What do I search for/who do I need?

[ExJasper]

I have a large 5 bed house on 3 storeys. Parts of it are ok (eg kitchen and bathrooms) but lots of it is tired and needs some work.

The house is old and too much for me now and I want to move - but obviously I need to get it into shape for moving and to maximise what I can get for it. For lots of reasons I won't go into (but I will admit inertia and laziness and lack of vision factor among them - there are more valid ones I promise!), I want help doing this.

Basically I went to spend as little as possible to make things look presentable so who do I need? I googled "house doctor" (remember that?!) but just got local Gp surgeries!

Thanks for any suggestions.

Get a local estate agent to come round and give you advice as to whether it is worth doing up to sell. They may also have ideas of who could help you with any work needed. Possibly.

Search for house staging. Estate Agents will just tell you it's fine as it is because they want to get you on there books as soon as possible and the difference you might get in the sale price won't translate to much additional commission for them.

Unless you do a full refurb it's not worth the hassle and expense. Just sell as it is so buyers can 'put their own stamp on it'.

Thanks for the replies :)

I'm a bit reluctant to get estate agents in until it's looking ok but, like you say, I guess they don't care really.

I know everyone will have their own ideas and taste which is why I just want to "dress" it for sale. I'm not creative enough to do this cannily and will end up spending more than I need to so that's why I thought house doctors would be a good move.

House stagers is a good suggestion - thank you. Will have a look tomorrow and see if there's anyone nearby :)

Maybe just: declutter; clean fresh neutral colour bedding; get a cleaner for the bathrooms; windows cleaned; tidy up. Depends obviously on how much needs to be done. Good luck!

I’d second the suggestion to just ask estate agents what to prioritise. We’d planned to redecorate a few rooms in neutral colours etc, but in our case they advised just fixing a couple of basic maintenance issues and getting the fruit trees professionally cut back, which we hadn’t thought of at all.
They’ll know the local market and what’s likely to get in the way of a sale.

Declutter. Be absolutely ruthless and get rid of everything you can, and pack away as much as you can.

Get a cleaner in to do a deep clean, including walls and carpets, windows inside and out.

Tidy up the front, pour boiling water on the weeds growing up through the cracks, sweep up any litter, and hose down the pavement outside.

Then take some photos like an estate agent would and pretend you are looking to move in. Look at anything that stands out.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions, much appreciated.