How A Quick Spruce-up Can Make You Thousands

When your dated property has been on the market for months with no offers forthcoming, it’s understandable to be anxious about spending money in the hope of attracting a sale.

Even if you decide to go ahead and spruce up your property for sale, how do you make sure you’re spending money in the right areas to see a return on your investment?

Where to spend money will always be dictated by your target market. You need to tune into your ultimate buyer’s needs and give them what they want. It’s also important to show restraint with your budget by changing only what is completely necessary for that market. If you approach this strategically and unemotionally, you will be rewarded with more profit in your pocket.

This villa in Perth’s northern suburbs was on the market for three months before the owners sought my advice. The home was in a great location just 9km from the CBD. It was well priced, yet poorly presented.

Problem

The 90’s décor was a turn-off to potential buyers. More importantly though, buyers were using the dated décor as a weapon to negotiate the price down. With Perth experiencing a “buyer’s market”, everyone is looking for a bargain! Understandably, the sellers weren’t willing to sell the property under market value so a quick spruce-up was required.

Solution

1. Paint, paint and more paint

Removing 90’s “features” such as wallpaper friezes and two-toned walls is a must. Buyers (whether they are owner-occupiers or investors) want to feel proud of their new purchase and feel confident that it is ready to be made into a home.

In this property, the living areas were completely transformed by painting warm neutral colours in place of the dominating 90’s decor.

Always give your internal doors a fresh coat of semi-gloss paint, making sure to include wardrobe doors and pantry doors. Neglecting to paint your doors will turn buyers off and undo all the hard work you’ve carried out in other areas.

You can even paint door knobs to save time and money.

While we’re talking about paint, remember that painting the bathroom tiles and vanity is perfectly acceptable. When carried out by a professional, painting these surfaces makes a huge difference to the feel of the house, without breaking the budget by replacing the entire bathroom.

The owners of this villa engaged a professional re-surfacer who sprayed the vanity and wall tiles in a fresh white, giving the bathroom a clean, modern feel. The advantage of engaging a professional is that they will offer warranties, giving the ultimate buyer peace of mind.

If you think that kitchens aren’t worth resurfacing, think again. These days the quality of resurfacing is fantastic and, as long the cabinetry is in good condition, buyers in the lower price brackets really don’t mind.

The kitchen cabinets and benches of this property were resurfaced in white, allowing buyers the flexibility of adding their own personal colour scheme when displaying their appliances and accessories.

2. New carpets

When your carpets are worn, thin or stained, you must replace them if you want to appeal to buyers who would be willing to pay top dollar for your property. When you have a limited budget and don’t want to replace all the flooring throughout the property, it’s a great idea to choose a colour for your carpets that complements your existing hard floors.

The sellers of this property were able to retain the neutral floor tiles and have them work with the updated elements of the renovation by choosing a carpet colour to suit.

3. Replace dated lights fittings and fans

Light fittings and fans can be replaced inexpensively yet have a strong impact when it comes to modernising a property. In this renovation, the dated fans were swapped for modern versions from Bunnings, completing the fresh new look.

The Result

Prior to the spruce-up, the villa was on the market for 90 days without a sale. The owners believe they would have been lucky to receive $350,000 in its original condition.

They spent $20,000 on the spruce-up and accepted an offer of $399,900. The buyers were excited to move into a lovely renovated property and the sellers were rapt to have an extra $30,000 in their pockets. Happy days!