Is it worth it to decorate before listing?

[Cockawoes]

We are planning on selling next year. Should we redecorate before this?
Downstairs could do with a refresh but isn't awful.
If I spend £2-5k getting it done (will have to pay someone) will I get this back in sale price?
Selling a 3 bed ex council semi expect value to be £170-180k based on other properties in the area.
Thank you.

I would lean towards putting it on the market as it is. Unless you are in an area with a lot of similar 3 bed properties on the market and you feel like you need something to to edge ahead. But even then redecoration would not necessarily mean adding much value, only a better chance of getting it sold.

I don't think it's worth it, especially not if you're going to pay someone to do it. Majority of buyers will look to decorate themselves.

Thanks both makes it much easier for us.

Decorating rarely changes the value of a property, it can increase the saleability though. Some buyers can't see past a really tatty place and will disregard it from the pictures. If your place isn't too bad, I wouldn't bother.

I would. It shows that the house was maintained. Aldo that I wouldn't HAVE to decorate right away. Just choose neutral colours

Watching this thread for opinions as in exactly the same position.

We recently sold our house & asked the estate agents opinion on this. They recommended we did get ours redecorated as it was looking a bit tatty & we had areas of damp where the plaster was crumbling away. It did cost around £3k to get the whole house done & we went for white as it’s neutral. As others have said I don’t think it added value to the property but our house was looking quite tired & I think it made the photos look better.

We were advised against decorating but I’m willing to pay more for a turn key property than one that needs a bit of love. We also purchased the property we sold as it was painted in neutral colours and I was pregnant, so we didn’t want to have to do any work.

Before going in the market we had a painter refresh two of our worst rooms and touched the others up ourselves. We sold to our first viewer so it was worth it for us.

It depends. If it's fairly neutral already but just a bit tired looking, I wouldn't bother.

Our house is decorated to our taste- wallpaper, painted walls in "proper" colours and a painted kitchen. Nothing outrageous or that people couldn't live with temporarily or change very easily but definitely not neutral either. We got feedback from several viewings that they didn't want to have to redecorate at all. The estate agents told us not to bother redecorating, but we got the same feedback more than once so apparently the agents were underestimating how lazy/picky people can be.

We came off the market for various reasons but before we go back on next year, we'll be redecorating to make it more beige.