basics of increasing home value

Well done kexkez….great to see.
It shows you were keen to sell and get the most you could for your investment!

Ohhhh now I know what to do with my old bras!!!!!!!!

keeping you abreast of the latest trends, Michelle.

but it could be a booby trap!

Has anyone heard of a vacuum that goes in the wall? A neighbor has one installed, and he is very pleased by it.

Anyhow, I once heard that a central vacuum can increase the value of your home. Realtors seem to use this point often. Does anyone know about this value? Does it increase value?

I'm new to the forums, and I haven't checked if we can post urls. But in case anyone doesn't know what a central vacuum is.

around $1500 in double story if your building. Depends on your pref. I dont think it will add value but you never know. I am planning to have tyles on ground and Timber upstairs so no carpet

around $1500 in double story if your building. Depends on your pref. I dont think it will add value but you never know.

amk, methinks previous post was just spam advertising central vac, I'm sure Sean Jackson has heard of ducted vacuuming.

Interestingly, ducted vacuuming does not seem to have taken off here, I've never heard of anyone here getting it or read it as a sales point in any local real estate ads, of which I read many.

So I think it a personal choice, not a big resale factor.

I live in Perth, and I've seriously never heard of these things until recently. True, I think ducted vacuums are bigger elsewhere. Being away at college is where I first heard of them (in California).

And I HAVE seen these as an upsell for homes. I'm trying to get to the bottom of it.

i have to agreed with you mcs a old saying in the real estate industry is this first impressions count

Great advice everyone!

just thought I'd ad a couple to the list and bump this up

1. If you are going to stash stuff away like your extensive booze supply, dont hide it in the built in wardrobe, househunters do look inside built ins to check out the storage space. Sure it might not have anything to do with the house but it creates a bad impression.

2. If you own a dog and have a vacant lot behind you, dont throw your dog poop or anything else over the fence to hide it, I casually walked up to one back fence to have a look over and sure enough the owners had been using the back fence as a dumping ground for the dog poop and for quite a while by the look of it. Really bad impression.

from Michelle's comment, it seems she's not from Oz -- pretty sure percolated/brewed 'coffee' went out with flares and fake plants (in Australia anyway) -- $10 coffee makers are definitely not a good look, but you should think about purchasing a few select shiny new appliances (espresso machine/microwave/etc) prior to the sale, to spruce your kitchen up (whilst they don't add value to the property because you'll take them with you) they reflect a little taste and style onto your home.

other areas:
kitchen, don't go and install a brand new one, unless the old one is actually falling apart/rusting -- this is a key area that any new owners will want to redo/personalise, no matter how beautiful it looks to you.
bathroom/ensuites are another area where, as long there's zero mould/damp and the grout is sparkling, prospective buyers will see that you are looking after your property (thus is it worth looking after). new toilet seats ~$90 is well worthwhile if they look tired, install new economy tap handles if they're rusty or if they're plastic ones.
repainting is always a great idea, but make sure it is done 2 months in advance for acrylic, 4+ months for oil-based paint, to ensure the sensory evidence is gone, likewise with resanding/repolishing floors.
carpets are no longer desirable anywhere except bedrooms, and perhaps feature rugs to the living/lounge rooms. if you have to replace any floor coverings, consider any alternatives, eg. polished/floating floors/parquetry/basic tiles/sisal-types (there are now even some higher quality vinyl that look more appealing than a fully carpeted home). if you must buy carpet, you would be better off saving money and reusing commercial carpet (cheaper/hardwearing), or for bedrooms I would opt for the deepest pile you can afford, which adds a luxurious feel to the space, but not white -- guaranteed it won't stay that colour for the open inspections.
decluttering is an absolute must -- you may need to move most of your personal stuff out beforehand, to ensure your robes don't look like a Salvos bin when people inevitably inspect them -- ironically most vendors seem to miss this issue from their pre-inspection agenda, and it really highlights the problem (that most houses face) with storage space shortage. pay a $100-200/mth for some off-site storage like fort knox, in the end you'll save some pain with moving out after the sale, but reap the return in your sale price.
roof, make sure your gutters are emptied of leaves, you don't want an overflowing downpipe if it's raining on the day of the inspection/auction!, and make sure if you have fibreglass roofing anywhere, it's spotless -- you've lived with it for years, and don't notice it anymore, but a grotty film of black over your pergola roof won't be missed as a first impression.
garden, you don't need to landscape it -- green-thumbed buyers will redo it no matter what, but it's worth paying a gardener to come in a tidy up and add perhaps a few large pot plants near the entry areas.

I like the suggestion above of the new entry door, but unfortunately it seems the agent always stands in front of that as you enter to view the property, so most punters will miss it completely. New door handles around the house are an inexpensive, subtle way to add some class around the house.

bottom line:
whatever money you spend, it should enhance the buyers' perception of the vendors, while not spending exorbitantly. anything you add now may well be torn out (and thus discounted) from what some buyers are prepared to offer/bid, at the same time, 'potential' can't be ignored, (unless you're selling a brand new house) -- it's a positive to almost any buyer, but any house should feel ready to move into, and tastefully so.

tsk, tsk, tsk, Michelle - over 12,000 posts and you are only pretending to be in NSW !!!!!

hahahah nice

Adding value or Value adding?
I’m trying to increase the value of my house while in the build stage. By this I mean, Why would you do stuff to your house after it was built (unless it’s an older home) in order to sell it. I feel if you put some thought into it you can do things to insure you have a better chance of getting a good price when the time comes. Eg. If there is 3 homes in the street for sale, similar age & price. What would get your home over the line? I think the following are great selling points:

Air Con
9’ Ceilings or 8’6”
Walk in Robes.
Double Bedrooms or bigger then 3 X 3m.
Alfresco.
900mm Oven.

They tell me that a good kitchen is important and a Woman will go straight to the kitchen to check it out and the Man to the shed.

I guess what I’m saying is look at the resale potential of a home before you build it not after. I would like to hear any comments on the above. As I think many people ignore this concept and over capitalize on things that don’t make a real difference.

KW............

porcelain basins not the plastic ones.

King Willy here's some stuff that I'd think about when looking to buy......

Think about the kitchen, laundry and storage, storage and more storage. It can be added later, but built in, thought out storage rather than just a random free-standing cupboard will always add value.

As silly as it sounds.... the layout. Can areas be closed off? Can kids/adults get to the toilet without going through the whole house? Is the laundry in a convenient usable place? Is the outdoor area easily accessibly... both physically and visually if there's small kids? Is the garage usable and accessible? Is it easy to get a mower/tools from the garage to the outdoor areas?

basics of increasing home value...
Hmmm first impressions on every room ,

re-grout tiled areas, bleach or remove/replace silicon sealants
in wet areas that have mould growing ,
then clean, then clean, then just to be sure, clean again
If you need info to use acids to wash tiles, then don't use it, pool chlorine(sodium hypo)
Heavy duty bleach, most likely will renew an old timber deck.
also mould and moss don't like it 20ltr/$25+bottle deposit.
no leaking taps, clean glass and mirrors burn some candles.
have a small mirror(s) at the front door (word off evil spirits[*wash your mouth out Jonny*])
Pot 'o' soup on the stove @ 2.30 on a saturday is normal here
so long as it isn't tongue or something :puke:

King Willy, specifically re the above suggestions - all in my opinion only of course.
Aircon - yes, definetely - r/c ducted being most impressive, most expensive initially too of course
High ceilings - me personally yes but judging from previous discussion on this forum, many people aren't bothered, not sure the initial expense will be gained in re-sale price.
WIR's - in the main bedroom, yes but even there not essential - whereas BIR's of some sort, not neccesarily walk ins, are a plus, always see them mentioned in for sale ads.
Larger bedrooms and/or liveing areas- yes, but will intial added cost be gained thru re-sale, not sure
Alfresco - yes, well any sort of outdoor undercover liveing area be it alfresco or good quality pergola/verandah
900mm oven - I wouldn't of thought this would be a big selling point and I myself dislike free standing ovens so that would work against me as a buyer.

of course, within reason, I think you should be first and foremost building the house for yourself, not trying to predict buyers wants for re-sale down the track - unless you are building an investment property

This is a great thread with lots of good advice.
Our house is about to go on the market and so far we have done the following;

* Had a plasterer in to repair any cracked cornices (I will do the paint touch-ups)
* Had the whole facade and external concrete cleaned with high pressure cleaning. This cost $500 but was so worth it, he was here for 5 hours and the place looks like new. I only had to go around with a damp cloth to get the windows sparkling which saved spending more money on a window cleaner.
* I had a gardener here to cut our feature "ball on a stick" trees out the front, he took all the cuttings away too which filled his trailer lol.
* We have weeded the gardens, taken out any dead plants and replaced them. We did that a few months ago so now they are looking more established again.
* Had some carpets dry cleaned to freshen them up.
* Filled any holes and marks in the walls and touched up with paint.
* Had a plummer out to replace some tap washers and fixed a leaking toilet.
* Replaced the kitchen vegie sprayer tap that was broken.
* We have decluttered and stored the excess furniture and nik naks tidily in the back shed (it's 13m x 6m). We have also sold on eBay things of value that we won't take to the new house and have taken the rest to the tip.
* I have recently updated some of our furniture so now it all matches and is modern. I have put out some dried flowers in vases and photo frames but nothing too over the top. i have also removed some pictures from walls to keep it more minimal.
* We have totally empied the garden shed and hosed it out.
* Cleaned the oven and buffed up the sink.
* Painted outside in a few places that needed it (eg a couple of downpipes, some of the render and pergola).
* Cleaned the built-in BBQ's.
* Repaired a broken wall light out the front.

Still to do;

* Remove leaves from the roof and gutters.
* Hose off the pergola roof with bleach to remove dirt and mould.
* Hose out the cats run and down the side of the house as it wasn't done with the rest for fear of scaring the cats!!
* Give the place a thorough clean from top to bottom (I am doing this gradually each day).

I also want to buy some subtle air fresheners to place around the house. I don't like coffee so I'm not too fond of that idea. And we have a bread maker but it's very overpowering and would make the house smell like a bakery

I think we have it all covered, but I'd love to hear of any other suggestions though if I have forgotten anything.
I can post a few pics of the house finished when the photographers have been through, if anyone wants to see?