# Forum Home Renovation General Odds & Sods  best and cheapest way to make house more appealing for sale

## need_2_sell

I need to sell my house ASAP it has been on the market for AGES! and it is now necessary to sell as i have a baby due very soon. I wanted to know what would be the best and cheapest way to make it look good to attract buyers. Its dark red brick and i was thinking a thin render or even if you could paint the bricks (but they are rough  and i dont think this will look very good!!) I see a thin render on new houses aroung that you can still see the outline of the bricks and wondered if this is a cheaper way to go?The house is in Oxley Park (western Sydney) if someone has an idea or could do something cheap please let me know. 
thanks!!

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## abitfishy

Yuk, we have to sell ours soon too mate, not looking forward to it.   
It will be good to hear opinions on rendering brick as we are going to be looking for a livable, but 'original' old style brick house to clean up a bit and we were thinking of rendering ourselves (the new place, not our old).  Unfortunately we are moving to a much more expensive part of Sydney (from Sutherland we are going north - I like Beecroft/Cheltenham) so we need to spend more for a worse house!!!   
Hints/tips will be great as we could only afford to do the rendering ourselves after borrowing an extra couple of hundred K!!

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## Wood Butcher

> I wanted to know what would be the best and cheapest way to make it look good to attract buyers.

  Drop the price  :Tongue:

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## need_2_sell

would drop the price but then id still owe money its complicated

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## BobR

If you have cable, have a look at House Doctor on How To channel. It is a pommy show that will never top the ratings, but prepares a house that has been on the market for a while so that it will move. Might give you some presentation ideas. Nothing on rendering though. Good luck.

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## pharmaboy2

quick, hurry and render dont go together! 
get some experiecned estate agents out -   ask whats turning people off?  one of them will tell you - couple of grand on afront garden, or flat rear deck, few pebbles and a water feature can sometimes do wonders - but nothing can perform miracles if it is overpriced - its only worth what the marekt thinks it is - doesnt matter didly what you paid for it, what it owes you or what you think its worth. 
I'd try and seek out the gun agent in the area, and get their feed back with a view to changing agents.

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## Honorary Bloke

> would drop the price but then id still owe money its complicated

  Bless my soul, it's not complicated at all. You are what's called Upside Down on your house, like thousands of others in a fluctuating market. 
Best advice, spend some money on the front landscape. Kerb appeal. Can't sell it if people won't even go in. 
Forget the render, that's a non-starter--won't help much. 
Pricing and staging, pricing and staging--that's what sells houses. If you haven't done so:  Clear off all personal pictures *anywhere* in the house. People can't imagine themselves in it if they feel like you are still in it.Clear off all clutter (and I mean *ALL*) on countertops, especially kitchen--makes it look bigger.Empty about half of your clothes out of closets (wardrobes), to make them look larger and uncluttered.I always tell clients to rent a temp storage place and put all this clutter there, including extra pieces of furniture. Haven't seen your house but am willing to wager you could get rid of 1/3 of furniture without hardship.Paint interior walls a neutral colour, like off-white. People are put off by bizarre colour schemes--just because you like it doesn't mean they will.Wall-paper should be banned by law, but that is too much to hope for.  :Rolleyes: If builders in your area are showing model homes (new construction), visit them see how they have staged them--that is the look you want. Clean, neat, spacious, uncluttered. Give the prospective buyer the room to imagine *his* furniture there.[Disclaimer: I am an estate agent, but in the U.S. Your mileage may vary, but I'll bet not much. ]

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## echnidna

Bobs right on the mark, the same things apply in oz

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## Ron Dunn

Honorary Bloke is a BLOKE?? 
*lol* ... I thought s/he was a Sheila ... but one with enought aptitude for blokey things to get the "Honorary"  :Smilie:

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## Honorary Bloke

> Honorary Bloke is a BLOKE?? 
> *lol* ... I thought s/he was a Sheila ... but one with enought aptitude for blokey things to get the "Honorary"

  Harrumph!!! 
Nar, just a Seppo with enough Ozzie in him to get the title Honorary.  :Biggrin:  :Rolleyes:  :Biggrin:  
[Note to self: Ramp up the macho on your posts a bit, people are beginning to talk!  :Cool:  ]

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## Lignum

Burn it down and use the insurance to build a better one and sell that for more money :Smilie:

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## Dirty Doogie

Have you got a pic? And how much do you want to get for it?

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## Art Martin

> Bless my soul, it's not complicated at all. You are what's called Upside Down on your house, like thousands of others in a fluctuating market. 
> Best advice, spend some money on the front landscape. Kerb appeal. Can't sell it if people won't even go in. 
> Forget the render, that's a non-starter--won't help much.

  Have to disagree on the render. Maybe not big in the US, but on the right sort of house here it can add a lot of value. Red bricks are not particularly popular colour these days(nor can I see it being the case any time in the medium term), so rendering can make sense.  
You have to do it right though, and have the style of house to do it.

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## echnidna

Not everyone likes rendered houses.  
What Bob's on about is making the front attractive enough to get people over the doorstep, and looking through the house. He's talking about presentation, which is the key to selling. 
Do a poll along the lines, would you buy a rendered house?

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## Dirty Doogie

GENERAL THEORY 
When the property market dives it is only the renovated places that will sell readily and for anything near previous prices. 
Absolutely no point rendering and making the outside look novated if inside is still a 30 - 40 year old scratchbox.  
That would only reinforce the idea in buyers minds that it further work.

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## echnidna

That's wrong,
when the market dives only the rip roaring bargains sell,
plus houses in the bottom price range as some people are able to downsize

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## Dirty Doogie

That hasn't been my experience - the renovated houses are usually a bargain compared the cheaper bargains that need 100k spent on them.

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## arose62

1) Why not drop the price? 
I know you said you' still owe money, but if you're prepared to spend $x on, say, rendering, then surely you could drop the price by $x instead of rendering??? 
2) Change Real Estate agents 
If it hasn't sold in ages (how long in actual time?), it's either overpriced, or the agent isn't doing anything, or there's something inherently wrong with it. 
3) Advertise it yourself 
This post was an opportunity for you to let us know how much you want for it, attach pictures, let us know how much typical rents are in that area, what work needs to be done etc. etc. etc. 
You never know who might know someone who wants to buy.... 
4) Consult a financial adviser 
You haven't said whether it's your primary place of residence, or an investment property, or if you like to stay on as a tenant after it's sold, and each scenario has different tax implications. 
A switched on adviser may be able to point out options you haven't considered. 
Best of luck with the bub. 
My unsolicited parenting advice is:
once the baby hits 6 months old, teach them sign language. Worked amazingly well for us, and for those folks we know who have tried it. 
Cheers,
Andrew

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## wheelinround

need-2-sell 
Where you live is biggest problem then the present market 
Like this place biggest thing these days is room size this one doesn't have garage there is none the rest of the place looks great pool and all. http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1200618948 
while this one http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1200618948
the bathroom well

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## Dirty Doogie

That 385 k place doesnt look renovated to me. The 325 k place has had work done but gets let down by street prescence IMO - and that bathroom - ROFL !! I didnt know Oxley Park was so far out.

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## TJAY

> Not everyone likes rendered houses.

  Yep, and it's a lot harder to remove than a dodgy paint job! 
As suggested, give the place a tidy up, spend some time in the garden, repaint so it's nice and fresh, clear out the junk/clothes/furniture, etc. 
And then just before the open inspection bake some bread! :lol:

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## DvdHntr

or cook some butter and garlic in the pan.

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## need_2_sell

The inside of the house is all fully renovated just the out side is not very attractive. huge land 727m2 3 bed sigle garage attached to house and double shed out back. ensuit and walk in robe to main be. brand new kitchen BIG!! large living area tiled through out. new bathroom with spa fire place. we are asking $325,000.00. you can see a picture at www.raineandhorne.com.au/stmarys

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## need_2_sell

This Is My House

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## wheelinround

oops Need_2_sell link goes to main page

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## need_2_sell

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1200618948 WE ARE ASKING $325000 AS I SAID ITS A SEPARATION WE HAVENT BEEN TOGETHER FOR YEARS AND BOTH MOVED ON. THE HOUSE IS BEING RENTED OUT AND WE GET $330 PER WEEK. THE BATHROOM IS SMALL BUT MAINLY CAUSE OF THE SPA (THE BATHROOM WAS DONE BEFORE WE BOUGHT IT) BUT NOT AS SMALL AS THE PICTURE SHOWS. EVERYTHING ELSE IS VERY LARGE. THE ONLY WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE IS THE OUTSIDE GARDENS ECT AND THE LAUNDRY. 
* THE ROOF HAS BEEN FULLY RE-TILED AND PAINTED, 
* KITCHEN AND BATHROOMS BRAND NEW.
* THE WHOLE HOUSE IS TILED EXCEPT THE MAIN BED WHICH IS CARPET AND THE TWO OTHER BED ARE FLOOR BOARDS. 
* ENSUITE AND WALK IN ROBE HIDDEN BEHIND MIRROR CUPBOARD IN MAIN BEDROOM, BUILT INS TO THE REST, 
* LARGE WALK IN PANTRY IN KITCHEN, 
* SINGLE DRIVE-THROUGH GARAGE ATTACHED TO HOUSE WITH ELECTRIC DOORS AND HUGE DOUBLE LOCK UP SHED AT BACK, 
* FULLY FENCED. 
* FIRE PLACE, 
* SOLAR HOT WATER,

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## wheelinround

N2S 
I'd get the agent to et rid of the photo of the bathroom for starters and get these features  
ENSUITE AND WALK IN ROBE HIDDEN BEHIND MIRROR CUPBOARD IN MAIN BEDROOM, BUILT INS TO THE REST, 
* LARGE WALK IN PANTRY IN KITCHEN, 
* SINGLE DRIVE-THROUGH GARAGE ATTACHED TO HOUSE WITH ELECTRIC DOORS AND HUGE DOUBLE LOCK UP SHED AT BACK,  
shown online

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## need_2_sell

thanks for the advise im in the process of changing real estates so ill take that into consideration!!

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## patty

If it was my house I would be doing some lanscaping and gardens out the front with some agavaes some nivce yuccas mainly succulents
plants it will work out cheaper than painting the house and to me there is nothing wrong with it just plant some nice garden beds along the front of the house
with some white stone rocks and perhaps a water feature maybe
 and tile the verandah it would look great

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## Eli

I'd put thatch on the wire fence, and maybe a nice letterbox plaque with the house numbers. Add some planting in the front. Lose the bathroom picture. Paint the grey trim white.  If the tenant moves out because it's being shown, get some staging furniture, and shoot all new pictures. The pictures probably aren't getting people out there. You'll get more hits on the website if you drop the price to 324 or even 319k, so weigh up the hassle and cost of doing the work with the need for that money.  Just like you have a certain amount you want to get, people have a certain amount they want to spend, so you're not  appearing in searches people do under 325.

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## tea lady

I think what everyone has said about the garden is what would make a differance. At the moment with no plants at all it looks hot, uninviting and a bit "rental". You can tell the rental houses around here by the lack of garden. Something to give a bit of shade and break up the square starkness would be great.  Get an advanced tree of perhaps something weeping- cerry or ghoast gum or maple. (I don't know what will grow in Sydney.  Is Frangepany to cleche?) 
Maybe a pic from a differant angle of the spa would be better, because it does look a bit weird with the loo in the first photo you see. 
Thats my 2 cents.
Good luck. 
Have fun with bub. Best thing in the world.

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## abitfishy

I'd like to know who designed the bathroom, forgot the loo and had to stick it somewhere!!!    :Biggrin:

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## Dirty Doogie

_WHOOPS_ !!! that _was_ Need 2 Sell's property  that I was laughing at in Post #20 (laughing at the bathroom ). 
What is that box thing behind the WC in the bathroom?  
As I said in Post 20 the place needs a little bit of street appeal and a bit of a bathroom work over IMO.  I wouldnt worry about rendering the bricks.  
I'm really not surprised it hasnt attracted much buying interest  - trying to sell with tenants in place is a real pain. I know off many cases where properties have sold within a few weeks after the tenants departed and the house was dressed and tricked to look good. Agents get a bit miffed about having arrange viewing appiontments well in advance.

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## Dirty Doogie

What do you think?

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## abitfishy

> _WHOOPS_ !!! that _was_ Need 2 Sell's property that I was laughing at in Post #20 (laughing at the bathroom ).

  Ha Ha, I thought you somehow knew!   
I don't think 'whoops' is in order.  If anything,  I think it might give need2sell some insight as to what the general public are going to think when THEY see it.   As someone said, remove the bathroom pic or take it at a different angle leaving out the dunny.   :Smilie:

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## abitfishy

> What do you think?

  Whats with the Christmas trees in the front yard?     :Biggrin:   :Biggrin:   :Biggrin:

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## Dirty Doogie

LoL i know they look like xmas trees  ROFL  Xmas trees would be cheap this time of year.    I was sort of thinking maybe large  - um - hibiscus - Frangipani is good too cos you can just cut off a huge chunk of trunck and it will grow - instant tree.

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## Dirty Doogie

But I think just from the VERY quick sketch the front begins looking better - would everyone agree?

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## Dirty Doogie

IN the kitchen I'd change those cheap-nasty-butte-ugly black mushroom door and drawer knobs to small round metal ones. http://budgethandles.com.au/index.ph...products_id=50  And anywhere else they appear in the house. ( I bet everyone thinks I'm gay now for suggesting it LOL) 
In the bathroom I would extend a wall up behind the loo and put a squarish hole in the wall backed by mirror - that gives an opportunity to create some shelves next to spa for towels and "spa" toys.  If I get around to it I'll draw another pic .

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## tea lady

I agree that shelves or something behind the loo in that corner would make it look less after thought. Bit of greenery or something too would be nice. 
Potted plants either side of front door. :2thumbsup:  
I think it would be hard to do all this while tenants are in situ. 
A new estate agent would probably be a help. Hope fully they'll do more than turn up with a clip board.

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## Dirty Doogie

I suppose we'll have to wait for need2 sell to consider things. Not sure how much he is prepared to spend and /or whether he will have to employ ppl to do the work.

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## Studley 2436

I reckon the wire fence out front should go and be replaced by something nice. I thought White Picket when I saw it but whatever does the job for the price is fine. 
The gutters and facias look like they are peeling. I wouldn't render but would get the gutters and facias painted. Make the place look like it is cared for.  
There was a place in our street that sold a couple of years ago for $225K then one year later they sold it again with only a nice new fence out front and a pretty average deck out the back. Bathroom still needed work I was skeptical about the plumbing in general BUT it sold quickly for $350K! That second sale was about 2 years ago now. 
Can you believe that but it is all about looks. 
Studley

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## Barry_White

> What do you think?

  Rather than paint the drive I think it would look better if the drive and the front patio were stencilcreted.

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## Dirty Doogie

Yeh Barry - stencil crete would be good - I was just considering price. The front fence definitely needs work - I was going to draw in pickets but it was going to take too long LOL.

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## echnidna

I wouldn't do very much at all.
I'd treat it like a sales exercise. 
I'd get the highest resolution images available of the various suggestions that have been made then  print posters out of them showing how a few dollars will greatly improve the property at minimal cost.

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## Dirty Doogie

Thats a very good idea also

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## Toolin Around

Be careful about the cheap temptation when reno'ing.  If I were to walk into a house and suspected renovations had taken place I'd demand to see receipts that prove someone compatent had done the work.  If that's not provable I would deduct the increase asked for the reno's and make that my offer.  There are far too many DYIs here that do things on the cheap and I mean really cheap that you can't trust any work done by them no matter what.  The work they do is the absolute shytes.

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## abitfishy

> Rather than paint the drive I think it would look better if the drive and the front patio were stencilcreted.

  Unless he can do it himself I think the expense is over the top for what will still be the same red brick house.  Stencilcrete aint cheap to get done.

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## patty

I like the look of dirty doogies ideas especially the fibre cement wall at the front the only thing i wouldnt do is the privacy screen on the verandah it would close it in too much but te rest is pretty good

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## Harry72

> huge land 727m2

   :Doh: Thats funny... mate you need to get out of the city! :2thumbsup:

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## need_2_sell

this picture is great! and im a girl and pregnant so i wont be doing the work myself. i like the idea of the fence and have been looking aroung at the fibrecement and found some pretty cheap so i'll give that a go. i like the screen to i have been looking at louvers to break up the red but wasnt sure if it would look good. thanks for the ideas!!!

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## Studley 2436

> Thats funny... mate you need to get out of the city!

  Sheeze Harry 727m in Sydney will buy the main street in Pirie. 
Studley

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## Barry_White

> Unless he can do it himself I think the expense is over the top for what will still be the same red brick house.  Stencilcrete aint cheap to get done.

  What do you call expensive. My mate up here does it for $35.00 m2. And these are just suggestions for the lady. She has to decide how desperate she wants to sell the place and as was suggested to paint it would smack of cheapness and only temporary anyway.

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## abitfishy

Hey Barry, 
Mate, $35 sq m seems cheap as chips.  I can't remember exactly how much, but we considered it when we moved into this place and it was mega expensive.  I guess maybe Sydney is different.....

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## Harry72

> Sheeze Harry 727m in Sydney will buy the main street in Pirie. 
> Studley

  Not likely!
A lot of city folk have been buying up here... and driven the prices right up, we have(in this area) some of the highest house price inflation in the country!
All because of the speculation of the mining boom and speculation is all its been so far :Mad: 
Even the dump I live in(about 750m2)will go around the 250k mark!

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## Dirty Doogie

Well I was thinking of a $1000 budget for materials (not including large shrubs - which could be sold later)  for the street side. 
I wasn't actually thinking of using paving paint for the drive or porch - too expensive - I was thinking of something like Turkish Whitewash (except colored) 1 part bondcrete, 1 part white portland cement, 1 part calcite or pumice (from pottery supply or maybe art supply), 1 part silver sand + a little render pigment to taste - mix into a lumpy mess then dilute with water to whipped creamy consistancy and broom onto very clean concrete. Cover for 3 days. Viola ! Looks hot! Tough as (insert suitable word here) Estimate $150 - OR cheaper still - just bleach the concrete so it looks white and clean. 
The rendered fence is no drama either - made from pine sleeper frame attached to existing fence posts and rendered with the old bitkote technique. Estimate $600. I would leave the existing driveway gates but spray them up. 
The planter boxes are also made from cut down sleepers and 4.5 mm fibre cement with matching Bitkote render. estimate about $50 
Porch screen - $200 
plus a few annuals or plants. 
It would take 2 guys 3 maybe 4 days  work if they knew what they were doing.

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## Make it work

Many people want a house to do some work on themselves so any "improvements" you spend money on may only be seen as problems to deal with for others. 
The stock market is in free fall right now, this may see house prices go up a little as investors rethink their their positions. 
About 12 years ago I had 3 houses for sale in a slow market. We held out for the best price for months with no rental income. Finally we bit the bullet and dropped price by 10% and they all sold in 3 days. 
In hind sight, I should have accepted the seemingly low offers we got months earlier as they were very close to the sale price achieved and we would not have had to make 4 or 5 mortgage payments while the houses sat vacant. 
Realistically, if a buyer sees enough value they will buy, if not no sale. 
One other option is to offer the selling agents a higher commission in return for a closed sale within a certain time frame. Say an extra 1% if sold within 3 weeks and within a pre determined price bracket. This may inspire them to show the property to many more people because selling your house means more in their pocket than selling someone elses. That may be the key to success.

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## aussieorchid

Having purchased my house only in the last 12months I would have to say presentation is a very big part of it but not everything. I looked at some very very crappy houses and some very very well done renovated ones. I think it all comes down to personal taste and the sort of potential buyers you have looking at the house. Some people would rather pay a premium price and have all the work done whereas some would rather pay the base price and do the work themselves. The house I ended up purchasing sat somewhere in the middle of the options I had for example the pool, pool fence and deck had been done up but the gardens need a bomb dropped on them the weeds and lawn were so bad. But in all truth the owners spend $12,000 on the pool/deck reno and in all truth if given teh option I would have rathered payed the $12,000 less and done it myself as I would have incorporated a few changes that they did not do and would cost me too much to do now that it is finished. On the other hand the gardens did detract from this place a lot and it sat on the market for months. I ended up paying $50,000 less than the original asking price. I am not saying they should have spent thousands to do the yard but weeding the gardens and mowing the lawn goes a long way towards presentation and lets people see that maybe a few weekends work and they would come up very nice. For that $50,000 less I payed I have spent a number of weekends cleaning and weeding the gardens, $300 to have some trees removed as they were hanging over the fence and were ugly, $250 on turf and after this week another $200 to have the rest of the weedy trees removed. I am about to order some landscaping materials which is another $500 for link blocks, top soil and pebbles and when all is finished it will look amazing. So for the extra $1200-$1300 they could have lifted the price by thousands just because of presentation. So what I am saying is choose carefully what you spend money as some large cost items do not actually add to the overall price you will get ie render a waste of money if the new buyer does not actually want render they will not pay a premium price for it but some small things like the fence and front yard are worth doing up.

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