How much work did you do before putting property on market?

[Positivelypatient]

I've been avidly reading any relevant threads about prepping for house selling but I'm still so stuck on what to do with my own. It's a mid terrace with recent external wall insulation (a plus I think) so it does look quite smart from the outside. Inside its looking a bit tired, decor is probably going to need updating though its modern enough and hallway carpet is the same as when we moved in 18 yes ago. It had bath & kitchen done about 15 yrs ago but you know, it's just a bit not up to the standard I see in some houses on the market. Its definitely no showhome!

Id say its a do-er upper with lots of potential to add value and is a good central location (sml SW city) with some lovely seaviews from bedrooms.

I've got a month to get it ship shape before I get the EAs for valuation and get it up for sale.

Can I ask what you did before you got the EAs in?/ put up for sale?

I'm majorly decluttering and it will be clean/tidy but do I spend £000s on carpets or not bother? And you know that problem where you do one area and then the others look shabbier.

No advice but interested to know.
My instinct is to do nothing. Surely EA would know best?

We did nothing. We put it on as is and the only thing we did was de-clutter which made a world of a difference. I remember our EAs saying to us, if a buyer can't get pass a paint colour or an ugly carpet then they're not ready to become home owners. We accepted an offer after 6 days, went into a "bidding war" on day 4 and then we settled on day 6. Sold for much more than we were expecting. This was about 6 weeks ago.

We majorly de cluttered to the tune of several skips
Re painted where the paintwork was really tired
Cleaned carpets
Got planning permission for an extension
Cleared out all our stuff, pretty much!
We also covered some terrible stained carpets with rugs

I wouldn't do a kitchen or bathroom or anything major, just make sure it's clean and tidy and uncluttered

De cluttering then do more! Mend anything broken touch up grubby bits stick down wallpaper make sure you have a house number put lots of effort into a beautiful garden front and back but no landscaping ( I stuck a few plants in to brighten things up). Tidy tidy garden pressure wash anything clean windows but no major work or replacement. Of course your house is probably not as neglected as ours was!!

I wouldn't bother doing any DIY on your property as its sounds like you would end up spending more than you would get back as a lot needs doing to update it. What I would do is give it a major declutter and a deep clean and maybe get a few cushions and accessories if needed. As long as your house is clean and tidy people can see the potential.

I have 40 years worth of de-cluttering to do. Have booked a charity shop to take some old furniture away for a start.

viewing a freshly repainted house would put me off, I would wonder what it was hiding

I would only worry about:

• making sure everything is clean and tidy inside the house
• that you also have a tidy garden.

I am always shocked when I see on Rightmove so many pictures of homes full of clutter, (clothes all over the bed, toys on the floors, messy kitchens) and with overgrown gardens that look like the owner never bothered to do anything with them. It costs next to nothing to clean things up and remove the clutter and I would never agree to buy anything from someone who think it is OK to show their home in that state.

@User639921
''viewing a freshly repainted house would put me off, I would wonder what it was hiding''.

Strange comment. It is very common to paint a house/flat to brighten it up before putting it on sale. Also when a property developer buys a property then sells it back right after the work/refurbishment is completed of course the walls will be newly painted. Any buyer with a bit of judgement will make sure they get a proper survey of the property anyway before they buy it.

Thank you, @ABugsLyfe yes that's very true I think I'll do all the jobs I know need doing such as straightening kitchen cupboard doors, get the gardens looking tip top... not easy in this weather when everything is brown! Then I'll invite some agents round to value and take their advice.

I'm decluttering like mad so it should look quite tidy. Im kind of packing as i go as I'll be moving in with DP before a sale goes through.

We had already decluttered and put in storage but we did repaint (was horrible and done fresh plaster to cover as well) and then throughly cleaned everything. Also tidied front and back gardens. We bought it needing work though.

Painted our front gates and fences as they were two different colours (been like it 6 years and so wish I'd done it before!)

Chopped huge bushes down

Painted bedroom

Decluttered

I'm in the process of giving almost the whole house a coat of paint (I've had some essential building work done in some areas and other areas haven't been done for a long time so I felt it was needed so it'll all looks clean and well maintained and as I'm moving furniture to paint I'm doing a deep clean, my thought process being that it'll be really easy to clean when we move out if it's had an extra deep clean now, behind and under everything. Curtains are being washed etc. I'm going to hire a carpet cleaner from a DIY shop when I'm finished, some of the high traffic areas are looking a bit grubby, I won't be replacing carpets, curtains or anything like that just painting and spring cleaning.

I'm also doing a declutter, it's something I do fairly regularly but this is another level as we're not only moving, we're moving two houses into one and blending families, so a radical declutter is needed.

I'm getting a storage unit to help with clearing the loft (don't want to declutter it just to put stuff back, I have mobility issues which make it difficult enough going up the ladder, so it'll all come down and stay down either going onto storage or being sold/donated/binned, it'll also help with things like books and collectibles that dd doesn't want to part with but don't need to be in the house (we boxed things up to have room to decorate and they'll stay in boxes now, it's extra expense but DP will be moving out of his house soon (which he's in the process of selling now) so we'll need somewhere to store furniture from his house we'll be taking with us to the new house anyway.

I'm basically starting to pack before the house is on the market, but if it saves stress later I'd rather start early. I'm aiming to have the house on the market this month.

Focus on decluttering and a deep clean. Fix up small easy things liked chipped woodwork. Number of times i’ve painted/carpeted before moving only for the buyers to do it all up themselves a few months later.

My last house sounds like yours. We put loads in storage to declutter, and had someone in for a few days to do a big clear. I painted the garden gate, and got lots of potted plants for inside and out.

There was a lot of damp in DMs house that could have been easily hidden with paint, obviously it would have been found on the survey but it is better to not hide these things beforehand

None because every single house I viewed was a dirty mess that needed decorating and updating. I just kept mine pre sale neat and tidy, smelling nice and the garden tidy. That's it.

Emptied the house and paid someone else to sort it out. At that time I was cash rich and time poor. How things change!

Yes, very few irl have the MN full declutter and staging

Don’t buy new carpets, they might not be to buyers taste and they may end up changing them straight away anyway.

I got driveway pressure washed, made sure house and garden were immaculate.

Might sound silly but make sure every single light and lamp has working lightbulbs. It looks great in photos

That's a good reminder to order light bulbs, I have a chandelier that is fine for ages and then suddenly blows 2/3 bulbs one after the other, you can guarantee it'll happen just before a viewing.

I think it's worth presenting your house in its best light. Concentrate on cleaning, including a rug doctor for the carpets, declutter enough that the space can be appreciated, fix anything really broken or weird like rooms painted black or shooting trophies everywhere etc. I wouldn't buy anything new beyond plants and cushions at a push.

You want to give an impression of "well cared for home ready for cosmetic updating" rather than "complete doer up project". 15 years isn't that long.

It depends on the market but a lot of people actually can't see past what they perceive as odd or too much work.

I had already had new doors so I just concentrated on decluttering and I painted the hall and lounge.

As long as your house is realistically priced it will sell.

I had the driveway and patio jet washed.
Gardener in for a day weeding and tidying up as it's not my strong point, made such a big difference I will now book them in twice a year at the new house.
Finished a thousand of the million little DIY kids I have on the go.
Put away all the DIY paints/waxes/tools etc. (that was the biggest job!)
De-cluttered just for the photos - which look so great I'm trying to de-clutter longer term, I'm not good at letting things go, but moving to a bigger house so should be ok.

Brilliant advice everyone, Im feeling a lot more focussed on what needs doing instead of thinking about painting ceilings and woodwork!

@MrsMontyD Im in a similar position to you, combining two households into one and packing as I declutter.

I did have a few jobs done earlier in the year, replastered a bedroom ceiling then redecorated that room, got a new back gate and cut a big tree down in the front (small) garden.

Today I'll be sorting out bags of clothes my DD has designated for the bin or hopefully a car boot sale. I have the house to myself for a week now so I'm going to be a whirling dervish of sorting cleaning and multiple tip runs.

I managed to get rid of a load of stuff from the garage yesterday by putting a note in a local Facebook page and leaving it outside the house. So I'll do more of that to save extra tip runs.

I've been getting jobs for for the last six months or so in anticipation, a window where the seal had failed, replacing a damaged floor tile in the kitchen, reorganising the pantry, that sort of thing. I'm hopefully down to painting the last two rooms and then getting the house straight again and some decluttering and packing before DP moves in and then we all move.

Decluttered.

Painted spare bedroom where new plaster had been put up after repairing a leak. Ditto kitchen.

Put cheap new curtains in another bedroom as the ones in there were quite loud.

Got front garden wall re rendered. It had been very bad.

Buyer came in an ripped out 20 year old bathroom and kitchen (clean and serviceable) and the 10 year old en suite.