There are a whole range of factors that play a part in determining the value of your home. Things like the size of the block your home is on, its location in relation to shops and its proximity to great local schools are things that you can't really change, but there are plenty of elements impacting price that are under your control.

If you're getting ready to sell, most of what drags your price down falls into two groups: what buyers notice first (clutter, smells, a tired exterior) and what they'd have to fix (shonky DIY, disrepair, building work without council approval). Here are nine to check before you list.

1. Poor presentation and too much clutter

We accumulate a lot of stuff as we journey through life. Many of our possessions are probably sentimental and don't have much use, and some are likely to be way past their prime.

Think cheap rugs purchased in 1992, oversized sofas that don't quite fit into a room, the bulky fruit juicer that Aunt Penny bought you for Christmas 5 years ago, tacky picture frames and dusty ornamental flowers. If you're preparing to list, there's no time like the present to start offloading or storing items that are unnecessary or tired.

Get rid of unsightly mess in every nook and cranny. Yes, even in your cupboard, as buyers like to have a nose around to see how much storage you have. If you're clearing out, a 4 cubic metre skip bin costs about $460 for a week in October 2026, according to our guide to pre-sale repair costs.

It's also a good idea to consider a home stager or stylist, who can help your home look its best in photos and at inspections. For a three-bedroom home, full staging with hired furniture and styling started at $2,500 to $5,000 in October 2026, according to our guide to home staging costs.

2. Loud colours and quirky decor

It's important to keep things simple, and by this we mean:

• Embracing neutral colour schemes
• Using furniture that fits
• Removing overly-quirky decor

We often think we have great taste, and while a bright blue and green striped feature wall might express your personality, it's not going to appeal to every buyer.

Ultimately, you want to present your home as a blank canvas that buyers can project their own ideas onto. Take the safer approach and increase your chances of selling by using colours and decor that are more universally appealing.

3. Your home's curb appeal

Get this wrong and potential buyers won't even make it through the front door. You can help to ensure that buyers want to come into your house by spending a bit of time working on your home's exterior.

A few tips and ideas:

• Add a lick of paint to the front door, tired-looking fencing and window frames.
• Buy some shiny new house numbers, doorknobs or knockers.
• Hose down and clean away any spiderwebs, and be sure to clean your gutters.
• Get rid of junk and debris.
• Upgrade your outdoor lighting, and get an electrician in for anything hard-wired.
• Tidy your garden and add shrubs and plants if it is a bit sparse.

If you'd rather pay someone to tidy the garden, a basic tidy starts at $70 to $90 at most businesses that publish a price in October 2026, according to our guide to landscaping and gardening costs. A one-off visit can cost more.

First impressions begin to be formed the moment buyers see your property from the street, so this is critical to get right.

4. Odours

If you have a pet, you're in good company. About 73 per cent of households have one, and about half of all households have a dog, according to Animal Medicines Australia's 2025 survey.

Our love for our fluffy friends is undeniable. Unfortunately, so are the smells that can come with them. It's important to ensure your home doesn't smell of cat or dog.

It's also easy to become accustomed to the smell, so bring in an impartial friend who will tell you the truth. If one thing is for sure, hitting potential buyers with pet pong as soon as they enter your home is an easy way to turn them off.

Be mindful that other odours can make for an unpleasant environment as well. Look out for leaking drainage, damp and slow drips from cisterns. Also, don't decide to fertilise your garden with compost, manure or blood and bone when your home is about to go to market.

5. Sub-par DIY renovations

With trades and materials still getting dearer, DIY improvements may be downright essential. A fresh coat of paint can transform a home, as can new cabinet handles and door knobs. Light fittings need a licensed electrician, though, and in most places taps need a licensed plumber.

Bad paint jobs, dodgy tiling and generally shonky handiwork won't go unnoticed. Whatever jobs you tackle yourself, make sure they're done to a high standard.

Anything that's outside of your DIY abilities is still going to be best left to a professional, since buyers will pick up on any corners that have been cut. If you call in a handyman, expect to pay $80 to $165 an hour, often with a call-out fee or a minimum charge. That's what our pre-sale costs guide found in October 2026.

Some jobs can't be done with elbow grease, however much you have. In every state and territory, electrical, gas and almost all plumbing work must be done by a licensed tradesperson. So doing your own electrical work isn't an option, and neither is an unlicensed handyman for that work.

Keep any compliance certificates your electrician, plumber or gas fitter gives you, as they can help show buyers the work was done by a licensed tradesperson.

If you're planning bigger jobs, our guide to renovations that don't add value covers the improvements that can cost more than they return.

Read: How much do pre-sale repairs and renovations cost?

6. Illegal home improvements

It goes without saying that if you want to undertake any home improvements that require permission from your local council, then you should be getting that approval.

In the event that you haven't sought out approval for work done to your home, this could cause issues when you try to sell it. For example, say you're selling a four-bedroom house but only two of those rooms were council-approved.

If a buyer finds out, they may offer less, ask you to fix it before settlement (the day the sale completes), or in some cases pull out, depending on your contract and your state's rules. It's worth asking a conveyancer or solicitor what you need to disclose.

Your agent can't advertise your home in a way that misleads buyers, so they may not be able to call a room built without approval a bedroom.

Before you list, ask your council what approvals it holds for your home, and check they cover every room you'll advertise. In NSW, you can ask council for a building information certificate to deal with work done without approval.

Our guide to selling a house with unapproved structures has more.

7. A general state of disrepair

Dirty grout, peeling paint, crumbling garden sheds, sliding doors that don't work, cracked concrete, and carpet so old it's wearing away. Believe it or not, even if your property is in a blue-chip suburb, these things can drive the value of your home down.

There's a reason why real estate advertisements mention that a home is newly painted or ready to move into. It's because it's been freshened up and those little things have likely been taken care of.

In October 2026, our pre-sale costs guide found that repainting the inside of a three-bedroom home starts at $3,200 to $5,000. A vacate clean of the same size home costs about $500 once you've moved out.

Before you list, put some effort into sprucing your home up for the market. It's well worth the effort.

8. Outdated kitchens and bathrooms

It's a long-held belief that kitchens sell a house. And like any gross generalisation, maybe there's an element of truth. So if you're looking to maximise your sale price, consider freshening up your kitchen (and your bathroom too, for good measure).

The big-ticket parts of a kitchen are the benchtops, appliances and cabinetry. If you can't afford a complete overhaul, there are plenty of cheaper fixes, like new handles and knobs, or new taps fitted by a plumber. If your rangehood and kitchen walls are greasier than the local fish and chip shop, be sure to give them a very thorough clean.

If your cabinets look tired, our pre-sale costs guide found replacement doors started at $61 to $94 each in October 2026. That's just for the doors, so fitting costs extra.

For a bathroom that needs more than a refresh, our guide to bathroom renovation costs found a complete renovation started at $13,500 to $34,900 in October 2026. Bear in mind that big renovations often return less than they cost when you sell, going by US estimates, as our guide to which renovations add value explains.

When it comes to your bathroom, ensure all plumbing is in working order, repair any cracked tiles, clean or replace discoloured grout and make sure any vanities or cabinetry look fresh and as modern as possible. If you have an older bathroom, making sure it's spick and span and putting the effort into staging can make a world of difference.

9. Choosing the wrong agent

The most important point of the lot. Choosing any agent without thorough research and a background check can definitely be detrimental to your sale price. We can't emphasise enough that comparing agents and choosing wisely is very important.

A good agent has your interests at heart and will give you constructive advice throughout the process to give you the best results. Ask two or three local agents how they'd present your home and what they'd fix first, then compare their answers.

When you're ready, our guide to selling your property walks through each step.

Read: Top 5 ways to find a trustworthy agent

What to fix first

• Quick and cheap: declutter, clean, get rid of pet smells and tidy the garden (items 1, 3 and 4).
• Worth a quote: repairs, paint and a kitchen or bathroom freshen-up (items 5, 7 and 8).
• Ask a professional: anything built without approval and any electrical, gas or plumbing work, including hard-wired lighting and leaking drains (items 3 to 6 and 8).