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Nicer weather is here and that means a number of houses will be hitting the open market for sale. If you need to sell your house and you've never done it before, it can be a daunting task. Where do you start and how do you make it marketable?

“Selling your home is a process, it's not an event. The first step is finding out what your goal is for selling the home, what the home is worth and what kind of time frame you're looking at to reach that goal, whether it's moving up to a house or downsizing,” said real estate broker Kevin Clancy.

Once you settle a on a listing price for your home, it's time to make it as marketable as possible.

“When I list a home I look for the hook. What makes it different? Is it a larger yard? Is it the privacy? Is it the solarium in the back. What differentiates that home and that's what you want to play up on,” said Clancy.

Now that you've listed and gotten the value of your home, it's time to make it presentable to be viewed, through pictures and open houses. Clancy has some ideas to how to make the property stand out.

“It's just like when you have company come over, you want your house to be presentable in the best shape it can be in and that's removing all clutter, opening all of the blinds, turning all of the lights on, making sure all of the odors are out, pet odors are gone. You want to bake an apple pie if you can,” said Clancy.

And in the warmer months, you also need to make sure your first impression, the outside, is ready as well.

“Most buyers, statistically, will make the decision in the first 4 or 5 minutes of pulling up to a house. You want the front door to be painted, you want it clean, you want the outside to be as appealing as possible,” said Clancy.

Clancy went on to tell us that the typical home sells in three to six months from the time it is listed. If it doesn't sell after six months it may be time to re-evaluate your pricing and your marketing.