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Increase House value	The housing market is on a down swing and you're trying to sell your home without losing too much equity. Perhaps it needs a little work but you don't want to spend too much as you feel it will be wasted. In a slowing market it is even more important to decorate to increase house value. Here's a few low cost ideas to maximise your homes value so you get more cash at sale time. Tight budgets don't have to mean your house can't look good.
Job Health hazards Natural Remedies Happy Feet Diet Mistakes How to dress thinner Hair coloring tips Kids lunchbox battles Travel tip - Auckland Choose a financial advisor Basic money saving tips Save money on groceries Save money on gifts	1.First impressions The first view house hunters get of a home from the outside or a real estate photo can colour their whole opinion of the house. It can even stop them walking through the door. Make sure you don't lose house value with a messy front of house. Spruce up the front garden - tidy away clutter and waste. Paint your front door and letterbox if you have to. Pull out the weeds and make sure there is a clear path to your front door. Lawns should be mown and lawn edges even. Wash walls and windows to remove cobwebs and dirt. Use flowers to brighten up an otherwise dull exterior. 2. Inside Cleanliness Nothing puts a buyer off a sale quicker than an unclean or smelly house. Make sure your house is spotless and smells nice or you won't just lose value, you'll miss out on a sale. Personally I think baking cookies and putting on a pot of coffee smacks of desperation and your buyers might think so too. Open your windows wide an hour before you have buyers round and spray light scents half an hour before hand so that the house smells fresh but not overpowering. Cleaning your carpets before you put your house up for sale will remove stains and odours and get them looking great. 3.The illusion of space Try and make your home appear as large as possible. This means presenting as much floor space as possible. If you have rooms cluttered with furniture you don't need then store it somewhere else while your house is on the market. Remove all clutter and try and make cupboards fairly empty. You want it to look as if you have storage space to spare. If you have no cupboard space then removing items like the hoover and ironing board altogether is better than having them lying around drawing attention to your lack of space. 3.Paintwork Chances are you'll need to do some painting before you put your house on the market even if its just a touch up. Remember to go neutral - avoid too bright or too dark colours. If you are hopeless with colour coordinating ask a friend who has a showhome like house to help you. They will be delighted to impart their advice. Also remember to never leave a job half done - make sure trims and ceilings are painted as well as walls if they are looking a bit shabby.	4.Research Before you put your home on the market - get quotes from real estate agents and more importantly find out what the houses nearby sold for. If some houses sold high - gind out why - ask every agent that visits what the best feature in your house is - what the worst feature is and what buyers are looking for. That way you will have realistic price expectations and you'll know which areas of your house to emphasise and which to work on or minimise. 5.Depersonalise. We humans are nosey creatures and if there are too many family photographs, ornaments or momentoes on display we might spend time looking at them when we could be admiring your new paintwork. Don't let your house viewers be put off by your personal taste or distracted from seeing the real value in your house. 6.Potential No matter how well presented your house is, buyers still like to see potential for improvement as they will feel they can add value to the house that you haven't maximised. Play up potential improvement areas like having a large garage / basement/ high loft area. If your loft area is floored, take out all the junk you are storing there, put in a drop down ladder and add a seating area upstairs. 7.Let there be light: The lighter and brighter your home the better. A home full of light is worth more than a dark dull house. Make sure all blinds and curtains are open. Add solar tube lights if you can afford it to light up a dark hallway. If your viewing is at night then wall and floor lamps will cast a more welcoming light than ceiling lights. 8.Spread the word. Make a list of all the great things about your house. Where you get the sun, if your home is easy to heat, how the garden changes with the seasons. How the trees give you shade on sunny days etc etc. If you are using an agent to sell your house make sure they know all these great details and convey them to the buyer. Get a friend to go round and check how well your agent is marketing your home. Buyers may only spend a few minutes in your home - they are never going to find out all it has going for it in such a short space of time. You have to tell them!	9.Specifics. Ok, so far we've dealt with the general issues that each home should have to make the sale easy, quick and profitable. Everyone knows that kitchens and bathrooms are the big selling areas of the home, but waht if you have little money to spend. How do you add value to your kitchen or bathroom without installing entire new suites. To save money you need to do the DIY yourself or get a friend in the know to help out. Here's some ideas that won't break the bank or test your DIY skills to the limit: Kitchen: Buyers love new kitchens as they know its a huge expense and great inconvenience to put one in themselves. So what do you do if your kitchen is looking dated? Often dated kitchens look worse with wall paint, flooring and cabinet colors that clash. Can your walls be painted to compliment your cabinetry? Painting wall tiles is another idea but if your diy skills are good and you don't have too many tiles - change them yourself with cheap white tiles. It looks clean and will probably be cheaper than tile paint and primer. If your tiles are fine, whiten any dirty grouting with a grout pen. New handles can be all thats needed to update plain cabinets. Painting wooden cabinets and adding new handles can give your kitchen a great boost. Bathroom: There's only so much you can do to a bathroom that looks old and dated without spending money on a refit , so the key is to have the bathroom looking sparkling clean: Replace grouting round the bath if its not spotless. Whiten tile grout with a grout pen. Replacing vinyl floor coverings shouldn't break the bank and will help to bring a more cohesive look to the bathroom. New taps or faucets can update a tired bathroom. Any shower curtains should be brand new. Keep airfreshener in the bathroom and use scented liquid handsoaps to keep the place smelling nice. put fresh flowers in the bathroom as a focus to draw the eye away from any problems.

HealthLifeMoney

Home

Increase House value

The housing market is on a down swing and you're trying to sell your home without losing too much equity. Perhaps it needs a little work but you don't want to spend too much as you feel it will be wasted. In a slowing market it is even more important to decorate to increase house value. Here's a few low cost ideas to maximise your homes value so you get more cash at sale time. Tight budgets don't have to mean your house can't look good.

Job Health hazards
Natural Remedies
Happy Feet
Diet Mistakes
How to dress thinner
Hair coloring tips
Kids lunchbox battles
Travel tip - Auckland
Choose a financial advisor
Basic money saving tips
Save money on groceries
Save money on gifts

1.First impressions
The first view house hunters get of a home from the outside or a real estate photo can colour their whole opinion of the house. It can even stop them walking through the door. Make sure you don't lose house value with a messy front of house. Spruce up the front garden - tidy away clutter and waste. Paint your front door and letterbox if you have to. Pull out the weeds and make sure there is a clear path to your front door. Lawns should be mown and lawn edges even. Wash walls and windows to remove cobwebs and dirt. Use flowers to brighten up an otherwise dull exterior.
2. Inside Cleanliness
Nothing puts a buyer off a sale quicker than an unclean or smelly house. Make sure your house is spotless and smells nice or you won't just lose value, you'll miss out on a sale. Personally I think baking cookies and putting on a pot of coffee smacks of desperation and your buyers might think so too. Open your windows wide an hour before you have buyers round and spray light scents half an hour before hand so that the house smells fresh but not overpowering. Cleaning your carpets before you put your house up for sale will remove stains and odours and get them looking great.

3.The illusion of space
Try and make your home appear as large as possible. This means presenting as much floor space as possible. If you have rooms cluttered with furniture you don't need then store it somewhere else while your house is on the market.

Remove all clutter and try and make cupboards fairly empty. You want it to look as if you have storage space to spare. If you have no cupboard space then removing items like the hoover and ironing board altogether is better than having them lying around drawing attention to your lack of space.

3.Paintwork
Chances are you'll need to do some painting before you put your house on the market even if its just a touch up. Remember to go neutral - avoid too bright or too dark colours. If you are hopeless with colour coordinating ask a friend who has a showhome like house to help you. They will be delighted to impart their advice. Also remember to never leave a job half done - make sure trims and ceilings are painted as well as walls if they are looking a bit shabby.

4.Research
Before you put your home on the market - get quotes from real estate agents and more importantly find out what the houses nearby sold for. If some houses sold high - gind out why - ask every agent that visits what the best feature in your house is - what the worst feature is and what buyers are looking for. That way you will have realistic price expectations and you'll know which areas of your house to emphasise and which to work on or minimise.

5.Depersonalise.
We humans are nosey creatures and if there are too many family photographs, ornaments or momentoes on display we might spend time looking at them when we could be admiring your new paintwork. Don't let your house viewers be put off by your personal taste or distracted from seeing the real value in your house.
6.Potential
No matter how well presented your house is, buyers still like to see potential for improvement as they will feel they can add value to the house that you haven't maximised. Play up potential improvement areas like having a large garage / basement/ high loft area. If your loft area is floored, take out all the junk you are storing there, put in a drop down ladder and add a seating area upstairs.

7.Let there be light:
The lighter and brighter your home the better. A home full of light is worth more than a dark dull house.
Make sure all blinds and curtains are open. Add solar tube lights if you can afford it to light up a dark hallway. If your viewing is at night then wall and floor lamps will cast a more welcoming light than ceiling lights.

8.Spread the word.
Make a list of all the great things about your house. Where you get the sun, if your home is easy to heat, how the garden changes with the seasons. How the trees give you shade on sunny days etc etc. If you are using an agent to sell your house make sure they know all these great details and convey them to the buyer. Get a friend to go round and check how well your agent is marketing your home. Buyers may only spend a few minutes in your home - they are never going to find out all it has going for it in such a short space of time. You have to tell them!

9.Specifics.

Ok, so far we've dealt with the general issues that each home should have to make the sale easy, quick and profitable. Everyone knows that kitchens and bathrooms are the big selling areas of the home, but waht if you have little money to spend. How do you add value to your kitchen or bathroom without installing entire new suites. To save money you need to do the DIY yourself or get a friend in the know to help out. Here's some ideas that won't break the bank or test your DIY skills to the limit:

Kitchen:
Buyers love new kitchens as they know its a huge expense and great inconvenience to put one in themselves. So what do you do if your kitchen is looking dated?

Often dated kitchens look worse with wall paint, flooring and cabinet colors that clash. Can your walls be painted to compliment your cabinetry? Painting wall tiles is another idea but if your diy skills are good and you don't have too many tiles - change them yourself with cheap white tiles. It looks clean and will probably be cheaper than tile paint and primer.

If your tiles are fine, whiten any dirty grouting with a grout pen.

New handles can be all thats needed to update plain cabinets.

Painting wooden cabinets and adding new handles can give your kitchen a great boost.

Bathroom:

There's only so much you can do to a bathroom that looks old and dated without spending money on a refit , so the key is to have the bathroom looking sparkling clean:

Replace grouting round the bath if its not spotless.
Whiten tile grout with a grout pen.
Replacing vinyl floor coverings shouldn't break the bank and will help to bring a more cohesive look to the bathroom.
New taps or faucets can update a tired bathroom.
Any shower curtains should be brand new.
Keep airfreshener in the bathroom and use scented liquid handsoaps to keep the place smelling nice.
put fresh flowers in the bathroom as a focus to draw the eye away from any problems.

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