How much to spend to get a house ready for sale?

[Cobblersandhogwash]

We'd like to sell our house.

The kitchen is okay. Functional. I hate it personally.

The carpets are looking pretty tatty and soiled.

The current value of the house is estimated at £950k.

What I propose is new but inexpensive carpets throughout.

Painting and plastering where necessary.

Making sure all plumbing is working well.

I'm hesitant to put in a new kitchen say from Howdens. But do you think it would be worth it? We think it would cost between £12 and £20k.

Plus we paid £2k extra for the previous owner to leave the Falcon range oven. Should we do the same for the next owners or just include it in the price?

@SD1978 it is a rural property, you're right. About 40 mins from Euston.

It's a tough market at the moment - I would be doing all I could to make the house presentable and with nothing to make a potential buyer think they would need to spend a lot of money to make it liveable.

We were looking in this price bracket. I was pleased to see a reasonable but not modern kitchen knowing that i could live with it for a bit and then replace to my own taste.

Better to replace with plain light coloured laminate worktops as wooden worktops are loads of work, or try one of those companies that covers them with a think layer of granite. That might look rather nice.

All great food for thought.

Thank you very much.

It's got to smell beautiful as soon as they walk in the door... not overpoweringly so but definitley enough to hit their olfactory senses immediately... fresh flowers near the entrance & strategically placed/soft music in the background/corner lamps lit (even during the day unless the sun is directly coming into the room at that moment)

i think it's about the 'feel' initially - as all cosmetic stuff will probably be done by the new owners to their taste.

Totally agree with @Bluntness100 give carpets a professional clean (make sure estate agent demands people asks people viewing to remove shoes) and keep the house clean. Sounds pretty basic but makes a world of difference.

I've bought two houses. They were both doer uppers because that's all we could afford in the locations we wanted. Fake nice smells and ambient music would have immediately alerted me to the fact that people were staging their home for sale and expected over the odds in terms of asking price.

In the end, the most important things for most people re houses is location, school catchments (for families) and neighbours. And a livable condition. Everything else is incidental.

I would get the cabinets painted and resand and oil the worktops. Then just stage it nicely.

Def not 'fake' nice smells - just smelling good with an essential oil candle/ONE incense stick wafting in from the garden. it's one of the first things I notice everywhere and anywhere - along with soft music in the background. Not to 'hide' anything or 'pretend' anything - just making it feel homely... if the viewers are there it means they've chosen the area already/presumably like the location - and they'll change every inch of everything if they buy anyway

That kitchen looks very good quality solid wood. I would pay someone to paint it, it would look beautul.

Deep clean the tiles, or pay someone to do it.

We bought a house in this price bracket with a decidedly average kitchen. It didn't put us off because I plan to put in my own style Kitchen. It's clean and useable until I get to that point. I'd change the floor tiles which would really put me off your kitchen and maybe paint the cabinets. A good declutter and you should be all set.

I remember being amazed that doer uppers (and we are talking about everything needing doing) were priced virtually the same as those that were the finished article. I asked the EA why this was and he looked at me surprised and said it was because I would get to choose my own kitchen and bathroom. I said, and pay for it presumably

When we were looking for houses in a similar price, it was all about price. One place was in our price bracket for the simple reason that the owners hadn't done the kitchen, bathroom & replaced the carpets. They did had quotes from respectable local tradespeople which they left out which was handy as it gave us an idea of costs but had decided not to do it themselves as they thought it would be a waste of money to install something which might not be to a purchaser's taste. Another place we looked at had left out plans & quotes for an extension.
Other properties were in our price bracket because the price reflected the "wow" kitchen ... done in a style which we didn't like so would have wanted to replace.
We were looking at properties between £850k & £1m which seems ridiculously broad but would have been prepared for a bigger mortgage on the right property in perfect condition or to spend less and have some doing up/extension money.
As it was, ours came in the low £900s, we had decorators & other tradesmen in in the first week who did various easy wins, painted throughout, laid new carpets & sorted out some skirting board issues and then, once we had lived there for 6 months, got the kitchen done. I don't love the bathrooms but they're inoffensive & work so they've been left as they are.

wicker heart? Why would that make someone want to spend £950,000?
I must admit we got reed diffusers for our old house to lessen the smell of dog, but apart from that all we did was clean up and put attractive pots outside to increase kerb appeal.

My goodness, definitely do not have 'soft music' playing for viewings. That would put me right off.

I would sand down the wooden cupboard doors and get them professionally repainted. I'd deep clean the tiles and de-clutter. Wouldn't do much else except everything is spotless, clutter-free and paintwork is we maintained.

I think it's about presenting how brilliant life in your house can be- so your life but better. Get a deep cleaning firm in to make the whole place sparkle like it never has before (may well be worth getting a tile-refinishing firm in for the kitchen floor, definitely deep clean the carpets and then assess whether they need replacing), declutter to the point of it being a bit impractical day to day, and dress it for your best life- one book bag for your excellent local school in the hook, next to your very nicest coat (the rest bundled into the car...) much nicer hand soap than usual in the loo along with stunt fluffy towels which you only use for viewings, current issue of your fave glossy on the coffee table, one or two gorgeous wooden toys on display in the kids rooms (plastic tat in the car/underbed storage), garden table and chairs looking like you have your morning coffee at them.
You don't want anything that looks like a hassle, so undone maintenance, or a new kitchen that isn't to taste (or an old one which is actually falling apart). I've sold two places v quickly with that rationale. And both badly needed new kitchens!

Ooh yes Dusty, that is a great vision!

Another thing I think is worth doing if you have wooden window frames is ensuring outside paintwork is freshly done. And get your garden properly sorted with stripes mown in the lawn, reseed any muddy patches etc. First impressions matter