Your Property Guide

Your next-step plan

Your selling plan: getting ready to sell

This is where a few hours of preparation pay off most: know your costs, prepare for appraisals, and meet more than one agent.

Change my answers

Your next three steps

  1. Know your costs

    Commission, marketing and conveyancing vary by state and by agent. Run your own numbers before any agent quotes you.

    Selling costs calculator

  2. Prepare for appraisals

    Have recent nearby sales, renovation dates and your questions ready, so you can test each agent’s price estimate.

    Preparing for an appraisal

  3. Meet two or three agents

    Ask each for a written proposal covering method of sale, marketing, price evidence and fees, then compare them in one place.

    Agent proposal worksheet

A 12-week selling timeline

12 to 8 weeks before listing

  • Get two or three appraisals
  • Choose your agent and method of sale
  • Book repairs, a clean-out and any garden work

8 to 4 weeks

  • Read the agency agreement before you sign it
  • Book photography and any styling
  • Ask your conveyancer to prepare the contract and any disclosure statement your state requires

4 weeks to launch

  • Finish presentation: touch-ups, lights, garden
  • Agree the price guide and marketing schedule in writing

During the campaign

  • Ask for feedback after every open home
  • Judge offers against your walk-away number

Questions to settle

  • Auction or private sale: which suits your property and your market?
  • What evidence supports each agent’s price estimate?
  • What’s included in the commission, and what’s extra?
  • How long is the agency agreement, and how do you end it?

This plan is general information built from your answers. It isn’t personal financial, legal or real estate advice, and it isn’t a valuation. Rules and costs change: check what applies to you with the official source or a licensed professional before you commit.