PROPERTY PREP · WELLINGTON
What's actually worth
doing before you sell
Leonie & Steve Welsby, Harcourts Wellington
We've sold four of our own Wellington properties — not just clients' homes, but our own rentals. Every time, we did the prep work ourselves first. And every time, we made decisions about what was worth doing and what wasn't.This is the short version. Nine things that genuinely return more than they cost — and a list of things we'd skip.
The rule we used: Fix anything a building inspector will flag or a buyer will use to justify a lower offer. Everything else is optional.
Non-negotiable — do these first
1. Fresh paint — inside and out Warm neutral inside. Clean trim outside. The single best-value job you can do before a listing.
2. Water blast the house and paths Transformative on its own and essential before painting. The driveway, paths, house exterior, deck — concrete goes from grey-green to clean. Hire a water blaster for a Saturday morning and you'll be amazed.
3. Kerb & garden appeal Mow, edge, bark mulch the beds, and add a couple of pots of in-season colour at the entry. Buyers decide before they get out of the car.
4. Front door — paint it a statement colour Deep teal, forest green, classic red. It photographs well, it's memorable, and it costs one tin of paint. We did this on three of our four properties — it was always commented on at open homes.
5. Replace tired light fittings $30–80 at Bunnings. Warm white LED. Every room. Dated fittings age a house faster than almost anything else — and swapping them out takes 20 minutes.
Strong return
6. Create outdoor living areas A table and chairs from Briscoes, a bean bag, styled garden beds — it costs almost nothing but lets buyers picture themselves actually living there. A blank deck or section is a missed opportunity. You're not decorating, you're helping them fall in love with it.
7. Kitchen refresh (not renovation) New handles, clean rangehood, clear benchtops. Don't touch the layout unless it's genuinely broken.
8. Bathroom tidy-up Regrout, reseal, replace the toilet seat, clean the extractor fan. That's all. Don't renovate.
Solid and worthwhile
9. Floors — polish or replace Good timber floors: get them polished. Bad carpet: replace with something mid-range and neutral. Don't hide bad carpet with rugs — inspectors lift them.
What we'd skip...
Full kitchen renovations — almost never recoup the cost
New bathroom tiling — regrout instead
New carpet throughout — clean what's there unless it's genuinely bad
New appliances — clean and working beats new
Anything structural unless it's a safety issue — disclose instead
ROI estimates are based on our own experience across Wellington property sales and are
indicative only. Results vary by property, suburb, condition, market, and service provider costs.
Want the full detail? The Vendor Diaries is our step-by-step series on exactly
what we did to prepare and sell four of our own Wellington properties
