Hot Property with Mary Turnbull: Presenting your home's best side

Going the extra mile can pay huge dividends in the current housing market.

I’m incredibly particular in how the houses I market are presented. I love to work with homes at the low, medium and high end of the market and all of these perform better when they get the loving touch.

Unless a house is absolutely top notch, I suggest staging. It gives a sense of space and personality when the rooms have furniture in them, and it makes such a huge difference when you lay out all those extra details like flowers, candles and outdoor seating.

I also want to make sure the house sparkles. It’s absolutely worth the investment to get in cleaners, window washers, gardeners and touch-up painters. You want to market a home's best side, and provide fewer obstacles for buyers to try and pull the price down.

Also I’m very big on photos and I work with an amazing photographer. We get daytime photos and almost always get twilight photos because they look stunning. Depending on the property I might also look at drone photography, and these days a video walkthrough is an easy and valuable addition. With a lot of people buying from overseas and out of town who can’t travel to an open home, these things can give them a better idea of what your property has going for it.

When it comes to an open home, it’s the agent’s time to shine. This is when having an agent that cares about your property and gives the personal touch will make a difference to how many people turn up to your auction. I make sure we have high-quality brochures people will hold onto, and talk knowledgeably to potential buyers. Importantly, I make sure to give follow-up calls to everyone who visits your open home.

And finally, my timeless advice: I absolutely 100% recommend taking your property to auction. Values are changing so rapidly at the moment it’s impossible to know what you can get until you see it play out in a transparent bid.