Abstract:
The present study examines the reasons home sellers choose to list privately. It is a study first of its kind studied from the private home sellers' perspective with a goal to achieve a better understanding of private home sellers. The goal of the study is to build theory surrounding the factors influencing a home seller's decision to list privately. A gap was found after reviewing the relevant literature, to reveal that private home sellers have been assumed to have listed privately due to cost. A qualitative approach was adopted, and twelve private home sellers who have listed privately on TradeMe in Auckland, New Zealand were interviewed between 2011 and 2012. A framework was built using themes from the interviews. Findings reveal that the two perspectives from the literature, transaction cost and social embeddedness perspectives were both partially supported. Home seller characteristics (experiences in particular), property characteristics and market conditions, and opportunity cost were factors that directly influenced their decisions to list privately. In addition, the reasons for listing with a real estate agent were also found. The findings of this study have important implications for real estate agents, home sellers and fellow researchers in this field.