This is the sequence, in the order it happens, with the decisions that matter flagged at each stage. Nothing here is unusual. The value is in knowing what comes next so that no stage surprises you.

1. Establish what you are selling

Before pricing, before staging, establish whether your property is a house, a site, or genuinely both. This is covered in detail in the first step most sellers skip, and it shapes everything downstream. Run a development potential assessment so you are working from what the parcel permits rather than what you assume.

2. Get a considered valuation

Not an automated estimate. A valuation built from comparable sales, current competing listings, the condition of your property, and what the lot supports. This produces a range, not a single number, because the market produces a range.

3. Decide your timing and your priority

Speed and price pull against each other. Decide early which one you are optimising for, because the strategy differs. A seller who must complete by a fixed date runs a different process from a seller testing a number.

4. Prepare the property to suit the buyer

Only now does it make sense to spend money. What you do depends entirely on step one. A property being sold to a family justifies presentation work. A property being sold as a site does not.

5. Assemble the paperwork

Title, property disclosure statement, any strata documents, permits for past work, survey if one exists, and servicing information if the site matters. Gathering this early prevents delays during the subject period later.

6. List and market

Photography, floor plans, the listing description, MLS exposure and the marketing pointed at whichever buyer pool is in play. Showings and open houses follow.

7. Receive and negotiate offers

An offer is more than a price. Deposit, completion and possession dates, included items, and above all the subject clauses. A higher price with fragile subjects is often worth less than a lower price with firm ones.

8. The subject period

The buyer completes whatever they made their offer conditional on. Financing, inspection, document review, insurance. This is where sales most often fail, and where preparation in step five pays for itself.

9. Subject removal

The buyer removes their conditions in writing and the contract becomes firm. The deposit is delivered according to the contract.

10. Conveyancing

Lawyers or notaries handle the transfer. You will sign documents ahead of completion, and your lender will provide a payout statement if you have a mortgage.

11. Completion and possession

Funds transfer and title changes hands on completion. Possession usually follows. These are different dates and they are defined in the contract.

Where sellers lose money

Almost always at step one, by establishing what they are selling only after they have priced it. Everything else in this list is procedure. Step one is strategy.

Start there. Run the assessment, get the valuation, then work down the list.