basics of increasing home value

And also by 'dressing' your whole house with furniture can also certainly add value

While I agree with Helyn that first impressions count...I prefer to inspect a house withOUT furniture as it's easier to 'see' the rooms rather than have them cluttered with people's belongings, which sometimes I find distracting.

In saying that I know it's not always possible, but as an example, while inspecting a house recently it was sooooo cluttered and was impossible to gauge the size of rooms and the owner was continually pointing out their favourite pieces of furniture etc. These were not included in the sale and therefore held no interest, but their pride and joy was a (imho) horrible chandelier and if I'd been buying the house I would have gladly donated it back to them to do whatever they wished with it!!! LOL

Anyway, an offer wasn't even placed on the house because of the $%^&* clutter!!

Can't please all of the people all of the time...I suppose!! LOL

Interesting. I dislike it when homes are for sale and you see all the rooms empty but compared to clutter I know which I prefer.

I have friends that buy/reno/sell and they always stage the house. ie hire furniture and put vases etc to make it look homely and inviting. The idea is for people to walk in and imagine themselves living there.

There are advantages and disadvantages to clutter/empty. Clutter is a turn off but and empty home makes it difficult to imaging your own furniture in there. When we sold our last home we had a huge garage sale and put lots of stuff into storage. We just kept the bare minimum.

clareow $5 isn't a lot on a house in that price range. But you could just paint over the concrete with paving paint and put a nice table and chairs on it. Maybe a few plants in big pots (which you can take with you). But I wouldn't leave it like that. People immediately think they have to do some work straight away.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I guess the consensus is to do it up so i think I will.

I will look at this from different perspectives....

As a buyer, I look for homes with clutter, with photos everywhere and weird colour schemes because I think they might be a bargain u can get for a low price.

As a agent in a previous life it was always harder to sell an empty home. Its harder to imagine furniture and room sizes are always a concern, ie, will I fit my couch or little Jimmys queen bed in there?

As a seller its important imo to create a dream if you want top dollar. Dont overcapitalise, i will be spending up to 15k to add about 30-40k plus.

I think look at modern options but you can make it look great without spending through the roof. Example is instead of spending 1500 on a glass splashback you can spend a quarter on stunning porcelain tiles which look just as good if not better.

I think its important too that you need to either do it all or not at all. The people u attract by modernising your kitchen are going to be put off when they go to the old and daggy bathroom which still had the pink basin.

On my list is paint, new wall tiles throughout, new benchtop, carpet, carport, concreting, shower screen and if budget allows a new deck over the existing cracked concrete porch (first impressions),

The key things we did...

Declutterd
Regrouted all tiles in the house, including all the floors - major effort but had a fantastic effect - make everything look fresh.
Resealed the driveway
Added some flowers to the pot planters at the front door.

That was it... and we sold our house for more than we expected.

I have to say, based on our recent house hunting experience, DON'T use artificial air fresheners (no matter how nice you think they are). I recently viewed a house I could barely stand in because of the smell . This house is still a contender, but I actually have trouble visualising the insides without gagging!
A lot of people are sensitive (and even allergic) to thise air fresheners and they can be really over powering. Another house hunting couple we spoke to mentioned a house that stank of pin-o-clean.

I'd go baking or coffee over an artificial air freshener any day!

4) nice light fittings

Yes of course but the poster was asking how to sell as house.

I too get my bargains this way. Most people can';t see past the clutter, bad, colour choices etc etc.

Clean and declutter goes a LONG way. And doesn't cost a cent.

Hi all,

As much as the Painting Carpeting Landscaping is important, a property that set alot appart is interior and exterior design, simple and stupid seem to always look best and attractive.

Alot of work i have done before we use to furnish the landscaping add woodfire burners, water features and lighting.

interior is just about creating space, moving this around to make rooms appear bigger, adding mirrors and a few canvas artworks seem to work for catching a potential purchaser

Happy Renovating

Jay

We're at the other end of this- just about to buy our first home. We've elected to keep the budget tiny and the property we have our eye on is, quite frankly, a bit tired. It has been tenanted for a long time and will need a lot of work done to make it comfortable.

We will be putting in a new kitchen and bathroom, adding two room underneath and doing basic cosmetic stuff. At this stage we don't know how long we will be there- hopefully a long while as the size and location suits us, but with bub #3 en route we are really not sure how much room we need or if two story will suit us long term.

With that in mind, any suggestions of what NOT to do while we renovated that may detract buyers later on? We are really working to improve it for us but plan to not make major changes that won't add value, or can't be redone at sale (ie paint colours).

Hubby is a glazier/shop fitter. He will get the materials at cost and do the work himself with a little help from mates. He has reno'd thousands of kitchens and a lot of bathrooms and has the skills do do everything bar plumbing and electrics himself, so we will be able to (hopefully) increase value at a minimum cost to us.

Asking price is $280k but we are planning to offer $250 and take it from there. Our broker said he'd pick it at $320 value if it was clean and fresh, though we will add a few mod cons in the kitchen, and have spanking new kitchen/bath, will do some DIY landscaping (nothing fancy, aiming for low maintenance), new lights, air con (no air con or fans in qld, the poor tenants bpmust be dying this week).

So are you buying it to renovate then sell or just thinking down th track?

Use neutral but warm colours. Keep the kitchen plain and modern. We use gloss white poly doors with a stone look laminate benchtop (in cheaper areas). Same with the bathroom, white with a border or vertical stripe. Plain white vanity. You can always add colour with accessories. White doesn't offend anyone.

The main thing is to not overcapitalise. Buy fittings etc to suit the price of the house. Cheap fittings are fine in a $200K house but not in a $800K house. Buyers in that price will notice.
Good luck. Post some before and after photos.

Thanks travelbug! We are buying to live and renovating for our own comfort but trying to be mindful of a sales perspective while we do it we will keep most fittings fairly low budget- anything we spend more on will be for us, not the buyers, as due to size and location we don't exotic to get more than $320k for it even it we did spend the extra.

Will definitely post pics! We haven't officially even made an offer yet, I'm jumping the gun a bit out of pure excitement

in the process of doing this right now (70's 3br hardiplank, external double garage and inground pool)

The ones that have made a huge difference with not much cost..

Fully repaint exterior/garage with modern neutral colours (colour coordinated fascias and gutters)

Regrout all tiling.

Repair/repaint all skirting and doorjams. Touch up/repaint internal doors where necessary.

Replace front door/infill to something with something more modern. Remove and respray security doors to match above colours, fix/adjust/replace door closers if needed.

New flyscreen wire everywhere.

Removed or trim old plants from gardens, fix borders and add potted colour and mulch.

Add new polish edged mirror & IXLtastic light/heater to bathroom.

Clean, clean, clean

If the house is good to start with, the little details can really add up to a great overall impression.

This is an old thread but hope someone can share their thoughts or experience if you have encountered in the past. We are planning to sell our home soon. It's well maintained and we had so many upgrades, except the down-lights. We have batten lights only. I was told by someone that it isn't necessary to upgrade to down-lights as the new home owner can easily do it without too much costs, however will this impact the selling price? Is it more worth it to upgrade our lighting to LED down-lights before putting our home to market?

Thanks in advance

Spending money on a house prior to sale in the hope of making that money back is a tricky business. That said, batten lights are quite old fashioned and LEDs can be very cheap, but the labour costs of the changeover can be expensive. I'm in the camp of making some changes to freshen up a house before sale, whereas my wife is in the camp of touch nothing and leave the choices to the new owner. It's difficult to tell whether either approach is best, as you can never sell the same house twice in order to compare.

Best of luck with your sale.

Thanks mate! We will probably go with upgrading to LED downlights but to a minimum. Good luck with your sale too.

8 Ways To Boost Your Home Value

- The kitchen is still king
- Make floor plans work harder
- Don't let your home be an energy hog
- Keep it simple and stress-free
- Build a home for'the ages'
- Paint is still a potent upgrade
- Remember the great outdoors

Thanks

Just checking how did you go with your sale and how long it took before you receive an offer? I just put my property into the market and hope we receive good offers soon.