I’m an old house guy so I’d prefer stained, but with interior colors tending towards color and away from all white stained seems more on trend. Can you post photos?

Without photos it is hard to advise anything. I generally think freshly painted white moldings add pop for resale, but not every house is the same. I certainly wouldn’t paint the moldings in a craftsman home.

I don't think whether the trim has stained or painted interior trim is going to make a difference in the selling price of your home. The condition of the house as a whole is what buyers will notice. If it's clean and uncluttered it will show just fine. Not worth spending the money to paint the wood just on the chance that it will appeal to more buyers. Personally I agree with Hallet that stained wood, especially old Douglas fir, would appeal to me more. Some buyers would prefer painted and some stained, it's hard to determine.

And yes, if you post photos you might get better advice on how to stage your home for sale.

I think it's sacrilege to paint the wood trim on old houses. If someone is going to do it, let the next owners do it if that's what they want. If you do it you will be limiting your buyer pool to people who want painted trim. The people who want the natural wood will walk away. I don't know if I would even go down the path of refinishing the trim before sale. It's a big job. If you DIY and you have a day job you will be working on it every weekend for a very long time. When were you hoping to list?

As Diana says, if you post pictures you will get good advice on staging. I'm pretty sure most of the frequent commenters have bought and sold several homes. Some are real estate agents. Your own agent may give you advice that will cause you to spend more money than you really need to for their benefit. IMO the only advice you really need is to paint uniquely colored rooms a neutral color, clean and declutter. You do not need to paint your whole house or do any expensive remodeling projects.

Of course real estate markets are very local. Is your market moving slowly? If not, you just need to price correctly and it should sell quickly. Use your judgment on pricing, don't completely rely on your agent. I've found sometimes they're wrong. Go to open houses yourself and try to get a feel for your market.

Since you are considering selling, ask your Realtor. But the easiest is leave bare wood and hope the next buyer appreciates the option to paint or stain.

Agree to ask realtor. Personally: I was specifically looking for original stained woodwork when I bought my 1903 home, and my realtor knew several other buyers looking for the same. Mine is beat up in many places, but I love it.

Interesting point, caligirl5. And beat up stained wood looks way better than beat up painted wood!

In 1915 the finish could easily be shellac which can often be refreshed with a fresh coat-- the solvent will dissolve and reconsolidate the old finish. It also strips very easily with alcohol, you don't have to get it all off or do a lot of sanding prior to re-coating with fresh shellac.

For many buyers paint on nice old woodwork is a serious negative as it involves many, many hours of painful work to reverse.

And white is boring.

Can you post photos of your home?

I think it makes sense to clean the house , declutter and fix things that are broken for sale but I would not paint the trim just for sale. I am not a lover of wood trim but to actully advise you we need to see the the trim. I have a 1956 MM ranch the trim is nothing to high light so it is the same as the walls . we need pics please posted here in a comment DO NOT start another post

Just make sure the house is sparkling clean. Don't do anymore decorating you've aready done. The new owners will likely change a lot of things, if not everything.

The house we currently live in? The day we moved in, we ripped out the brand new carpet/new vinyl plank flooring in the living areas, and gutted the kitchen. The seller had put in new laminate countertops and cupboards - they are long gone. He wasted his money as we low-balled the price and got the home (mid 2020).

Wow, that's a great example of how NOT to spend money on staging a home for sale.

I agree BNPlaceholder, we put my mom's house on the market in 2022 and did nothing but de-clutter and clean it. It sold in 3 days. The new owners pulled up all the carpeting, repainted the entire house and redid the bathrooms. So glad we didn't spend any money to make it attractive to some unknown buyers.

We sold a house in an estate sale. It needed a lfair amount of work. We looked at the market and realized there were enough repos for the people with the energy to fix something up to buy and the rest needed/wanted move-in ready. I think it's much easier to get a mortgage for a house than a mortgage that will cover the cost of renovation.