You have decided to sell your home without using a real estate agent – what next?

The first thing you must do before you market your property is to ensure the legal requirements for selling a house in your state are met. Myhomeonline.com.au use the following referral services to legal practitioners within your state. Click here to contact a conveyancer in your state.

Preparing the property for sale

General tips

• Set a reasonable asking price.
• Focus on the positives of your property in the advertisement.
• Take photographs of your property once any renovations or a makeover has been completed.
• Present your home as a comfortable place to live.
• Research the real estate market in your area to determine how much similar properties are selling for.
• Tidy up the property. For example, remove all unnecessary clutter, mow the lawns, and clean the bathroom, kitchen and windows.
• Consider making small improvements to the property that may increase the value of the property.
• Consider arranging a professional valuation of your property.
• Show enthusiasm at any open inspections.

Open inspection tips

Before an inspection ensure you do the following:

• Thoroughly clean each room.
• Mow the lawns, sweep the driveway and paths, remove weeds from the garden, and clean the pool if required.
• Remove unnecessary clutter.
• Arrange the furniture in a way that makes the room look bigger.
• Ensure all lights are working properly.
• Clean the carpets, if required.
• Arrange plants and flowers around the property to enhance its presentation.
• Remove pets from the property.
• Do not leave any dishes in the sink or drying out.
• Remove all dirty clothes from floors, bedrooms and the laundry.
• In the bathroom, put all toiletries away in cupboards.
• All towels in the bathroom and kitchen are clean and hung up neat and tidy.
• Remove any items belonging to your pets.
• All beds are made and all personal items are put away. Use your best linen and place soft toys on children's beds.
• Turn off all radios and televisions. Play soft soothing music.
• Brew a pot of fresh coffee so the aroma spreads through the house.
• Record visitors’ names and contact details to follow up after the inspection. Ask for photo identification before allowing them into your home.

Tips for photographs

Photograph Format

• The required file format for photographs is 'JPEG'.
• The resolution of the photographs must be 300 dpi. This ensures that the photographs are suitable for inclusion in the magazine.

Conventional photographs

• If you don’t have a digital camera, you can use a computer scanner to save photographs in an electronic format.
• You must remember to scan the photo at 300 dpi resolution and save it in 'JPEG' format.
• Alternatively, if you don't have a scanner, you can take your prints to a photo dealer. Your photo dealer can scan and transfer your photos to a cd.
• Remember to tell the photo dealer that the photos must be scanned at a resolution of 300 dpi and be saved in 'JPEG' format.

Photography tips

Follow these tips to ensure you obtain the most effective photographs of your property:

• Take photographs of the positive features of your property.
• Commence your photo shoot by taking several test shots to check and tweak your camera settings.
• Take several shots of the same subject. Select the photograph that is most effective.
• Use a tripod to take shots where possible to prevent 'shaky' photographs. Alternatively, take shots by placing your camera on an even surface.
• Take shots at the highest resolution for your camera.
• Before taking a photo, check the composition in the viewfinder or on the LCD panel.
• Experiment with several angles to achieve an eye catching effect or to eliminate obstructions.
• Avoid using the flash when taking photos of rooms with items that have reflective surfaces.
• Take indoor shots, when the light inside is brighter than the outside.
• If you are photographing dark rooms, open the curtains and windows to draw in outside light.
• If you are taking photographs with the lights turned on, adjust the 'white balance' settings on your camera.
• Remove clutter from a room before taking photographs. This maximises the size of the room.
• Take outdoor shots on a bright but diffused day. Outdoor shots are most effective when clouds block the sun and there are no apparent shadows.
• Use editing software to improve your photographs. You might consider cropping, adjusting the brightness and contrast or sharpening the photo.
• If you are an advanced user, you can use stitched photos to include more details in your photos. Stitching is the process of overlapping several individual photographs to create a composite photograph. When taking the individual photos, you must keep the camera level. Also remember to include enough common areas of overlap on each photo. Use a photo editing package to combine the individual photographs.

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