How to Sell a House by Owner in 2026: Steps, Costs + Zillow

Updated October 2026.

To sell a house by owner, price it from recent nearby sales, prepare the disclosures, list it, run showings, negotiate offers, then sign a contract and close through a title company or attorney. As of October 2026, the median U.S. home spent 33 days on the market, so plan on about two months from prep to closing.

Want buyer agents to see it? A flat fee MLS listing with Beycome starts at $99, with $0 due to Beycome at closing, and you still run the sale.

Jump to: 🪜 Steps · 💲 Cost · 🏠 Zillow · 🤝 Offers · 📍 By state · ❓ FAQ

What are the steps to sell a house by owner?

Selling real estate by owner comes down to six steps, each covered below.

1. Price the home from recent sold comps, not list prices.
2. Gather your disclosures and paperwork before you list.
3. List it: on the MLS through a flat fee broker, on Zillow’s free FSBO tool, or both.
4. Run showings by appointment, with pre-approved buyers.
5. Compare offers on terms as well as price, and decide on buyer’s agent pay.
6. Sign your state’s contract and close through a title company or attorney.

The same steps work for a condo, a townhouse or a lot. Condo and HOA homes add the association’s resale documents. For narrower questions, see our guides to the legal and paperwork path when you sell on your own, getting your house listed for sale by owner and who does each job when you sell without an agent.

How much does it cost to sell a house by owner?

Here’s the listing cost on the September 2026 national median price. Buyer’s agent pay, title and taxes work the same way on every path.

So the gap between hiring a listing agent and a $99 flat fee listing is $11,424 on that home. If you want more help, our flat fee MLS plans go up to Concierge, and every one has $0 due to us at closing.

Going fully FSBO saves the $99 too. The trade is reach: a listing that isn’t on the MLS won’t show up when buyer agents search.

How long does it take to sell a house by owner?

Plan on three stretches of time.

• Prep, photos and paperwork: give yourself one to two weeks.
• Listing to accepted offer: the median was 33 days in September 2026, up from 31 in August, per NAR.
• Accepted offer to closing: your contract sets the date. A cash buyer can close fast, while a buyer with a loan needs time for the appraisal and the lender.

If the buyer has a loan, plan on about five weeks. According to ICE Mortgage Technology’s May 2026 Mortgage Monitor, purchase loans took an average of 36.8 days from application to closing in March 2026. Pick a closing date with that in mind, and ask the buyer’s lender for its timeline in writing.

Step 1: How do you price a house you’re selling yourself?

Price decides most FSBO sales. Start with homes that sold, not homes that are listed: sales from the last three to six months, close to you, with similar size, age and bedrooms.

Run your address through our free home value estimator, which pulls recent comps and public records. Then check whether prices and days on market in your area are rising or falling.

A Zestimate is a starting point, not a price. If your buyer gets a loan, the appraiser will check your price against those same sold comps. A price the comps can’t support often ends in a low appraisal and a second round of talks.

Step 2: What disclosures do you need to sell by owner?

Disclosures protect you as much as the buyer. A known defect you kept quiet is the classic way a sale ends up in court. Our paperwork checklist for selling a house by owner lists every document by stage and by state.

Federal rule for homes built before 1978. Under Title X, the EPA and HUD require sellers of most pre-1978 homes to do five things before the buyer is bound by the contract:

• Give the buyer the EPA pamphlet “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home” before they sign.
• Disclose any lead-based paint or hazards you know about.
• Hand over any reports or records you have.
• Attach the Lead Warning Statement to the contract.
• Give the buyer 10 days to test for lead, unless they waive it in writing.

Keep a signed copy for three years after closing. The EPA publishes sample disclosure forms you can use.

State rules. These vary a lot. Florida is a good example: since 2024, section 689.302 requires residential sellers to give a flood disclosure at or before signing the contract. Our Florida FSBO contract guide walks through the rest of the Florida rules. In another state, check your real estate commission’s site or ask a local attorney.

Step 3: Where should you list: the MLS, Zillow or free sites?

You have three real choices, and they differ in who sees your home.

• Free FSBO sites, including Zillow’s FSBO tool: free, but not on the MLS.
• Flat fee MLS: a licensed broker puts your home on the local MLS for a fixed fee, and the MLS feed sends it to Zillow, Realtor.com and other sites.
• A full-service listing agent: on the MLS, with a commission at closing.

Only member brokers can enter MLS listings, and it’s where buyer agents search. FSBO sales fell to an all-time low of 5% of sellers in NAR’s 2025 profile, so most buyers you want have an agent who checks the MLS first. It’s one reason people ask whether it’s hard to sell a house by owner.

Photos, descriptions and the listing setup are covered in our guide on how to list your house for sale by owner. If you’re comparing free sites, see our roundup of for sale by owner websites.

How do you sell a house on Zillow by owner?

Here’s what Zillow’s own pages say as of October 2026:

• Posting a FSBO listing is free and includes video and unlimited photos.
• You must own the home, post from a consumer account, and give the full street address. Zillow may ask for proof of ownership, such as a certificate of title.
• Once you claim your home, the Owner Dashboard lets you edit the listing and track views.

Now the limits. Zillow’s FSBO support page says that “to comply with local real estate rules,” it can no longer help create FSBO listings in some areas. There it points owners to an unaffiliated free site. And a Zillow FSBO listing isn’t on the MLS, so it won’t reach the agent searches we described above. If you still want one, here’s how to list a home on Zillow and what to do if the post stalls.

There’s a second way onto Zillow. MLS listings reach it through the listing feed, and Zillow says feed updates show up within 24 hours. That’s how a flat fee MLS listing appears there as a regular listing while you run the sale. Write the remarks once and well, with our home listing description examples.

The complaint we hear most from owners who tried a free Zillow post before coming to us: the only people calling were agents who wanted to list the house. That’s a fair frustration. Zillow’s help center says FSBO posts show under a separate “Other listings” tab, apart from agent listings. The post isn’t sent to Realtor.com, Redfin or the brokerage sites the MLS feeds. So you can end up turning down pitches instead of booking showings.

Our advice: if your free Zillow post has been up for a few weeks and the calls are mostly agent pitches, not tour requests, add the MLS before you cut the price. You want buyers calling you, not agents trying to become your agent. You still set the price and approve every showing, but the home now reaches the buyer agents who search the MLS.

Step 4: How do you handle showings safely?

A few habits keep showings safe and short.

• Show by appointment only, and get a full name and phone number first.
• Ask for a loan pre-approval letter or proof of funds before a private tour.
• Have someone else home with you, and keep your phone on you.
• Lock up medicine, jewelry, keys and papers with personal details.

Keep your ad and your answers about the home, not about who should live there. The Fair Housing Act bars housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or disability. Our listings include a showing scheduler: buyers request a time and you approve it from your phone.

Step 5: How do offers and buyer-agent commission work now?

Most buyers will come with an agent. Since the NAR settlement changes took effect on August 17, 2024, that agent must sign a written agreement with the buyer before touring your home. It states what the agent gets paid, and that pay is “fully negotiable and not set by law,” as NAR explains.

Offers to pay the buyer’s agent are no longer allowed on the MLS. You can still offer it off the MLS, agree to it inside a buyer’s offer, or say no. You can also offer a concession on the MLS, such as help with the buyer’s closing costs, as long as it isn’t tied to paying their agent.

Compare more than the price:

• How the buyer pays (cash, conventional, FHA or VA) and how solid the pre-approval is.
• How much earnest money they put down.
• Which contingencies they ask for, and how long each one lasts.
• The closing date, and any request to cover their agent or their closing costs.

You can accept, counter or reject each one. If you’d like an expert to work with you on negotiation and paperwork, always on your side, our Concierge plan adds that help, and every decision stays yours. It’s $1,399, paid upfront.

Step 6: Who handles the contract, title and closing?

Use your state’s standard purchase contract, not a generic web form. Depending on the state, an attorney or a title company runs the closing. They search the title, hold the earnest money, issue title insurance, pay off your mortgage and record the deed.

Beycome Title can close it in Florida, Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. The settlement fee is $99 in Florida when prepaid on beycome.com and $299 in Texas. You get an itemized estimate before you commit.

Your own closing costs depend on your state and contract: transfer taxes, title charges, your loan payoff and anything you agreed to cover for the buyer. See which fees you skip when you sell without realtor fees and which stay.

Is selling by owner worth it?

It is if you have the time, a price backed by comps, and a way to reach agents’ buyers. Our steps for selling your own home show how much time to plan for. The risks are real, too. Zillow’s own FSBO page says research shows homes sold with an agent often sell for more. NAR also found that 60% of FSBO sellers already knew their buyer, which helps explain why pure FSBO sales look different from listed ones.

That’s why most of our sellers pick the middle path: a flat fee MLS listing, with the sale run by them.

What we’d recommend to a friend: if you already have a buyer, a solid contract and a title company are enough, and a FSBO post costs nothing. If you don’t, list on the MLS, where a $99 flat fee MLS listing buys you the reach while you still run the sale.

Related reading: how to get maximum exposure on Zillow.

How do you sell a house by owner in your state?

The steps above work everywhere, but disclosures, transfer taxes, closing rules and the local MLS change by state. For a high-price California example, see selling your home yourself in Sunnyvale. Start with your state’s guide:

• Selling by owner in Alabama.
• Selling by owner in California.
• Selling by owner in Connecticut.
• Selling by owner in Florida.
• Selling by owner in Georgia.
• Selling by owner in Illinois.
• Selling by owner in Indiana.
• Selling by owner in Maryland.
• Selling by owner in Michigan.
• Selling by owner in Minnesota.
• Selling by owner in North Carolina.
• Selling by owner in Ohio.
• Selling by owner in Pennsylvania.
• Selling by owner in South Carolina.
• Selling by owner in Tennessee.
• Selling by owner in Texas.
• Selling by owner in Virginia.
• Selling by owner in Washington, DC.

For the paperwork, see the FSBO document checklist and the for sale by owner contract guide. To reach buyer agents, read how to list on the MLS without a realtor.

Related reading: what Zillow charges for a for sale by owner listing.

Frequently asked questions

Reviewed by Beycome Brokerage Realty LLC, a licensed real estate brokerage. Licenses: beycome.com/faq/how-to/are-you-a-licensed-broker/.