When it comes to putting your home on the market, the how-to can be overwhelming. And let's keep in mind that you may be asked to sell a property before you know much about it.

There are plenty of cases where relatives have passed away leaving their estate to be broken up between the family members. Getting a good price is important so that everyone can have a useful share, however, having time to get the property ready, knowing much about the property history and diving up the work can seem impossible.

Where to start, what's important and how much money and time should you spend?

Fortunately, there are solid answers to these questions. We're listing them for you as a guide on what to target so you can feel confident getting to work and getting the most out of your sale, or even someone else's.

We're going to outline some specific guidelines to follow to help make your home sale preparations economical and efficient.

Do your research

Research is essential to buy or sell any property well. People often avoid it because it seems like hard work, but actually, pulling up the numbers and sticking your nose around the town is not that hard, it just takes a little time and brainpower.

Take a look at the market performance in your area, in your street and find patterns.

Questions to ask as you nose around:

• Who is likely going to buy your property? This depends on your property type; the number of bedrooms, outdoor space etc. Ask your real estate agent what type of people will be interested in your type of property.

• What types of people live in your community already? Families, newly-weds, grandparents, students, single professionals

• What prices are other homes selling for and what are their key features?

• Who is currently getting into the market, landlords, millennials?

• What assets does your community have to fulfil the needs of its key residents, schools, shops, offices, public transport?

• What do you like best about the location and the property? What doesn’t it have (i.e why are you moving on)?

There are plenty of places online where people comment about their community, what they love about and what they were looking for when they moved in.

Once you know the patterns that sell in your area, make these your leverage points and appeal to these big buyers to give them exactly what they are looking for.

Make sure you cater to what they want. If your property is going to appeal to a family with young kids and they’ll want a backyard, don’t spend money paving the garden and making a courtyard.

Take the time to give people what they want and they will be more than happy to pay extra for it.

The more people who are interested in buying, the higher the price will go. Be in demand

Value is something you can see

If the house needs structural work to keep it up to date, something like rewiring or restumping, for example, keep in mind that it's hidden.

People like to buy what they can see. This is why superficial as it may sound, it is better to spend on visible things, go for the wow factor.

To get the house restumped will set you back around $20,000. However, it's probably not going to add much value. Even saying, "it's just been restumped!" will not necessarily get your money back. It will probably only get you about $10,000 extra on your selling price, so you'll be out of pocket.

Real value for your buyer lies in what looks appealing, ‘this is the life I want!’. Not too many people lay in bed dreaming of a perfectly stumped house or fresh insulation batts, no, they imagine their gleaming bathroom, a modern kitchen and a beautiful living room to invite friends into.

Giving the interior a sleek and modern facelift won’t cost you very much and is easy to do yourself, but it will add thousands of dollars in worth in your buyer’s eye.

Help them imagine the best from your property and give them the dream they are wishing to move into. Fittings like taps, spouts, door handles, fresh paint and beautiful floors or carpets will have them sighing. Stumping will have them shrugging, like, sure it’s solid but it's just not me.

Find a general appeal

Your favourite colour is lime green, that’s wonderful, but how many other people will want a lime green interior?

When you are giving your interior a facelift, be sure to keep it neutrally appealing. Your tastes are great when you are living in the home, but it's time now for someone else to settle in now, so make sure they have room to fall in love with what they see.

You want your sale over quickly with a lot of interest, so go for a neutral pallet that won't have them pulling a sour face. They will be more likely to see the potential in your home and paint over it later than run for the hills and buy something down the street.

Okay so maybe there is another lime green lover out there who will go giddy at your colour choice, but how long will it take for them to find you, and if they are the only one, it’s not exactly going to start a bidding war.

Neutral colours are creams, mochas and powdery soft blues.

You have to win over the banks as well.

Here’s where things get tricky. Your buyer wants fresh paint and new taps, the bank want

to see restumping, rewiring and a clean bill of health.

Banks are all about business, they don’t give a fig about natural paint tones or showers over baths. They want to be sure they will get their investment back if things go wrong.

They are not in the business of being your friend or giving you a break, no matter how much you need it.

When it comes to winning over the big money lenders there is only one thing you need to address. Your property is low risk.

To achieve this you need to nail point #1: Your research and your execution of what your buyer wants. A superficial double coat of paint is not as appealing as assuring the bank that your property has the key features that make it marketable and appealing. They will register high demand as an asset and that will make it low risk. See, that digging around was worth it.

In our next blog, we'll show you how to take these four factors and put them into practice with a list of proven ways to Increase The Value Of Your Property. We'll give you the lowdown on what methods work to fulfil your potential buyers' dreams of owning THIS home!

In the meantime, you might like to do this activity to prepare: Take a walk, cycle or drive around your neighbourhood and pick five properties that you think are the best. Write down what about them looks amazing. Street appeal is such a massive factor and this little assignment is a great way to highlight that. So next blog we jump into how to get your house into that top five on your list, inside and out!

Contact us today if you would like one of the best NSW conveyancers to walk you through your property transaction.