Picture this: your real estate agent is on his knees, ripping up the carpet in your house. He's uncovered a unique lino underneath and wants it to feature in the photos. Over the weekend his mates painted the hallway white. To finish, he'll swap the light fitting with one he's sourced from an antique dealer. He's doing it for free. He knows your drab terrace will sell once he finds its colour.

It's a rare, but true, story. This now-former agent knew the best way to score a buyer (and broke a sales record in the process), but do you?

First, give yourself six months for the process, and stop thinking there's only one time to sell. "Spring? That is very, very outdated," says Sara Chamberlain, director of The Real Estate Stylist (TRES) - which is already taking bookings for the popular selling season. RT Edgar Hawthorn director Glen Coutinho agrees. "In this climate it doesn't really matter. The market's all year round."

Next: presentation. Good street appeal will immediately put would-be buyers in the right frame of mind. "Curb appeal sets the lens for which they look through the rest of the property with," says Jellis Craig Northcote director Sam Rigopoulos. Think green lawns, put colour in the garden and replace broken decking.

Inside, things get personal. Just hearing Coutinho list how vendors can maximise the chance of selling makes one wonder if a counsellor should be involved, too.

"Taking out half the furniture because the room's cluttered, taking all the pictures off the walls, stripping the fridge of magnets, says Coutinho. Oh, and de-pet. "Lots of families have dogs, that doesn't help sell a house," he says. Over-sized furniture is out.

Getting rid of "stuff" isn't easy. "Any place you walk into needs a declutter," says Luke Sacco from Nelson Alexander Fitzroy. "That's the hardest thing because it's something the owner has to do. With the other stuff like painting and repairs, generally you can outsource."

Letting agents outsource the work can work in your favour: their established relationships with stylists and trades means the latter are more likely to show up on demand.

Budget for a spruce-up. "On a $2 million-$3 million property vendors might spend from $5000-$10,000," says Coutinho. "Ten can get you a lot done. Spend $5000 on furniture and $5000 on a freshen-up. We can get most houses looking good with that," he says.

Too good to sell, sometimes. "I've done one where we completely renovated the house and they decided to stay. But that's life," he deadpans.

Spending $5000 to rent furniture gets great returns, reports Chamberlain. "Honestly, we'd say it's $10,000 for every $1000 you spend on styling."

She says TRES styles every kind of property. "Properties that had either challenging floor plans, or lacklustre colour palettes or were built in the '90s or poky or dark; if an investor puts $5000 into it, we see as much as $50,000 return on the auction campaign."

Sometimes you can't tell if a property's been styled. Take 51a Little Smith Street, Fitzroy, which screamed "authentic Fitzroy warehouse" with every piece of furniture. Sacco says it was all staged.

"Everyone liked it was because it was a true warehouse. It was important to make sure that throughout the place it felt like a warehouse, so the owners put in a lot of time and effort to get it right. They'd been there 17 years and it needed a bit of paint, some decking work and a change of furniture," says Sacco.

The warehouse was quoted at $1.55 million-$1.65 million and sold for $2.1 million. Did the investment - estimated at $15,000-$20,000 - pay off? "I think with the handyman, the furniture and the set-up, it did work," says Sacco.

And now price. Spend the six months nosying around the neighbourhood. "Look at how the properties around you are performing, how your street and area is performing," advises Chamberlain. Price accordingly. "If you price it too high, the market will basically look at it on the net and not turn up to your opens," says Coutinho. And once you've done all the work, that's the last thing you want.

28 Grattan Street, Prahran

$8.5 million+
4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 4 car spaces

This is a grand home. However, the facade, resembles a cross between a subtle Paris apartment block and an Irish bank. It might remind buyers this is zoned commercial. Yes, working from home in your own piece of "Paris in Melbourne" is possible. Should anything in the interior take your fancy there's a possibility the vendor will part with it. "Not his artwork, though!" says agent Tim Derham. The house is full of fine craftmanship and surprises. As Derham says, "when you're building something for yourself, and you're one of Melbourne's leading architects, and you've got the money, why not?"

Private sale

Inspect: By appointment

Agent: Abercromby's, Tim Derham, 0438 332 844