Paint the outside - drive up appeal is important. I’d let the rest slide. When you show it - fresh flowers in the house, very clean (including windows), clean garage, tend the garden.

Paint the inside. People live IN the house and buyers are more inclined to buy if they don't have to do much, especially on the inside as once they move in every work inside will be a bother. Fresh inside is also much more appealing. How much is it to fill the cracks? It may be worth if not too expensive. Wouldn't worry about the garden or what is there as the buyers may just like it. Same for carpet, I would leave them if they are just sun faded. Wouldn't bother painting outside as the buyer can do it if they wish any time after they move in.
What does the real estate market in SD looks like? Buyers or sellers market? Just curious as I am always interested in real estate.

Best things I can say are:

Sellers look at what they have done
Buyers look at what they have to do

Usually repairs you make will help sell a house faster, but not bring you more money.

FYI- a pool is an improvement, not a repair or maintenance. There is a difference.

Don't paint the inside of the house. Do any needed patch work, but don't paint the inside. I would fix and paint any stucco cranks. As the buyer, I would want any of those repaired and inspected for water intrusion. Best to fix and paint now rather than have someone find a bigger problem later.

Like someone said, make sure the stucco is OK and repaint. If I were the buyer, I'd probably repaint your new paint anyway.

Give a carpet allowance instead of putting in new. I'd rip it out anyway.

Back yard - you'll probably get lots of opinions. I would hate the sod/grass.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

thanks for your reply and all the other people who have shared their opinion. buyers or sellers market in southern California? the market has slowed down a little bit, a buyers market, properties sit for a couple of months now.

Clean the heck out of the house and rent a storage locker to hide most of your crap. Make it look "staged" and "Zen" without too much stuff cluttering the appeal. Also put about half your clothing in storage so the closets look adequate. You may not want to sell after you have cleaned it and got rid of a lot of clutter.

Get a good realtor and get feedback from them. If you don’t have a realtor, interview 2 or 3 and get recommendations on which improvements to do

But in general, houses in San Diego are pricey, and in a slow market you’re probably wise to spend some money on these types of improvements

When I sold my townhouse in Dallas last year I painted 75% of the inside and replaced carpet with engineered hardwood in main parts of the house

Sell it yourself and save 6%.

I’d fix the exterior cracks/stucco issues and anything that you think will be flagged in an inspection. Other than that, you have a couple of options. You could give carpet and paint allowances and list at market price or you can drop the list price a bit (figure what you may have spent to fix it up), and sell it basically as is. That lets the new owner pick their own flooring and colors and you don’t waste your time/money.

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