Preparing your home for sale: what’s worth spending on

The most expensive mistake sellers make is renovating to sell. A new kitchen can cost $40,000 and add $20,000 to the price, or nothing at all if the buyer planned to put in their own.

What buyers do respond to is a home that looks cared for. That’s usually cheaper than people expect.

Worth doing

• Paint. Patch and repaint marked walls, especially in the hallway and living areas. Stick to warm whites.
• Garden and street appeal. Mow, edge, mulch, and fix the front fence and gate. Buyers decide in the first ten seconds.
• Small repairs. Dripping taps, sticking doors, broken blinds and blown globes. Each one makes buyers wonder what else hasn’t been looked after.
• Clean. A professional clean, including windows, oven and grout, is one of the best-value things you can do.
• Declutter. Pack away half of what’s on shelves and benches. Buyers need to picture their own things.

Often worth doing

• Styling. Particularly for empty homes or deceased estates. Furniture shows scale and helps photos.
• Lighting. Replace mismatched globes with the same warm white throughout.
• Floors. A polish of existing timber floors usually pays off. New carpet in bedrooms sometimes does.

Rarely worth doing

• A new kitchen or bathroom. Unless the existing one is unusable, buyers would rather choose their own.
• Extensions or structural work. They delay your sale and the return is unpredictable.
• Expensive landscaping. A tidy garden sells. A designer garden rarely adds its cost.

An example from Wren Street

The owners of 14 Wren Street had a $45,000 quote for a new kitchen. We showed them three nearby sales where a renovated kitchen hadn’t lifted the price. They spent $4,800 on paint, the garden and styling instead, and sold at auction for $62,000 over the price guide.

Ask before you spend

Before you book a tradesperson, ask your agent which items are worth it for your home and your buyers, and to show you the sales that back up that advice.