 8 h |
The estimate is for a typical apartment sale with a dozen or so viewings. In practice the time depends on the price, the location and the market.
Where an agent really affects the price
- The asking price. Too high and the sale drags on and ends in price cuts. Too low and you leave money on the table. A valuation based on local transactions limits both risks.
- Materials. A buyer of a premium apartment first decides on the basis of the photos and film. A professional shoot and home staging increase the number of enquiries from the right people.
- Negotiations. An agent negotiates without emotion and knows the other side's arguments. Owners who negotiate the sale of their own home give way more often.
- Access to buyers. A client database and off-market listings reach buyers who don't browse the portals every day.
When an agent isn't worth it
If you already have a buyer and only need a notary, a full agency service usually isn't necessary. The same goes if you have plenty of time, sales experience and a property in very high demand. In that case consider a narrower service, such as just a valuation or preparing the documents.
How to work it out for yourself
Add up three things: the value of your time (hours times the rate you put on it), the cost of a pricing mistake (even a 3–5% difference on a PLN 1.5 million apartment is tens of thousands of złoty) and the cost of a longer sale (service charges, mortgage, missed opportunities). If the total is more than the agent's fee, working with an agent pays off.
Premium real estate agent in Wrocław. She sells apartments and houses, handles off-market transactions and works with clients from abroad. More about me
