We are often asked what owners can do to make their houses more saleable, long before they expect to sell. They may be contemplating remodeling and want to do the "right" thing, something that will add value to their house in the future.

Recently a caller explained that she and her husband are older and have been in their house quite a few years, a house with many steps, steps both to the front door and inside. They have agreed that when one of them can no longer easily climb the stairs, they’ll move. She’s hoping to get a head start on getting the house ready for a new owner.

What to tell her? It could be years before they sell. What will be in favor then? What work done now will still look up-to-date and fresh? Or, maybe a better question, what should be preserved as it was built?

Owners change their houses while they live in them. They change them because they want them to work better for their own lives. For example, they need the extra space that their attic would afford so they build a stairwell to the attic. I saw a house once with an open stair in the middle of the living room that allowed the attic to be used as bedrooms. This worked great for that family, but it did not add value to the house.

So, the first question to ask before changing your house is whether you are making the change for yourself or for a future owner? Are you expecting that what you are doing will make your house more valuable? Can you count on that?

Many kitchens have been satisfyingly remodeled over the years by eager cooks. The cooks and their families enjoyed the new look. After a few years, the look was not new any longer. Think Harvest Gold or avocado-color appliances and rooster-decorated wallpaper borders.

We’ve visited many houses where nothing has been done to change the originals at all, and almost always this is an advantage. The owners did not paint the wood wainscot in their 1910 house, as during the 1960s, many other owners did. The same owners also did not change the original linoleum on the kitchen floor to wet-look vinyl.

Kitchen flooring, like paint, is pretty easily, and fairly quickly, renewed. Stripping paint from wood is more difficult. Covering wood flooring with carpeting, as was frequently done during the days of orange-shag carpet, is easily reversed. Removing wood flooring is not a good idea, then or now. And installing any sort of flooring with the expectation that a future owner will agree with your choice and be willing to reimburse you its cost probably will not work.

Painting rooms too far ahead of selling with the idea that they will show the house to advantage doesn’t work well. Even if the paint is in good shape – not marked or chipped – it probably doesn’t look fresh and may also not be the preferred color for the time.

Pay special attention to original light fixtures. It is pretty much true that no matter what era your house was built in, the light fixtures go with the intended style. If they do not please you, by all means change them, but keep and store the old ones. Chances are excellent that a future owner will want them.

Maintenance, especially being vigilant about preventing water from penetrating any surface, is probably the most important ownership responsibility. Water does terrible damage. So, keeping gutters cleared, cutting tree branches away from your roof, and re-roofing when needed are all super important. Also, preventing water from going beneath your exterior siding or stucco. And getting water out from under your house by changing drainage or putting in a sump pump or whatever you have to do. These are all far more important as investments in your home than any cosmetic changes you might make.

It’s pretty much a slam dunk to spend money modernizing your electricity, plumbing and heating, possibly your sewer line, too. Whether to spend money on these things depends in large part on how old they are and whether they work well for you.

To our caller who would like to start getting a handle on things while she still has the energy and plenty of time, our last words of advice are to pare down belongings. When the time comes to sell, this will be the most difficult task of all. It’s the one most people put off until the last minute because sorting and discarding involve decisions, lots of decisions, and feelings and memories, lots of them.

But if you would start getting prepared, besides keeping your house dry, emptying it is the best thing you can do. It is always possible that when the time comes, you will be selling your house just as it is.