Five pre-sale fixes that actually pay off (and three that don't)
Not every dollar spent before a sale comes back at settlement. Agents and stylists agree on what is worth doing, and what to leave alone.
RentBuy Team
3 min read
Sellers often ask whether they should renovate before listing. The honest answer is usually no, but a few small, targeted jobs reliably return more than they cost because they change how the home feels at the first inspection. Here is where the money is well spent, and where it is not.
Worth doing
- Paint. A fresh coat in a neutral colour is the cheapest way to make a tired home look cared for. Do the walls, the ceilings if they are marked, and the front door.
- Fix what is broken. Dripping taps, doors that stick, cracked tiles, the light that never worked. Buyers notice small faults and quietly add them up into a discount.
- Declutter and store. Half the furniture, a third of what is on the shelves, and nothing on the kitchen bench except a bowl of fruit. Rent a storage unit for the campaign if you need to. Space is what people are buying.
- The garden and the entrance. Mow, mulch, trim, sweep, and put something green at the front door. The first ten seconds set the tone for the whole inspection.
- Clean everything. Windows inside and out, grout, oven, carpets. A professional clean before photography is the best few hundred dollars you will spend.
Usually not worth it
A new kitchen or bathroom. Unless the existing one is unusable, a full renovation rarely returns its cost on sale, and buyers often want to choose their own. A tidy, clean, dated kitchen sells; a half-done modern one does not.
Structural changes. Adding a room, removing a wall or building a deck in the months before a sale is expensive, slow and risky. Leave the potential for the buyer.
Anything you would not do for yourself. If the home has been fine to live in with a scuffed hallway for ten years, ask your agent whether it really matters before you spend on it.
Ask before you spend
Your agent walks through dozens of homes every month and knows what buyers in your area react to. Ask them for a list before you pick up a paintbrush. The right list is short, cheap and specific to your home, and it will tell you as much about the agent as it does about the house.
