How much to spend/decorate before selling house?

[sunface]

Hi, we are hoping to put our house on the market in the next few months but it really needs some external and internal work done first. Our bathroom really needs decorated as do most of the other rooms - ie a lick of paint. we need our windows fixed as they are stained glass and the wood round about needs fixed and repainted and the back of the house needs re-rendered. All in all we are looking at possibly £5K worth of work which we wont make back if we sell. Anyway does anyone know if estate agents advise you on what to do before you sell, whether to spend any money or not etcetc...

We had our house on market for a few months this summer as we are moving with dh's work. Although we are now renting the house out (market is really slow), I have the following advice that comes from my recent experience. The agents we had round were all very keen to say that we shouldn't do anything else, though admittedly our house is in pretty good shape and we've already lost money as we spent a lot doing our house up over the last five years. So I'd get the agents to give you tips when you have them round for valuations. Most of them are pretty adamant that you shouldn't spend any money you won't get back. So, apart from making sure that nothing looks too 'worn' or that it might cause problems (clunky boiler etc), I would say have fresh flowers and really 'dress' the house for sale, removing clutter and maybe buying new cushions, bedding etc. I did any painting that needed to be done myself (not easy but saved sooo much money - really regret thousands spent on decorators over the years now!). Also I bought some lovely new bedding, lamps and cushions from some very nice shops and I am taking them with me to our new rental house so not money wasted. Our house looked so nice that I wished we'd spent the several hundred pounds on niceties earlier!

We spent £10k on decorating/doing repairs/new floor coverings for our house before letting it and are now selling. The fact that it looks pristine has resulted in a higher valuation and sale agreed price. We have more than made back the £10k I think :)

It was all decorated in a creamer shade of bland with trendy stripped floorboards/beige carpets - we sold it in six days

Most of ours was redecorated (cream) to freshen it up before it went on the market (2.5 bed semi). Cost 700 pounds and was done by a v hard working polish man. The finish wasn't fantastic, but the impression it made was much better than before. Would not have been delighted if I'd had to live with it permanently but for that price ....

I agree no matter what the agent says give it a lick of paint and new cheap carpets throughout.
Get people to take their shoes off at the door or put those covers over their shoes like the show houses do.