What are the most important jobs before selling? Please help me plan!

[aforestgrewandgrew]

We'd like to move next year but before then we need to finish "updating" our house on a shoestring and I'm trying to prioritise.

We moved into a house that needed a lot of work and we got a fair amount done - then the baby came! A few years later we never really picked up where we left off.

These are the jobs that I reckon we need doing before we sell. Which do you think are the most important (bearing in mind we probably can't afford to do all of them!)

Also if you have any tips on doing any of this really cheaply I'd love to hear them!

New kitchen units
New kitchen appliances
Decorating all rooms
Laying carpet throughout
Sorting out wild garden
Getting rid of woodchip in front room, replastering
Put door on new downstairs toilet
New curtains & rails for bedroom, dining room, front room
Decent looking furniture

Which do you think would add most / least value for sale?

Plumbing and electrics are good. Jobs we have done already

• new consumer unit
• new wiring (not complete rewire, but significantly)
• new boiler
• hot water routed to 2 x WC
• bathroom completely refitted (old one was unusable!)
• new WC
• New plumbing for washing machine in conservatory
• completely replastered top floor
• painted everything except kitchen white (since ruined by toddler)
• removed asbestos from conservatory (before moving in!)
• had water checked for lead (came back fine)

That was all before the baby came, 3 years ago. Nothing since except decorating bathroom!

I think you need to look at your target market. That will give you an indication of whether you need to update kitchens etc and remove woodchip. If you're likely to be selling to someone who wants a BTL then don't bother. If it's a family home and people will want to move straight in with no work to do then perhaps a neutral look would be more appropriate.

It's surprising what a lick of paint can do! I recommend Autentico Eggshell for kitchen cupboards - it's worked fantastically well on mine and has made it look new. Takes a couple of hours (as long as you've cleaned first!), so a no brainer to me.

Don't bother with curtain rails but do bother with things that someone else might find a pain in the backside to deal with, such as the toilet door.

Don't strip the woodchip unless you have to - you may end up having to replaster and can leave that choice to the new owner.

Oh, and the things you've listed as having been done already - great. They're biggies so you've covered most of the most important stuff already.

We'll almost certainly sell to a family with young DC. All the houses that have sold round here recently have been to families.

Likely to be a family struggling to find a 3 bed with decent size bedrooms and are willing to sacrifice a large garden for it.
Lots of houses in the same price range here have larger gardens but teeny, tiny bedrooms. We have decent bedrooms and a teeny tiny garden!

Especially likely to be families with young DC as there are two excellent primaries near here.

It's these kind of people I want to attract, not developers. I'm not aiming for a high spec, but IMO people lack imagination. If you can show it to them looking nice and slick and clean - even if it's low spec, it'll still look livable, which will make a difference for lots of families I reckon.

I reckon families with young DC are likely to look at a house with no carpets and mentally add £2k or so to the house price for new carpets, and all the other work needing doing, possibly making it all too much money and hassle to buy or even view.

Whereas a family looking at a house with carpets (that cost me a fraction because I've sourced them from a local offcuts place / ebay / wherever) even if they don't like them, they know they can move in without having to replace instantly and live with them for a while.

Bathroom door (of course - don't you need one?!)

We don't use it! We had a second WC put in downstairs when we got the other plumbing work done because it was much cheaper to get it done at the time. But we've never got round to putting a door on it!

My estate agent said that it's not worth replacing a kitchen as lots of people will want to replace anyway but don't like ripping out brand new stuff. I would consider replacing the doors if those cheap ones fit and putting Ikea butcher block on if it is the right size.

Garden definitely, neutral paint throughout and depersonalise and declutter

As a buyer.. and only in my opinion

unless you happened to pick the colour carpet I loved and the kitchen out that I have my eye on it would be wasted money as I would be replacing it all straight away. And I'm guessing an offer would reflect that.. I think it's very obvious if you have poorly spec'ed up a kitchen... fablon covering and thin work tops wouldn't be attractive (this is all only my opinion) I'm looking for a house at the right price so I can go in and put my taste on it or high spec and to my taste.

I'd say the wood chip and garden would be a definite. And agree with other posters declutter, do little snag jobs paint neutral and as long as it looks and smells clean you should do well.

I disagree, I think a light coloured carpet makes rooms look finished and inviting, even if the buyer would like to change it. With dark flecks though to hide dirt from potential buyers tromping around!

The thing is....you have done the big things that cost a lot; a new consumer unit, and you are letting yourself down with things that are cheap or free; the garden and stripping the woodchip.
I have replaced doors similar to yours for a friend to sell her flat. It worked.
B and Q handless in gloss white, sure they did a 500 door. You don't need new appliances. There needs to be carpet but it can be cheap.
No comment on the toilet door but again, why would you not do that one last thing?

We've just put a house on the market and repainted all rooms white or magnolia and put cheap carpet thoughout - it made a huge difference as it looked clean and fresh , ready to move in. W wouldn't bother with kitchen as long as it is useable and clean

As you've done so much work already I would finish what you've started and replace the kitchen, carpets etc. Otherwise you will have to sell at a 'project' price, not the price of a finished house.

I would avoid the v cheapest "utility room grade" worktops, Value square white tiles etc. It can be just as much of a turnoff as old fashioned stuff with the extra downside that buyers will see you've done a cheap refit and resent it if you are asking an inflated "post refurb" price.

I'd do the woodchip (sorry), garden (don't worry about replanting, just tidy, define lawn area and flowerbeds, bare earth flowerbeds if necessary), loo door. Can you Rugdoctor existing carpets? We did a quick&dirty sand and varnish of floorboards when we couldn't afford carpet. Is that an option? I'd prob paint the cupboards. Appliances just clean.

Other stuff it depends what's there already. If there are missing rails, don't replace . If they are just a bit old fashioned, worn or wonky, leave them. If they are looking horrendous, fix them. New curtains/furniture - in the real world, give those up and declutter instead.

I agree with PP though that it does depend on area. Round here, in a v popular area with very good schools, I think decor makes very little difference indeed. People buy on school catchment, location and size IMO. Tiny old fashioned bungalows go for £££ for the plot.

We had a similarly hideous kitchen and the estate agent advised not to replace it as pp have said, because it may well not be to the taste of the buyers anyway.

Obviously 'yes' to loo door, painting over crayon marks and making it obvious how much of the important stuff you've done that may not be visible to buyers. I think woodchip scares some people as they think it's hiding something so if you've got the cash that would be worth considering perhaps.

I'd only bother doing the garden and the woodchip. The kitchen must be useable if you've been living with it, so I'd just clean it and declutter as best as you can. Nearly everyone wants to put in their own kitchen.

When my family was very young I didn't want carpets as bare floors are much better to clean and know they are clean. If I did want carpets I might well rip out ones left by people with kids and or pets as I wouldn't be sure about them.
Loo door is essential.
Would a magic sponge get the crayon off?
New Kitchen = waste of money as it may well be ripped out, as your design for a kitchen might not work for me.
Wild garden - get a quick autumn tidy, and look for Kerb appeal.

My house is in a bad state by Estate Agents still reckon it could get a good price and might well sell in weeks (although might get a premium and be quicker if we wait until after Christmas).

I really wouldn't bother with a new kitchen tbh, especially if it's going to be done on a budget i.e. cheap doors and melamine worktops. If you do it, it would be better to spend more and make it amazing, but even then, it might not be to everyone's taste.

The one in this house was virtually unused, perfectly OK, plain white tiles, plain beech style cupboards, white tiled floor, but I wanted something stunning so took it all out and replaced it. Sold the cabinets/cooker etc on eBay.

For me a kitchen is quite a personal thing so unless you are lucky enough to pick the exact style your buyer is after it could end up being a massive waste of money. You might be better selling the house as a project, taking a bit less for it, but saving yourself a load of aggro and money.

Obviously free/cheap jobs like painting and gardening, do those, declutter and depersonalise and then just let the spaces speak for themselves.

Save your energy and money for doing up your next place to your own taste.

ah sorry, just read your updates. I see what you mean about it being liveable once those jobs are done, even if not perfect.

In that case, you need to shop around and find some interesting non-value/basic style upgrades so that it does look quality, even if not to the exact taste of the buyer.

Any colour accents in the kitchen need to be removable, so keep things neutral, white, grey, silver, black etc as people may already have ideas about colour and can add it to the walls, accessories etc. Nobody can object to white, but maybe look at tiles with an interesting shape, a bit of texture etc. Don't add accents in the middle, let people add their own border as an accent colour if they want to.

Declutter and clean. Plumbing, electrics and appliances working. Windows and doors in working order. Yes to garden being cut back to make it look at least manageable.

I have been put off houses by new kitchens and bathrooms that I didn't like.