We all dream of making major renovations to our house: adding a deck, putting in a pool, totally revamping the kitchen.

We then dream of the big price we’re going to get for the house when we wow prospective buyers with our makeover.

But what’s often forgotten is that it’s the really simple things that can add significant value to your house in a cost-effective way.

Everyone wants to add value to their house, particularly if it’s a bit worn and tired.

It’s particularly important if you’re about to put your house on the market and want to maximize your price. If you have an investment property, adding value by sprucing up the property will allow you to charge more rent. For home owners sticking around, adding value pays off in a nicer house to live in.

So how do we do it? Here are 10 quick and cheap ways to boost the value of your house:

1. Clean the outside of the house

Judith Taylor, who helps run the Property Women workshops and network and has renovated seven houses in the past three years, says the number one thing that adds value and costs absolutely nothing is cleaning. For example, she says to wash the outside of the house. “Wash it down with a pressure washer,” she said. “Quite often it will save you having to repaint the house.”

2. Paint

A lot of research shows that painting gives you the best bang for your buck when it comes to adding value. Mick Hellen, an architect and builder at Brisbane-based firm aardvark, says a simple paint job can transform a house. “It makes it look new, makes it look cleaner and makes it more attractive.”

Taylor says if hosing doesn’t work on the outside of the house give it a fresh coast of paint. But she says to keep painting simple. “Use neutral colours – don’t have bright colours or big feature walls which reduces your market.”  

3. Declutter

Taylor says a decluttered house appears bigger to prospective buyers and tenants. But if you’re selling, don’t go too far and take out all the furniture. Having furniture “gives the people the opportunity to gain a perspective on the house by looking at the furniture already in there and imagining their lounge suite instead of the other,” she says. Taylor says that as a general rule buyers like furnished houses, while tenants like viewing unfurnished houses.

4. Neaten your garden

Taylor says get a lawn mower and a pair of secateurs and mow the lawn and trim plants. If you don’t have time to do it yourself, or don’t have access to a mower and trailer to remove the rubbish, get someone in to do it. Mick Hellen says a cost-effective and simple value-adding idea is to put a sustainable angle on the garden with something like an ‘edible garden’ with herbs and vegetables.

5. Bring your lawn back to life

There’s nothing like a neat, green lawn to make a house look appealing. With a bit of effort it’s not that difficult to turn your brown, patchy lawn around. A bit of weeding, spraying and mowing can transform your garden and add lots of value.

6. Remove smells

There’s nothing more ghastly than walking into an open house inspection and smelling unpleasant odours. It could be a cat or dog smell – but as Taylor says, not everyone is a dog person! Before letting potential buyers or renters view the house, clean it thoroughly and consider odour eaters.

7. Paint bathroom tiles

Taylor says the best colour for a bathroom is white. “If the bathroom is a bit dated one of the quickest, cheapest and easiest ways to upgrade is to buy some (white) tile paint,” she said. “It works extremely well.” She cautions that some older-style tiles with patterns are now trendy, so be careful not to ruin them by painting over.

8. Paint kitchen cupboards and bench top

Taylor says there’s no reason to rip out an old kitchen and replace it with a new $10,000 one. “If the cupboards are fairly intact on the inside, sometimes you can revamp it just by painting the doors with laminate paint”. You can also replace the handles with new chrome one which she says costs around $2 each.

Taylor also says that it can pay to replace a kitchen bench top if it’s old and worn. But they can also be painted if you want to save money. “That will make a huge difference,” she said.

9. Put in a water tank

Hellen says that many people are looking for sustainable houses now. A reasonably cost-effective way to boost a house’s sustainability is a water tank. He says a 1000 litre tank would cost around $1000. They can also be put in many places around the house without getting council approval.

10. Put up a fence

Taylor says that if a house is in a suburb that doesn’t have fences, putting one up will make the house more attractive to buyers and tenants, significantly adding value. “Its gives the perception of privacy and enclosing it for children and pets,” she said.

 

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Tags: Renovate, Value

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