basics of increasing home value

travelbug · Oct 16, 2009 3:04 pm

Hi jmsbaum,
well done. That's the way to do it.

People sometimes make the mistake on spending too much on renovations and don't see a return.

I wouldn't spend more than 10% of the property value (unless you are extending etc).

We just bought a cheap department of housing house.

We put new carpet, new kitchen floor, painted about half the house, painted all the skirtings, architraves and doors (looks great but was a pain), new light fittings, new toilet and vanity put in AC, cleaned, cleaned and cleaned some more. Cost $6,000.

Added $20-30K to the value. Not bad for 5 days work. We are renting it. We will now get $30-40 a week more rent.

Have to strongly agree about decluttering. I know I tend to look at the clutter when looking at houses. You are going to move so why not pack stuff up a little earlier. Also take photos down. You want people want to envisage THEM living in it. When we sold our last house we had boxes packed away. We hadn't unpacked them months after moving so we just had a garage sale and sold it all. If we didn't need it in 6 months we didn't need it.

adrian · Oct 19, 2009 12:27 pm

This year I purchased my first home, a 4 bedroom solid brick house.

The previous owners painted the kitchen/dining, loungeroom and two bedrooms in an awful blue colour with brown skirts and door frames. I believe this devalued the house for me

The laundry was a bit of a mess (very shabby cupboards and a little unfinished.

Our plans are:

* Paint the blue bits - Off white walls with white skirts and door frames (already 1/3 way through this)
* Replace laundry cupboards with new units (flat pack) and finish off with edging to give "built in look"
* Put small cubpoard/ draws next to washing machine, and finish off with bench top right along over machine to tub.
* Replace crappy internal doors with corinthian style, and fresh paint.
* Timber look venitians in kitchen, bathroom, laundry, toilet (just about to order)
* Rip up lino / carpet from kitchen, dining, loungeroom, hall way and polish floor boards.

That is for now. More kitchen pantry space will be required some day, as will a ducted R/C air con.

murray1969 · Oct 26, 2009 2:08 pm

hi to all...i'm from PERTH...there are thousands of different ways increasing the value of your house.one of the cheapest,quickest and cleanest is,which is the most important part of the house,getting the front of the house rendered.at least only the front.i've done heaps.specially the limestone finish,where you dont even have to paint it.looks super.it would only cost about less than $2,000...thats all.i can give anyone more advise,you're welcome...

Helyn · Oct 26, 2009 4:52 pm

Ah, yes, but you are a plasterer, Murray :wink:

Myself, I prefer face brick to the rendered look.

murray1969 · Oct 26, 2009 10:15 pm

yes,you are right Helyn,i am a plasterer.i do have a lot of job going on at the moment,and not desperate for asking for a job in this forem.but i meant the older houses when i mentioned rendered front.you might prefer facebrick but if a limestone render was done on the bricks,i'm pretty sure that most people would prefer it rendered,if its done properly too....

[JADED] · Oct 28, 2009 5:51 pm

Id agree with many of the points above..

Also one I find interesting thats never been mentioned is fences. I remember a year or 2 ago driving around with my OH's little bro in the back of the car. Out of nowhere he casually says... "The good houses are the ones with a really nice fence" .. it kind of stuck with us all that time and now we are spending a bit more on the fence in our new place.. to ensure it still looks great should we want to sell it in the future (the house not the fence lol)

Of course that probably applies more to corner blocks rather than normal blocks.. but Id still agree that nice looking fences on any house just give it a certain something extra rather than the standard faded, warping treated pine paling fence.

Have to say Im a fan of the rendered look as opposed to brick... So we were really glad that our estate covenant means you HAVE to have rendered! no brick allowed! ::lol::

gives the estate a lovely feel to it to see nice looking houses everywhere

Melrich · Nov 20, 2009 1:23 pm

This is a great topic.

We bought a 100 year old house in a bayside suburb of Melbourne recently. It was presented for sale with the most appaling interior color scheme, different color in every room ranging from lime green to duck egg blue. There was lots of clutter and an old carpet throughout most of the house.

We were the only bidders....this was on a 4 bedroom, 3 living areas, 2 bathroom, in built pool on 700m2 just 300 metres from a beautiful bayside beach!! We got the house at a post auction negotiation. The real estate agent (who I knew pretty well) told me she had tried to convince the owners to do some simple work painting, declutter etc but they loved their house and thought everyone else would.

We have since polished the boards throughout, painted the interior and put in built in wardrobes at a cost of about $20,000. The real estate agent thinks we have comfortably added $250,000 to $300,000 to the house.

What I have learnt out of this is always get an outside opinion from someone who has no emotional attachment because we tend to project our own biases onto what we think will add (or not) value.

leebuild · Sep 13, 2010 3:27 pm

hi everyone we are debating selling our house when we move to to new build but are wondering a few things. One we have ugly facade that had been painted with textured paint when we brought it and i know we nearly didnt look inside because of the front only photos of interior dragged us in. Should we render, might have to sand blast not sure how that works would have to do whole houae as sides can be seen from front.
2 should we put new driveway, badly cracked green and sinking might try posts some photos

Sheepdog · Sep 15, 2010 6:43 pm

I think 'adding value' is largely related to the area you're in.

For example, in new estates, mostly geared towards young familes - simply putting in 90cm wide appliances instead of the standard 60cm adds much more than the cost of the appliances themselves because often, these can't be added in easily later due to needing to adjust overhead cupboards for a larger rangehood.

However, in the same area, you probably won't get the full value back of ducted refridgerated AC (often 10k+) because compared to evap (much much cheaper), people in Melb will often not see the value of AC. Especially when we're talking about houses that are at or below the Melbourne median.

ladyhawk · Sep 22, 2010 9:57 pm

Street appeal can be very important when finding a buyer for a number of reasons:

* There is no "second chance at a first impression"
* Potential buyers may not inspect real estate when they arrive, particularly on a day full of Open for Inspections
* People want to be proud of their home and may feel if they are not impressed by the outside, their friends, neighbours and relatives may feel the same way

Edited by support team to remove link

cheltenham3192 · Sep 22, 2010 11:58 pm

The Age had an article online today about the costs of installing and maintaining a swimming pool, with some opinions about value when selling. Readers of this thread might find it interesting.

http://www.theage.com.au/money/investin ... 15m6g.html

qonyx · Dec 27, 2010 8:57 am

Interesting thread

Quick question here - do people think installing high value tiles increase the value of the property by at least the cost of the tiles (for a new house). ie if you had italian imported tiles would this be enough of a differentiator between a house that had basic tiles?

travelbug · Dec 27, 2010 9:11 am

It really depends on the area. If you are talking $1m house then yes. If you are talking a $300K house then no, you are overcapitalizing.

Just think. Would a buyer know the difference? If not don't put the expensive ones in.

qonyx · Dec 28, 2010 8:24 am

thanks travelbug... well the tiles are prolly going to cost us about 15k to install... and the house exists within neighbouring houses worth about 500-600k... so halfway between these..

thought about it overnight and think that we will just put them in as it helps to differentiate with other houses in the estate..

travelbug · Dec 29, 2010 6:11 pm

$15K is a lot of money. What's the price difference between standard ones?
Are you going to live in it or is it to sell?

When I price things I look at the long term costs if I'm buying to hold.
Eg- If I plan to keep a property for 10 years and borrow an extra $10K. That's $10K @ 7% interest X 10 years. That's just cost me $17K. Will I get that much more for my input?

Of course if it's for your PPOR then you get the enjoyment out of it so it may be worth it to you. Not everything is about money.

Something to think about.

shape · Jan 02, 2011 7:07 pm

Just make sure it has a good 'home feel" to the place. Owners occupiers are the one that brings in the big buck especially at auction! they always let their heart do the talking....

New paint, new carpets, no clatter, modern kitchen and lastly the smell of fresh bread and coffee=
:z:

qonyx · Jan 03, 2011 6:22 pm

travelbug

$15K is a lot of money. What's the price difference between standard ones?
Are you going to live in it or is it to sell?

When I price things I look at the long term costs if I'm buying to hold.
Eg- If I plan to keep a property for 10 years and borrow an extra $10K. That's $10K @ 7% interest X 10 years. That's just cost me $17K. Will I get that much more for my input?

Of course if it's for your PPOR then you get the enjoyment out of it so it may be worth it to you. Not everything is about money.

Something to think about.

Tks travel bug. I think the key here is that it will be PPOR for at least 10 years so think that the emotional 'feel-good' weighs as a pretty high priority for us so think that we will go ahead with these tiles.... even at this cost.... Thanks for the input though as your note about PPOR hit the nail on the head and i'm sure that if I was in the market of buying an established property an extra 15k in the circa 600k price range isn't that massive

Dollar · Jun 25, 2011 8:17 pm

I know someone who used to always bake a cake prior to inspection.

clareow · Jan 04, 2012 12:02 pm

Hi all

In process of selling my house

Wondering what people's thoughts on how much the garden can add in value?

I have paid 2.5K so far to have a garage demolished.
It is now going to cost at least another 5K to get the garden in shape.

Wonderring what peoples thoughts are on whether this will be worth it in resale? Or their experiences in having had done this?
Estimate on property value is about $700-720 currently in an inner city suburb in Melbourne.

Here is a photo of what the garden looks like currently

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... ba6417567f

thanks in advance

Helyn · Jan 04, 2012 2:25 pm

Am not sure how much value good quality gardens add - but undoubtedly they make the house easier to sell.

Quick check of house ads will show you that - how often is established garden, low maitenance garden etc mentioned?

I think a garden really shows a house in best light - or not.
Esoecially the front garden which is part of the first impression of the house.

Have told this story on here before but will do so again - when we were selling our old house, valuer came to value it (on behalf of the buyer's lender) - we saw him moseying around out the front and around the side (was a corner block) and asked him to come in to check the inside - Oh I know already it will be fine, can tell that already from the garden.