Vendors can easily spend tens of thousands of dollars getting their home ready for sale, with experts telling OneRoof that preparation work can in some cases exceed agent fees.
Bayleys agents Jacquie McDonald and Linda Simmons are well known in their patch of Auckland's Devonport for their no-nonsense approach to marketing and staging.
When taking on a listing the sisters will go through the property with a fine tooth comb, identifying what repair and presentation work is needed to get a sale at the best possible price.
“We want buyers to engage emotionally with a home, so it is important they leave with the impression it is well presented and that is well maintained,” McDonald says.
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“If there's any tatty paintwork or broken things, people think that you don't care about the house and you haven't looked after it.”
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Both agents will also assess colour schemes. “I find, for example, there’s a lot of men that love red. Women tend not to like red. So red goes,” McDonald says, adding that men often fuss about the positioning of things like televisions.
The agents believe homeowners are better to spend their time and resources on maintenance than a renovation. Homeowners often think they need to replace the kitchen or bathroom, but this work starts in the tens of thousands of dollars and can in extreme cases turn into six figures.
Some owners manage to declutter, but others are not capable. That leads to storage charges to remove excess belongings from the home during the marketing phase. McDonald also recommends an exit-style clean of every surface in the house (this will typically cost under hundreds not thousands of dollars).
Repair work is a better us of your money than a renovation. Photo / Getty Images
Choice of paint and curtains can make a huge difference to the sale of a home. Resene marketing manager Karen Warman says for interiors, off whites are very popular, although trends are moving towards warmer hues. “Having said that, for most homes you can’t go wrong with Resene Black White which has been used very successfully on all types of homes. Team it with Resene Alabaster on trims and the ceiling for a crisp frame.”
When it comes to exteriors, the go-to colours are tending to be deeper off whites and a range of greys, with some moving into the weathered greens and blues, says Warman. “Try hues like Resene Triple White Pointer, Resene Triple Sea Fog and Resene Triple Black White off deeper off whites and then darker hues like Resene Silver Chalice, Resene Duck Egg Blue and Resene Kangaroo."
Mark Trafford, director of MTP, a renovations company, knows exactly how much works costs, because he has been involved in hundreds of renovations.
The cost of painting a three-bedroom home (interiors only) can come to $9000 plus GST. Photo / Getty Images
When it comes to selling, a starting point for a full interior paint of a 120sqm three-bedroom home, is around $9000 including GST. “That’s just painting, not repairs and gib stopping,” he said. For the exterior, budget from $10,000 to $12,000 plus $5000 for scaffodling.
Mid-priced carpet and vinyl planks for the same average sized house would cost around $7000, Trafford says, adding that cleaning will cost around $600 to $700, with staging coming in at around $2500.
Like McDonald, Trafford doesn’t recommend replacing the kitchen and/or bathroom before selling. He’s seen too many buyers rip out brand-new kitchens and replace them with something to their own taste. That even happens when they buy new homes.
As a guide price, however, a brand new Melteca kitchen with 20mm stone benchtop Trafford installed in a property in 2023, cost $10,000 including appliances. That doesn’t include plumbing and electrical disconnect and reconnect, which would be $2000 to $3000, while new bathroom can cost upwards of $15,000.
PocketSpace Interiors director Laura Heynike says styling matters. Photo / Fiona Goodall
Upmarket properties will usually cost more to prepare for sale, says Laura Heynike, director of PocketSpace Interiors. Like others, Heynike says sellers should concentrate their budget on maintenance, not renovations, which don’t always pay for themselves. She is, however, a fan of spending money on security, which really impresses buyers.
Great photography and videography added to the cost of sale, but can pay for themselves. Expect to pay $1000 for good professional work, Heynike says.
Decluttering, storage, and “decent” styling of the home can costs around $5000. Heynike often recommends a decluttering consultant who charges $55 per hour, but can make a huge difference to what the home looks like during the marketing phase. “Decent stying ‘matters’. When you go for decent styling rather than a basic package you get a more comprehensive look you actually start to tell a story and people can imagine themselves in those spaces,” she says.
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