Minimal pre-sale redecorating effort

Greymug

Hi, I'm planning to sell my property and was wondering what people think about redecorating before selling.

To completely redecorate it is out of the question: I'm not spending thousands to paint everything just so the buyers will paint over it to suit their style. But the kitchen for example has a few small cracks in the plaster on walls and ceiling, nothing big and the type of thing that a decorator would fix before painting anyways. What would you do? Would you paint the kitchen?

Other than that, what are common things sellers should look at and eventually repair before putting the house on the market?

Slithery

Personally I wouldn't bother. If I saw fresh paint in an otherwise not recently decorated property I would assume that the vendor was trying to cover something up.

youth_leader

I regret every penny I spent on my house getting it ready for sale, the amount I spent makes me shudder. 

Caramac

We were going to fully redecorate before we put our house up for sale, in the end we just did some of the woodwork, the kitchen and bathroom ceiling, plus our fridge/freezer broke during the first lockdown and we could only get a narrower replacement so painted the wall that had previously been hidden. 

niceguyed

Greymug said:

Hi, I'm planning to sell my property and was wondering what people think about redecorating before selling.

To completely redecorate it is out of the question: I'm not spending thousands to paint everything just so the buyers will paint over it to suit their style. But the kitchen for example has a few small cracks in the plaster on walls and ceiling, nothing big and the type of thing that a decorator would fix before painting anyways. What would you do? Would you paint the kitchen?

Other than that, what are common things sellers should look at and eventually repair before putting the house on the market?

For your specific situation it's of course impossible to say, you've not mentioned the condition of your property. When was it last decorated? What's the decorative  condition across the house like now? If you're doing the work yourself and it is just painting you're also not going to spend thousands on raw materials. 
What you do will also depend on how the type of house you have shifts in the area you are in. Also don't assume all buyers will immediately want to redo all your decorative efforts. Often time and budget don't support this and so the cosmetic condition will make a difference. Decide on how much budget and time you are willing and able to spend to achieve the best possible result and go with that. When I just sold (it was a flat unoccupied so I admit easier to do) I did the following:
1. Thorough deep clean

2. Repainted hallway and walls with lots of marks.
3. Repainted front door

4. New light shades, toilet seat, outdoor Matt, hallway rug, bathroom matt, air fresheners.
I spent just over £130 and 2 days of my time. So a no brainer and it did look much better.

Bonniepurple

We’ve redecorated so it looks slightly less like a 60s/70s throwback (when we viewed our thoughts were along the lines of “if it hasn’t been decorated, what else has been missed?”) and got rid of the dirty yellow walls, bare plaster and threadbare carpets.  I’m not doing any more.

yksi

I like that you're really thinking about this but I think your instinct is right - don't throw money away. If you are thinking about painting, there are a few instances where you definitely should. As others noted if you have any walls that are grubby/marked. But also if you have any really vibrant walls in the house, they're a love it / hate it situation. That glorious lime green dining room will be someone's dream room, but the vast majority of people will be put off. On the flip side, absolutely nobody is offended by magnolia walls, so it will make the room palatable to pretty much everyone (even if it's not their favourite). If the cracks need studying to actually find them, forget them. 

There's a lot you can do that isn't going to cost you much of course and will actually get you a better price. Tidy up any garden area, weed it and throw a cheap shrub in any bare patches. Cut the grass on the mower's highest setting. If the carpet is grubby get it steam cleaned.

The other massive difference is, DECLUTTER. You need the furniture that is necessary for life and that's it. Limit the personal effects on show. Store half of your clothes. It's especially important in the bathroom, nobody in the world needs to see your seven bottles of shampoo and four flavours of body wash and the big fluffy scrubbing brush and Junior's rubber ducky and and and. It's also critical in any babies' or childrens' room. All they should be able to see is a neat bed, plus perhaps a teddy bear and a toy box. Not the usual colourful plastic explosion taking up three-quarters of the room. Why? Because those with kids will be put off by incredible clutter and those without kids will be alienated by the wall of crap.

There's some pretty good guides out there on "dressing a home". People so often overlook it but doing it properly can mean a difference of 10% on your sale price.

badger09

I think your Thread Heading sums it up. ‘Minimal redecorating’
If it’s really dirty/manky/stained/ or a very
personalised colour, then paint in a neutral tone. Otherwise, forget it. New buyers will want to make it their own. 

We’ve just moved into a house where the 2nd bedroom has one wall, & one wall of tiny en-suite in the most horrific vivid Barbie pink. 

Did it stop us buying? No
Did it affect what we offered & paid? No
Would I ever choose it? No
Will we change it? Obviously, yes. But there’s no rush

Nebulous2

We've had the luxury of moving out before putting our house up for sale. We (mainly not me) spent a lot of lockdown clearing the loft and moving stuff. 

We still had paint for most rooms, so removing wires, took away wall mounted TV,  removing chests of drawers etc. Then filling holes, smoothing and patching paint. Painted some windows.

Generally time-consuming, rather than expensive. 

I can't believe how much room we have. On commenting to.my wife, she said, that's because we've filled another house and a shipping container with stuff! 

[Deleted User]

'Minimal decoration' shouldn't cost £1000's. A large tub of white paint will cost you £15/£20. 

Whether its worth doing depends on the decor currently in place. If its very dated or grubby then it is probably worth having a whip round with the paint brush. 

Unless theres any really obvious defects then I wouldn't bother fixing anything. 

You can spruce the carpets up a bit by shampooing them. 

I actually viewed a house once that was owned by an elderly person who had passed away. It was clear that whoever was selling it had redecorated everything on the cheap - painted everything in magnolia and put a cheap cream carpet down throughout which kind of just put me off. It made it feel more like an office than it did a home. Didn't help it had no furniture in either. 

Peppermint90

I've viewed a few homes where they kept a bed in the downstairs lounge. Found it a complete put off and didn't even consider putting in an offer. 
Although I wish my mind could see past the clutter and poor decor and instead just see the potential....