| Sure Fire Ways To Add Value To Your Home

Thinking of selling your home?  Naturally, you want to get the best price for your home in the shortest time possible.

We have listed a few key things you can do to improve the resale (and the perceived value) value of your home without spending a lot of money on expensive renovations.

Street Appeal is Vital
First impressions are vital. Even before a look inside, they often drive past.

• Make sure your home is ready to lure in onlookers
• Power wash outside & driveway
• Cleanup or replace letterbox & numbers
• Plant blooming flowers and fresh greenery
• Mow lawn and make sure it is nice & green
• Clean or paint your front fence
• Wash front windows
• Repaint or stain the front porch floor
• Clean or repaint your front door

Clean Absolutely Everything
What would a buyers first impression be when they walk through your front door?

Is it spotlessly clean and beautiful smelling?  Or is the mess, clutter and strange smells?  Your first step in improving the value of your house to prospective buyers is to give it a deep clean.

• Clean doors & screens
• Wash all windows
• Use some sugar-soap to wash down all walls
• Get a professional to steam clean & deodorise your carpets
• If there is some damaged carpet that you are not going to replace, cover it with a nice rug
• Clean and deodorise your furniture
• Dust Clean curtains and blinds
• Especially concentrate on deep cleaning your kitchen & bathrooms

Declutter
Everybody has it, but potential buyers don’t want to see it.  By removing all clutter, your home will feel much fresher, cleaner and inviting to buyers.

• Clear of all clutter from you kitchen bench tops
• Pack away excess books, magazines and general nick-knacks
• Make sure all table & bench tops look like a show home

Rooms will look larger if there’s less stuff in them.

You might need to rent a storage unit to store all but the most critical pieces of furniture and decor. Don’t go overboard; it’s better to leave some furniture so potential buyers can imagine where their furniture would go.

Repairing and Painting walls
One of the biggest return on investments is paint (and fixing small defects in walls). A coat of paint is the best way to transfer a house. It can immediately improve the look and feel of your home.

It is also a good idea to paint any feature walls a more neutral colour. Ensure you have a Consistent colour scheme throughout your home. Neutral colours are more universally appealing to more buyers.

Try to keep the colour scheme flowing throughout your home from the walls, through to your furniture. It makes it easier for potential buyers to imagine themselves moving into your property.

Fixtures & Fittings
Replacing fixtures and fittings is an inexpensive way to transform a room.  There are many inexpensive cosmetic changes you can make  Replace old or broken:

• Light fittings,
• Cabinet handles,
• Light switches & power points
• Tap ware,
• Door handles
• Fans.

Cosmetic Changes
Instead of expensive renovations, there are a number of cosmetic upgrades that can increase the perceived value of your home to buyers.

• Paint kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors
• Replace just the doors on the kitchen cabinets rather than doing a full renovation
• Paint or replace laminate bench tops.
• Install a new splashback
• Paint tiles
• Re-grout tiles
• Install a new show screen or curtain
• Replace the bathroom vanity cabinet
• Replace old blinds
• Lay new carpet
• Add storage space

Getting your home ready for sale and increasing it’s perceived value doesn’t have to cost a fortune.  But it does take some smart planning with a bit of work.

Time to Style and Stage
Hiring professionals to do this will give you the best results. Hiring professionals is not in everyone’s budget. If you are doing it yourself, you need to set the scene. This will depend on your target market.

Staging deserves lots of attention – please see our seperate article on staging each seperate room.

Buyers notice the smallest details. – The better your property looks and feels, the more money you are likely to get and the faster it will sell.