After four months of blood, sweat, tears, effort and money, there we were, my wife - Zsofi - and I, looking at a potential loss of $15,000 on our first renovation project. Even though we bought the house at a good price, we made many rookie mistakes and overcapitalised on the very project we were hoping to pull a nice profit from. We had a very significant decision to make. Either do what everybody else does, engage a local real estate agent and walk away with a $15,000 loss OR try a private sale and hopefully break even by not having to pay the eye-watering commissions and marketing fees.