Selling a house - what improvements help?

[brightncheerful]

Having put our house on the market during covid - only for Mrs Bnc, who'd wanted to move, withdraw it a day or so later because we hadn't got anywhere else to live - we cleaned it from top to bottom, on the first estate agent's advice removed our favourite two seats from the living room and replaced it with seating for a family. I ditched the first agent after I read the small print in their terms of engagement. The second agent's terms were in line with what I expected; the only difference was that they required a fee if we should withdraw the property from the market. I considered the principle and the amount reasonable, so I paid it without waiting for their invoice.

I read recently that improving the bathroom and kitchen is now old hat. The prevailing trend is to improve the garden, particularly by adding a shed or, better still, a home office building. Such can increase the value of an ordinary property by up to £12,000.

If we were selling today—the dog having undone all our hard work—I wouldn't bother making any improvements. Instead, I'd estimate the cost of the improvements we'd make and reduce the agreed price by the same amount (and, if we could get away with it, exclusive of VAT).

Some ideas here:

https://www.propertymark.co.uk/professional-standards/consumer-guides/buying-selling-houses/add-value-to-your-home-before-selling.html