Getting best from selling empty house

[BagsyThisName]

Has anyone got any ideas on how we can get the most from selling an empty house through decor and presentation?

We will take specific advice from estate agents who will value it and our friend who is an estate agent, so I am asking generally not specifically.

Obviously it needs to be clean. The decor is plain but dirty so it would benefit from a lick of paint. Is magnolia / beige always best? I was thinking perhaps some subtle feature wallpaper in living room for example might make it look less sterile, along with some curtains that complement it.

I don't know how to make it look welcoming without putting people off by it not being to their taste. What have you seen that works?

I would make it as neutral as you can to be honest. I hate magnolia though, a nicer off white like natural calico is much nicer.

What are the carpets like? If plain but dirty, have them professionally cleaned. If 70s swirl-fest, perhaps replace. Personally I wouldn't use feature wallpaper and I would go for a slightly more on-trend colour than magnolia. Don't underestimate how much time giving a "quick lick" of paint will take - you will need to do all the ceilings, cut in and the woodwork will look yellow and awful once the walls and ceilings are painted and that takes a loooong time.

Hi flooring a mixture of fairly new (will clean) and laminate (possibly a bit dodgy by now, will consider replacing it with average carpet).

See they've just added some colour in a beige room in 'selling houses'.... (not that they ever end up actually selling them...)

When we sold our empty house we did nothing except clean it. It had a damp inner wall in downstairs toilet, broken extractor fan in downstairs shower and needed decorating. Removed old carpets and left floorboards.

Got over the recommended asking price and the new owner has since knocked down the damp wall and removed the shower room and toilet to create family room and has decorated to her taste- we gave her a blank canvas to work on!

We could have spent several thousands and loads of time repairing and smartening it up only for the new owner to remove all our work.
You need to decide if it is worth the effort.

A lot depends on the area and the market and how quickly you want to sell. Before doing anything, I'd get two or three estate agents to come and value the property as it is now, and then ask them, if I did xyz, how much would that add to the value? Also ask them to suggest things that would increase its appeal. Sometimes it wouldn't add anything to the value, but might make it sell quicker, so might be still worth it from your point of view.

I did paint mine magnolia with white woodwork, but then it wasn't an upmarket area. My decorator said he'd painted lots of posh houses with extremely expensive posh paint which, to all intents and purposes, was virtually indistinguishable from magnolia, just ten times the price. It made the rooms look light and spacious and gives the new owner a blank canvas so they can add their own feature coloured wallpaper or paint. Everyone's taste is different but no one objects to clean, light, airy and spacious.

If possible, show it with furniture in. You'd be amazed how lacking in imagination some viewers are.

I've been thinking about this as I will soon have to sell a 'Granny' house. It has all the original features (even the bells!).
However, the people that want to live in the area want new and shiney and have no interest in period features. I don't know how to proceed either.

Can you afford to paint it brilliant white and add some cheap furniture from ebay or ikea? White is much better than magnolia at bouncing light and furniture does allo prospective buyers to imagine themselves living there.