What should you do to prepare a house for sale?

I'm looking for general advice/anecdotes about selling houses. A relative passed away last summer and it's coming to the time to sell the house. It is rather shabby around the edges, though the furniture/carpets/fittings were good at the time they were installed, in some cases over 40 years ago.

When it was valued for probate the estate agent said, paint it, don't do anything else and put it on the market. The relatives involved would like to paint it, replace carpets, and replace the kitchen and bathroom. The general advice seems to be that these (especially the kitchen and bathroom) will sell the house much faster and at a higher price.

The house is in Kerry, and the closest person is 3 hours away, so getting all this done will have a significant investment of time, as well as money, in order to get the job done.

What do you think?

Go with the estate agent's advice. Just paint it and tidy it up.

Why spend money on a house that is being sold?

mf

mf1 said:

Why spend money on a house that is being sold?

mf

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To sell the house faster and get a better price.

Edited to add: I don't think it will get a better price, and as the house is 3 hours away it's going to take significant time to do it.

I would declutter aggressively, paint as little as possible and then sell it.

The estate's agent advice seems to be right.

Make sure it's clean and decluttered.

If they see an old kitchen and an old bathroom, they know that they are going to have to replace them. Even if they see a new kitchen and bathroom, they will probably replace it anyway.

Brendan

terrysgirl33 said:

To sell the house faster and get a better price.

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It is almost 100% certain that any increase in price you achieve after such a refurb will be less than the cost of the refurb unless there are serious issues that would put most buyers off considering it or you have access to free labour.

Many people fall into that same trap, and end up spending money putting in new kitchens, sanitary ware, carpets, etc., but going on the cheap side as they're not going to invest serious money in a house they'll never live in. The end result as Brendan said is prospective buyers will factor in replacing them anyway to their own tastes, and you might even put some people off who would consider replacing new items as wasteful.

Doing such work invites other risks too, such as the refurb work not being finished well (leaving the place looking worse), or if further problems are uncovered requiring more money to fix.

Look online at similar properties and see how little price difference there is in many areas between a house in mint condition and one that needs obvious work.

Leo said:

Look online at similar properties and see how little price difference there is in many areas between a house in mint condition and one that needs obvious work.

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This is difficult to do as only one or two houses a year come up for sale, and some are in great condition while some not so much. The house is in a housing estate, but one where every house was built to a different plan.

Empty it of all its contents but keep the heating on a timer. Also, scrub the bathroom clean of all mildew, make sure there are no leaks or drips and then dry down all the surfaces.

The heating will reduce the risk of damp which can happen when a house is left unoccupied. Dated kitchens, wallpaper, carpets and bathrooms will all be happily replaced by buyers but many will run a mile if they see damp patches or what they think is mold.