The 12-Month Plan for Getting Your Home Sale Ready
By Leigh Martinuzzi of Martinuzzi Group – eXp Realty | Sunshine Coast Real Estate
Most people start preparing their home to sell about six weeks before it goes on the market. The decision gets made, an agent is appointed, and suddenly there is a list of jobs and not much time to do them.
It works. Homes sell that way every week on the Sunshine Coast. But it is the most expensive way to do it, and the difference is not small.
The sellers who get the best results are usually the ones who started thinking about it a year out. Not working on it constantly for twelve months, which nobody has time for. Simply starting early enough that they had choices.
Here is what that year looks like. And if you have less than a year, the plan still works. You just start further down it.
Time is the cheapest thing you can spend on a sale
When you have runway, everything costs less.
You can get three quotes instead of taking the only trade available. You can wait for the right person rather than the first one. Rush rates disappear, and so does the premium you pay for someone to fit you in this fortnight.
Work done early also looks different. A deck repaired ten months out has weathered in and reads as part of the home. The same repair done three weeks before photos looks exactly like what it is, which is a job done to get the place sold. Buyers notice that, and it makes them wonder what else was patched over.
Then there is the biggest advantage, which has nothing to do with cost. Time lets you find out what is worth doing before you do it. Plenty of sellers spend twenty thousand dollars on the wrong thing, not through carelessness but because nobody told them their buyers would not pay for it. That conversation is free and takes an hour. It just has to happen before the money is spent, not after.
What a twelve month run-up actually looks like
Read this as a shape rather than a schedule. The order matters far more than the exact timing.
Twelve to ten months out: get an honest baseline
Everything else depends on this, which is why it comes first.
Arrange a proper appraisal and a realistic conversation about your likely price range. Not a number to feel good about, an honest one. From there you can work out which improvements suit your particular property and price bracket, and just as importantly which ones to leave alone entirely.
The question worth asking is not “what should we renovate?” It is “where would you spend the first five thousand dollars, and where would you not bother?”
Nine to seven months out: deal with the big repairs
This is the phase that punishes you for leaving it late.
Roof, decking, plumbing, electrical, anything structural or unsafe. These are the jobs with real lead times, sometimes approvals, and trades who are genuinely booked out. Getting competitive quotes takes weeks on its own.
Finish them now and they settle in. Leave them until the final month and you will pay more, wait longer, and end up with repairs that announce themselves in the photographs.
Six to four months out: the cosmetic refresh
Now the work that actually shifts how a buyer feels about the place.
Neutral paint throughout, modern light fittings, updated tapware, regrouted wet areas, small defects sorted, and a proper deep clean. None of it is dramatic on its own. Together it is the difference between a home that reads as cared for and one that reads as tired.
Worth saying plainly: a functional kitchen or bathroom is almost always better refreshed than replaced. A full kitchen replacement rarely returns its cost at most price points, and buyers respond to new benchtops, handles, tapware and lighting far more than the spend would suggest.
Three to two months out: street appeal and the great declutter
Buyers form a price expectation before they walk through the door. The approach, the garden, the front door and the entry do that work.
Tidy the gardens, mulch the beds, pressure-wash the paths and driveway, and make the entrance feel welcoming. None of it is expensive and all of it lands in the first ten seconds.
Inside, start packing. Excess furniture, personal items, overfull cupboards. One thing that surprises people: half-empty storage reads as generous, while packed storage reads as too small. Emptying your wardrobes genuinely makes the house feel bigger.
The final month: styling, photography and campaign
Everything here should be presentation, not repair.
Style the home properly, whether that is professional styling or a light hire of a few key pieces. Photograph only once every room, garden and surface is genuinely ready, because the photos are what most buyers see first and there is no second attempt at that.
Then finalise your agent, your method of sale and the marketing plan, with time to think about it rather than in a rush.
If you have less than a year
Most people do, and it is not a problem.
Start further down the list rather than trying to compress the whole thing. Six months out, begin at the repairs phase. Three months out, focus on street appeal, decluttering and presentation, and accept that the big-ticket items are off the table.
What you should not do is skip the first step. Even if you are listing in eight weeks, the baseline conversation about where your money is best spent still comes first. It matters more when time is short, not less, because you have fewer chances to get it wrong.
Preparation is really about having options
The point of a long run-up is not a busier year. It is that you arrive at the market with the work done, the money spent where it counts, and no pressure sitting behind you.
That changes how you negotiate. A seller who has prepared properly can hold their position, wait for the right buyer, and say no to an offer that does not suit. A seller who is scrambling usually cannot, and buyers are very good at sensing which one they are dealing with.
Want the full picture?
Our guide sets out the complete month-by-month plan, plus a spend-first breakdown of where your money works hardest, what to refresh instead of replace, and a printable checklist to work through.
Read The 12-Month Sale-Ready Plan
If you are anywhere between “we might sell one day” and “we are listing in spring”, the most useful thing you can do is find out where your home actually sits and where your preparation budget would work hardest. We are always glad to walk through a property, give you an honest price range and tell you which jobs are worth doing and which ones to leave alone. There is no obligation to sell, and no pressure either way.
Sometimes the answer is that now is not the time. That is a perfectly good outcome, and knowing it early means you can use the runway well.
Get in touch with us today and and let’s give you fantastic results that you deserve.
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This article is general information only and does not constitute financial, legal or tax advice. Martinuzzi Group does not provide financial, legal or tax advice and does not recommend specific products, lenders or structures. Always seek advice from licensed professionals tailored to your circumstances before making any commitment.
