Not all renovations are created equal. Some renovations increase the value of your home, while others simply increase your bill. Some boost perceived value, while others go completely unnoticed by buyers. If you’ve read any of our other articles, you’ll know that at 27 minutos we believe that you have to spend money to make money . But choosing where to put your money matters just as much as investing it in the first place. Every year, homeowners trying to sell their property spend thousands of euros on renovations that the buyer doesn’t even notice. If you’re thinking about renovating before selling your home, keep reading. We’re going to look at which renovations genuinely add value to your property, and which ones are better left for the next owner.
Painting: the Renovation with the Best Return
Painting your home before selling is the simplest and most beneficial renovation you can make. It ticks three of the key principles of home staging: cleanliness, depersonalisation and illumination
Freshly painted white walls (or a light, neutral colour) bring plenty of light into any room and create the impression that the property has been well cared for and maintained.
Bold colours can give a home plenty of personality, but they can also divide opinion. Nobody is going to be offended by a soft beige, or by the brightness that white walls bring to a room.
Painting is a very low-cost investment. If you’re prepared to do the work yourself, you can refresh an entire 80 m² flat for less than €1,000. It’s an affordable investment for almost any budget, and the return can be up to 10 times that, or more. If you’re only going to do one renovation before selling your home, paint is the one that will pay off the most.
Old Fitted Units: the Renovation that Rejuvenates
Properties that feel old don’t sell. It might be hard to hear, but it’s true. Furniture plays a far bigger role than you might think. Subconsciously, when we see a dated flat full of old furniture, we get the impression it hasn’t been looked after in years. Even if that’s far from the truth and the flat is in perfect condition, that first impression has already sunk in, and some buyers will be put off.
You probably recognise the typical dark wood, built-in sideboard that takes up an entire wall, so popular in older Spanish homes. It’s good quality. It probably cost a small fortune in its day. But it also darkens the whole room, and its bulk makes the space feel smaller, even though the square footage hasn’t changed. As painful as it may be, getting rid of it is one of the most effective ways to modernise your flat before selling. The cost is low (in some cases, there are even companies that will collect furniture in good condition to resell it), and the change in appearance will surprise you.
Lighting: the Detail that Changes the Mood
Just look at property descriptions on Spanish property portals. “Bright and sunny property” is a phrase you’ll see again and again. Light plays a huge role in how we perceive value, and it’s also one of the easiest things to improve.
Many Spanish flats have a single central light fitting in each room, the traditional ceiling light or plafón, which creates flat, harsh and unflattering light. It’s bad for property portal photos and bad for viewings. The good news is that the solution is simple. These four easy steps will make your home shine for everyone who visits:
- Replace ceiling lights or shades with a more modern look. A simple update to your light fittings can modernise any room.
- Add secondary light sources, such as floor or table lamps. These create a sense of depth, drawing the eye towards different areas of the property and making the space feel larger.
- Pay attention to the colour temperature of your bulbs. Warm light (2700–3000K) is the tone we instinctively associate with feeling at home. Cool or daylight bulbs are more commonly used in places such as offices, supermarkets and hospitals, so they can subconsciously put us on alert. Changing your light bulbs is probably the cheapest way to increase the perceived value of your home.
- Make the most of natural light. Raise the blinds, roll up the awnings and remove heavy curtains. Light is your ally. Use it.
Handles, Switches and Sockets: the Details Buyers Notice
We interact with them every day. Sometimes we don’t even notice they’re there. But small details can make a property look older or more modern than you might imagine.
Let’s start with switches and sockets. Old fittings can undo all the good work you’ve done by painting. Yellowing plastic looks particularly bad against freshly painted walls and gives away the age of the property, even when everything else is immaculate. New socket and light-switch surrounds are very cheap, and they’re relatively easy to install. They might not immediately jump out at you, but they create a visual harmony that you notice.
Door and cupboard handles can age a space too. The classic shiny brass ones are associated with styles from decades past, and don’t appeal to buyers. Swapping them for matte black or satin nickel ones is a cheap, easy job anyone can do. A set of new matte black handles costs around €6 in DIY shops. Renewing every door in a flat can come to under €150. It’s one of the cheapest investments in this whole article, and one of the most noticeable. They literally pass through the hands of everyone who views the flat.
A New Kitchen and Bathroom, No Renovation Required
A full kitchen or bathroom renovation can cost around €8,000–€15,000, and you rarely recover that cost in the final sale price. Even when the installations are genuinely outdated or there are damp problems, it often doesn’t pay off: the reduction in the sale price you would otherwise have to accept rarely exceeds the actual cost of the renovation. In these cases, it is almost always better to sell the property as it is and let the new owner decide what they want to renovate.
But if your kitchen or bathroom is in good condition and simply looks dated, there’s a low-cost fix: a cosmetic refresh that will hold up perfectly well until the new owner wants to renovate to their own taste. Back to our great ally: paint.
These days there are specialist paints both for furniture and for tiles. By painting (or covering with adhesive vinyl) the doors of your kitchen and bathroom units, you can transform the room visually without touching the structure. As we’ve already mentioned, dark wood and yellowed laminate create a sense of gloom and neglect, even when the units themselves are in perfect condition. With the right primer and a couple of coats of paint, an 8–10-door kitchen can look as good as new for less than €200 and a weekend’s work.
Retiling is a huge investment of time and money, on top of all the disruption of building work. With a couple of coats of tile paint, you can bring those outdated flowery tiles back to life. And these paints are hard-wearing too: the new owner will be able to enjoy the refreshed finish for as long as they like.
What you Don’t Fix, You’ll Pay For
Negotiating the price of a property is an uncomfortable reality in today’s market, and something 9 out of 10 sellers will have to deal with when selling their home. So far, you’ve made plenty of visual improvements to help buyers fall in love with your home. Now you need to make sure you don’t give them excuses to negotiate the price down. A visible fault is free ammunition for a buyer, even if it’s only a €20 fix. Here are some of the usual suspects:
- Dripping taps
- Damp patches or watermarks
- Loose or cracked tiles
- Blinds or windows that don’t close properly
- Doors that stick or don’t fit properly
- Sockets or switches that don’t work
- Yellowed or mouldy sealant in the bathroom or kitchen
We know that psychology plays an important role in the decision to buy a property. These defects can create a disproportionate level of distrust compared with their actual cost, making buyers question more important things that aren’t visible, such as the electrical installation or plumbing. The first impression needs to create confidence, and small repairs are key.
This isn’t about hiding serious problems (in fact, that’s illegal), it’s about removing hassle for whoever buys the place. And, of course, giving them one less reason to haggle over the price!
Relooking: Small Changes, Big Impact
All the interventions you’ve just read about come under a single term used in Spain: relooking. In other words, relooking is a set of low-cost, high-impact changes that freshen up a home without touching its structure or installations. And the good news is that you don’t have to do it all yourself.
Relooking advice is part of a comprehensive home staging service. A home staging professional doesn’t just prepare properties for sale aesthetically; they also advise you on which relooking improvements to make, in what order and with which priorities according to your budget.
It’s not a “good taste” service. It’s a roadmap with a calculated return: what is worth changing and what isn’t.
Renovations You’ll Never Recoup
When it comes to selling your home, there’s one thing to remember. It’s not about renovating your property. It’s about presenting it in its best light, to attract buyers and get the best price. And there are certain renovations that, however good they are, simply won’t translate into a higher sale price. TThe common thread? They reflect the seller’s personal taste rather than what the average buyer in the area is looking for. Here are a few examples:
- Over-personalisation. Redecorating your home according to your favourite Pinterest style is unlikely to work in your favour. We’ll say it again: strong colours and niche styles, however much you love them, can put buyers off. The fewer potential buyers who are interested, the less likely you are to achieve the price you want.
- Luxury renovations in mid-to-low price areas. You need to take the price ceiling of your area into account. High-end finishes in areas where the average price is lower simply won’t earn back your investment.
- Cutting down on bedrooms. Turning one of the bedrooms into a gym or a huge dressing room is a poor investment if you’re planning to sell. The number of bedrooms is one of the most commonly used filters on property portals; fewer bedrooms means fewer searches your flat will show up in, and fewer chances to sell.
- High-cost renovations. As we mentioned earlier, renovating a bathroom or kitchen can easily cost more than €10,000. And on top of that, the end result may not appeal to everyone. In this case, it may be better to consider a small reduction in your asking price and save yourself the expense and stress.
The thing that separates a good renovation from a bad one isn’t the price. It’s whether the money goes into something the average buyer in your area values, or something that only ever made sense to you.
Where to Start
You don’t need to renovate much to sell your property successfully. If you’re only going to do one thing, make it painting. If you’ve got a weekend spare, add a full relooking on top: handles, fittings, lighting. And above all, avoid the renovations we covered in the previous section. You’re unlikely to recoup your investment in the sale price.
A well-planned makeover is the key to standing out in an increasingly competitive market. At 27 minutos, we’ve spent years helping homeowners and estate agents understand the power of home staging. Explore our articles to find out more. And watch this space, because we’ll soon be launching our professional home staging service with relooking consultancy in Barcelona and Catalonia.
