House Selling Checklist: What to Do Before Selling

Selling your own home is a great strategy if you want to avoid having to pay exorbitant agent fees. It’s easy to advertise your home for sale online, and with more than 95% of home buyers now using the internet to look for homes for sale, there’s really no reason why you need to use an agent to sell your own property.

However, selling your home yourself will require some work and preparation—so you’ll need a good selling your property checklist.

If you’re planning to bypass the agents and sell your home yourself, this house selling checklist provides an overview of everything you need to do before putting your home on the market to ensure a smooth sale and a good outcome.

House selling checklist for selling your own home

Prepare the home for sale

You want to achieve the best possible price for your home and presentation plays a crucial role. First impressions are always important, so it’s worth investing some time, effort (and possibly money) to present your home in the best possible light.

Some things you should consider doing include:

Conducting any essential repairs to the property.
Undertaking any renovations which will make the property more appealing.
Decluttering the interior of the home.
Staging the home with more appealing furnishings.
Ensuring the garden is neat, tidy and well-maintained.
Thoroughly cleaning the home before each inspection.

Arrange the documentation

Selling your home will require some basic administrative tasks, including:

Finding a conveyancer or solicitor to prepare the contract of sale for the property.
Establishing a trust account for all monies to be deposited into (if your solicitor doesn’t already have one).

Establish a suitable asking price

Your asking price will influence the final price you’re able to achieve for your property. An asking price which is too high can scare off prospective buyers, while an asking price which is well below what you’re prepared to sell the property for will attract buyers who simply can’t afford it.

To get a realistic estimate of the market value of your property you can:

Check what other properties which are currently listed for sale are advertised for.
Research recent sales of similar properties in the area.
Review property and suburb reports.
Consider obtaining a professional valuation.

Before putting your home up for sale, it’s also important to:

Check if there are any price advertising regulations in your state or territory.
Determine what your reserve or minimum sales price is.
Decide on your preferred settlement period (e.g. 30, 60 or 90 days).

Decide how you want to sell your property

You’ll also need to decide if you want to sell your home by auction or private treaty.
There are pros and cons to each option, so it’s important to consider what the most common method of sale is in the area for homes like yours and which is likely to get the best outcome.
If you do decide to sell by auction, you’ll need to book a licenced auctioneer to conduct the auction on your behalf.

Formulate your advertising strategy

Finally, you’ll need to determine how best to advertise your home for sale. This generally includes:

Writing your advertisement.
Organising quality photographs of the property.
Creating an online listing on one or more real estate advertising websites.
Organising a ‘For Sale’ sign.
Printing paper brochures to hand out at inspections.
Conducting open for inspections and/or private inspections.

Ticked everything off your selling property checklist?

Congratulations! Now you’re ready to sell your property.

To find out what happens next, it may help to read our piece on the steps to a successful closure. Our guide to selling your own home also includes plenty of useful information.

When you’re ready to list your property for sale, we’ll help make the whole process easy. Get started by signing up for your free account.