Essentials to do to my house to get it sold

[Purplecatshopaholic]

I may be moving house (promotion). I have been in my house 20 years from new, and it is starting to need things done as it’s starting look a bit tired. I am loath to spend money on it if I’m selling it, but appreciate a few things might be needed to get it sold. Outside should be fine as had it painted a couple of years ago. Shower room, and bathroom are new in last couple of years too. However, kitchen is original - I’ve never got round to replacing it as I couldn’t decide what to get. What would help make it look better? Carpets are a bit rubbish too but i am not wanting to replace those - don’t people want to pick what they want? Can I just put various rugs down for showing? The garden is also quite messy and again I don’t really want to spend money on it. Thoughts? What’s worth spending money on to encourage a buyer do you think, in your experience? It will sell, it’s in a good location and is a detached corner plot, so it’s more about cosmetic stuff. I obvs haven’t moved in 20+ years so I’m not up on current house move etiquette, lol. Thanks for any help!

Remove clutter and extra stuff, personal stuff
Touch up paint on grubby walls
Repair small.things ( loose cupboard doors, mould etc ) and refresh
Clean grout in bathroom
Don't change carpets but may be use rug doctor and give it a good clean
Tidy the garden and mow the lawn
Add extra plant pots to freshen up
Don't do anything to kitchen , just make sure doors etc are not hanging out and nothing obvs broken etc and it is clean and functional

Make sure the photos sell the lifestyle but without stupid pictures of vases and art.

So, clean and tidy. Flowers. Airy and sunny. Beds really well made and coordinating. Tidy up garden yourself with a bit of effort and add some pots with seasonal plants in bloom (deadhead and water to keep them living for viewings). Weed gravel areas etc. Clean everything so it's as spotless as possible. Clean gutters from growing weeds. Clean windows inside and out. Dress windows tidily. Ensure garage is accessible to view!

Put £100 behind the bar at the local legion for the alcoholic neighbour!

I was the same as you OP. 20 yrs and not much done since moving in and re-doing everything then. Tbh, it was neglected in the later years.
Your best bet is to declutter, massively.
I painted my front door, as it was very tired, made a huge difference. Cut back everything in the garden, swept leaves etc. Think what the estate agents photo's are going to look like. You only have to look online at other properties for sale to get a feel for what looks good and what doesn't.
Good luck.

Declutter, clutter, declutter. Repaint. Don’t touch the kitchen unless there are obvious broken cupboard doors, etc. Add plants, tidy the garden. Make your house look loved. Buyers will think that if you care how the house is presented for sale chances are you would have cared to maintained it over the years.

Do all those little DIY jobs that you keep putting off. I did redo a couple of bedrooms as they were former teenage bedrooms with some right horrible colours - neutralised them and replaced carpets - there were some right horrible stains on them! Tidied up the garden, jet washed the front and got rid of weeds out of the paving stones. Think kerb appeal - what does your house look like from the front. Don't underestimate the time it takes to declutter!

I think it depends on how sort after the house is/area is. We didn't bother doing our carpets and they could do with replacing. What you put in might not be to new buyers taste. Same with the kitchen, although ours isn't dated but once again if you spend the money would it make you more of a profit, probably not.

Tidy up, declutter and keep it that way for viewings. Lots of people want to update to their taste anyways when they move in.

A wild, overgrown and unkempt garden will put plenty of people off. There are plenty of people happy to get stuck into some cosmetic work like painting but would worry about hacking back an out of control garden.

It'll also look rubbish for the photos. And make people assume that a level of neglect can be seen in the garden and possibly therefore assumed in the house.

Paths, edges, and healthy looking plants will help you. And yeah as pp said, think of the photos. People will decide to view based on what 12 photos? And 2 could spot it for sure.

Otherwise, I'd get the hiuse looking as decent as possible for the photos. Clear off tops of cupboards and wardrobes sonit doesn't look like there isnt enough storage. Get the carpets cleaned. Make it look as lovely as possible.

Don't replace the kitchen
Bit make sure whatever you have got looks at its best. Clean. Tidy. Clutter free.

Good luck!

Spend money on licking the garden into shape.
Touch up paint.
Buy cheap greige carpeting.
Buy

Declutter.
This means taking all extra items put of every room and removing all the stuff you may have under beds, shoved into or on top of wardrobes, etc.

Consider the lifestyle you're selling in the guise of a house. Arrange furniture to suggest there's space and to hint that the house is a peaceful and happy place.

Meant to say *buy white duvet covers for beds.

Tidy the garden. Mow lawn, trim hedges, sweep up leaves etc. Get a couple of plant pots and throw in some pretty bedding plants. Put them in strategic places you can see from
house.

Tidy and declutter house. Kitchen surfaces clear of things etc.

DECLUTTER to the power of 10
CLEAN clean & clean some more
Clean kitchen and bathrooms to the nth degree
Nothing on any surfaces except a ceramic bowl or vase
Paint walls neutral
white or cream bed linen and new towels
if carpets can’t be cleaned to a high standard, replace with cheap new neutral
tidy the garden
paint front door and polish the door furniture

Take some estate agent type photos and reassess and correct

I’d say if the garden is messy, it’s worth getting it tidied up. The garden is such a selling point for most buyers, even if it’s a small one or needs landscaping. Tidying it up will make a huge difference.

We’ve just sold our house and didn’t replace the carpets. Our cat has ruined them. We did replace the living room carpet but that was because it was visibly stained and the first thing you see in the house.

Touch up doors, architraves and skirtings. Even if it looks “white”, you’ll be surprised how yellow/faded it really is when you put new white gloss on top.

The best thing we did was paint it beige. Estate agents told us not to bother, but we were on the market 9 months last year with very little interest. Our decor was not neutral but not particularly wacky. We had it all painted beige and this year we sold in 5 weeks for a higher asking price than last year. I can’t live in a neutral house long-term but it made such a difference to selling.

Other than that, it’s just making it look nice for the photos. Declutter ruthlessly and move everything into cupboards, even down to things like toothbrushes or appliances if you can. Only leave out the fittings and the very basics of furniture. When the photographer comes, strategically move pieces of excess furniture out of the room if they don’t have another home.

I wouldn't bother with a new kitchen but you will need to spend some money on updating your house if you want to get the best price for it.

Definitely you will need to spend time and money on improving the garden. It shouldn't be messy for photos/viewings and you should plant some new plants to give colour and interest to the garden.

The carpets - it depends on how bad they are. If really shabby then I would put a neutral new carpet down in the same colour throughout.

All the walls in my last house were cream, viewers seemed to like this as its a blank canvas, could you repaint?

Decluttering is essential, everything off the worktops in the kitchen and nothing in the bathroom on shelves or window sills, hide it all in cupboards.

I actually got a skip delivered before I put the house on the market and it really helped when I actually moved!

Dodgy carpets, get a few cheap rugs.

My kitchen was terrible, clean but needed replacing, estate agent said not to change it as the buyer would do it anyway and I'd be wasting my money.

Little things help like made beds, clean windows, a couple of "plug-ins" so it smells nice, take art off the walls and dab a bit of filler over any holes and paint, clean skirting boards.

Before a viewing, run the hoover round, wipe tops down, polish, take the bin out.

Tidy the gardens, put a plant on the doorstep in a tub.

It's a pain in the arse but worth it.

Do you have a friend or neighbour who could come and critique your house, another pair of fresh eyes would help.

It's amazing what a deep clean and declutter can do. We've just moved and had been in our house 12 years. We had a newish kitchen and it had all been decorated but it was amazing how many little snags had gone by the wayside and things which already needed touching up. I did a massive declutter....out boxes of stuff in the loft. Tidied up cables, filled hairline cracks from dd slamming doors, did weeding and lawn edging, cleaned the windows, facias and guttering, cleaned the decking, replaced missing light bulbs etc. Gave the shed a declutter and tidy so it looked more useable. Same with the airing cupboard. Basically tried to make it look spacious and not filled to the brim with our stuff.

I think the key is it looks well maintained and is tidy and clean. If it needs modernising that’s fine but you don’t want buyers thinking you’ve neglected bigger things that will then cost money. Eg broken guttering or drains causing damp etc.

Then declutter, clean and tidy up the garden so it’s presentable. Style for photos in the sense of nice bed linen, some fresh flowers or plants inside and out and it should be fine.

Since Covid gardens add the most value to a house at up to 20%. It can be one of the cheapest things to do for the biggest return as work can often cost a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand but adds the biggest return for investment.

Kitchens tend to add around 10% but also tend to cost around 10% so don't necessarily add value over outgoing. If you need to upgrade to sell I would look at things like updating door/worktops if the units are good or going with a cheap option like DIYkitchens (apparently very good quality for low price and hassle). Bare in mind the new buyer might replace a kitchen thats not their taste anyway so while it might help sell it might also get ripped back out so not worth spending loads.

A simple cosmetic tip is to remove 'dated' items that are easy to remove but people who live somewhere a long time tend to forget like window dressings. A net curtain or vertical blinds can make buyers think doer-up just because they are out of fashion etc... but really they are pretty quick and easy to take down.

I wouldn’t bother replacing the kitchen - prospective buyers will see it for what it is and it’s an opportunity for them to put their own design in (unless of course it’s completely falling to pieces….)

Carpets - if it was me, I’d be getting cheap remnants put down - it freshens up a property.
A carpet fitter will likely have plenty enough to do your property and cheap too compared to going to somewhere like Tapi.

Gardening - just mow grass and tidy - get some flowers into some pots just to make it presentable.
Nothing that you couldn’t do on a Sunday afternoon in this weather!

a fresh lick of paint will work wonders too!!

oh and a declutter! It’s amazing how much you accumulate over time!!

Proper clean and declutter and get rid of the weeds and now the garden. Anything more and people are going to think you’re hiding something (I mean by just doing the odd bit here and there but not spending money isn’t going to fool anyone).