Preparing a house for sale: what pays and what does not

Sellers routinely spend money on the wrong things before launch. New kitchens rarely return their cost. Fixing what a survey will find almost always does.

Do these first

In rough order of return:

• Resolve anything a buyer's survey will flag — damp, roof, drainage, electrics.
• Repair rather than replace original features; buyers pay for authenticity, not newness.
• Deal with the approach: the first fifteen seconds set the price expectation for the next thirty minutes.
• Clear surfaces and reduce furniture volume by roughly a third.
• Fix every door that sticks. Buyers read friction as neglect.

Leave these alone

A new kitchen installed to sell will be to your taste, not the buyer's, and will be priced as a kitchen the buyer intends to remove. The same applies to bathrooms and to any strongly styled decoration.

If the room is tired but sound, say so and price accordingly. Buyers discount honest condition far less than they discount a cover-up.