How long should it take to put your house on the market?

For some people, it can take months, even years, to commit to the monumental decision to sell their house.

But once you've made your decision, then the true countdown begins before your house is on the market and ready to be seen by prospective buyers.

We asked expert to tell us, once you've decided to sell, just how much time do you need to actually get the property to market?

NZ Sotheby’s International Realty agent Pene Milne says it takes from two to eight weeks from selecting an agency to preparing the campaign and being ready to hit the market.

Decluttering the whole house and taking care of any deferred maintenance is an important process before you even call in the photographers for the marketing of the house. And that’s the part that often taking the longest, she adds.

“Look at how much stuff is stored in the cupboards, wardrobes, the garage and minimise it so you have nice, clear space for when the buyers come in.”

Milne adds that it is almost a full-time job getting the house ready for the market, so advises her vendors to make sure to allow time when they are agreeing to their marketing timetable.

“If it’s a small investment property and it just needs a bit of paint in a couple of places then it’s doable in two weeks. But if it’s a family trying to get things done while also balancing their professional lives, much longer.”

Allow yourself from two weeks to a month to make your house look good prior to the sale to allow time to book trades to do jobs like water blasting, cleaning or freshening up the paint before the property is ready to be professionally photographed.

At the same time, Kevin Lampen-Smith of the Real Estate Authority (REA) says, you'll need to get paperwork in order.

Agents are required to comply with the regulatory paperwork - and that's not just for the Real Estate Act, but also regulations to do with the Commerce and Fair Trading acts. Since January 2019 they also have to meet the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations.

"Before the vendor can sign the listing with an agent, they are now required to verify the identity of the clients," he says. "Things can't happen as fast these days, we all have to put up with a bit more paperwork"

Usually if a house is owned by a single person or couple, that's pretty simple, but if the property is co-owned by multiple owners, a trust or business, or the owners are overseas, the agency compliance officer has to dig to find the original beneficiary of ownership of the property. Lampen-Smith says that while around 15 percent of homes are owned by a trust, some owners set them up so long ago that they have forgotten that arrangement.

The agent cannot proceed with a listing until their compliance officers give the client verification a green light on AML. The REA also recommends that owners provide a LIM report, which can take ten or more days to get from council, to make sure that things like consents, completion certificates or outstanding issues are sorted.

"It's a good practice to have it sitting on the lounge table. It reduces the risks around disclosure - do people have all the information for their purchase. It makes the sale go quicker, it's more efficient for the purchaser."

While the due diligence is being done, use that time to give your place a fresh coat of paint and fix any maintenance issues.

Ray White Ponsonby agent Lynn Lacy-Hauck says to achieve the best result it is wise to take your time and not race through the process.

“You can rush and get photos done on a cloudy day but generally, it’s a good idea to have a couple of weeks up your sleeves.”

However, Lacy-Hauck tells people think twice about any major renovations, addition or enhancements as they might not be worth it.

“If you are doing any major building work, unless it’s to deal with an existing problem, you might just be recovering the cost rather than making a profit if you're selling right away,” Lacy-Hauck says.

A key issue now is that if the property was heavily altered at any point, vendors need to check that it was consented and certificates of completion were issued before contacting the agent. Getting completion certificates may drag out the paperwork process for longer and delay the listing.

"Agents may make it a condition of the listing that all this information is obtained up front," says Lampen-Smith.

Bayleys’ agent David Rainbow, in real estate for over 30 years, says it happens quite often that sellers simply don’t know to check the updated compliance of the house.

He is currently working with the vendor who doesn’t have a permit for work he has done on the house and says it is adding extra weeks to the selling process.

“It all comes down to what required to be done to make it comply. If the house had work done five years ago and the rules have changed that means people have to make the whole house comply to today’s rules.”

Once the paperwork is ready, the marketing process takes about four weeks, Rainbow says.

Making a house presentable and appealing before the marketing campaign is the key. Keep it simple, he suggests.

“I would not suggest you paint the place pink, because buyers might want it white or purple. But it’s our job to attract the right buyer.”