You’ve taken the BIG step in deciding to renovate and improve your home. Whether this is to increase your home value for selling purposes; to change, modify and personalised the look and feel of your home; to follow the latest trends and be up to speed with all your neighbours; or its to have street appeal and impress passers-by. Whatever the reason I’m sure the dreaded  feeling of dealing with all different tradesmen hangs over your head.

It doesn’t have to be that way. If you take the following steps you will hopefully have a successful experience and a house renovation bliss that will impress you and be the envy of others of the final product.

Plan, Prepare, Probe: Make sure you clearly know what you want and envisage as the final product of your home;  you have researched what would be aesthetically suitable and make an impactful look and feel; and finally you are aware of the benefit and features.

Design & Style: Whether you have a family, partner and/or living by yourself your personal style must be taken into consideration, so be aware what you want, how you want to be perceived and your home and Plan, Prepare, Probe. Check out the latest home design magazine to draw inspiration and look out for what your neighbours are doing to add that little something to their home to spruce it up.

Boring Budget  - Bang for your Buck: We cannot stress how important it is to establish your budget from the beginning. Just when you think you have considered everything something unexpected arises. Have room for movement, but be diligent and stick with your budget. Most importantly make it be known to your builder or tradesmen what your budget is, so there isn’t any hidden surprises, as many can take advantage of this.

Tradesmen Alert: There are many shonks out there, so make sure that they either have been referred to or you’ve done your research about them.

There are 4 important rules that must be met before you sign on the dotted line:

1. Call them - If they answer the phone or return your call within the hour, then they should receive tick.
2. Arrange a meeting – if they show up on time, they should receive another tick.
3. Experience - A competent tradesman or builder should know their technical stuff in detail and be able to explain it to you, another tick.
4. You as a person –must  like this person or their company, as you will be dealing with them greatly and you want the best result  - another tick.
5. Qualifications – This is a tough one, but you need to make sure that they are qualified, have all their insurances and are registered. The last you want to happen is have issues and neither party are covered – this could be disastrous and cost you more money and leave you with an unfinished job.
   
   

With the tough economical market you can’t afford to make any mistakes on any form of remedial or renovation projects as they can be expensive, so make sure you take adequate advice to steer you in the right direction. Speak to your local real estate agent or reputable suppliers / tradespeople - most common reason why property doesn’t  sell is because people don’t present their home visually and take too many short cuts.

Presentation of your home is important not only when selling but also what everyone thinks of you and street appeal.  And making sure you have professionals and experts that work with you to achieve your goal, and you will achieve your new renovated dream home.

The short answer is yes. Rendering your home does many things to the appearance of your home apart from dramatically changing it that will result in an increased sale price, assuming you were rendering your home specifically for this purpose.

Firstly, it conceals the material that your home is built from whether that be face brick, concrete or some other type of material, i.e. sheeting or cladding. This can be helpful if the brickwork of your home is unattractive, old  or out-dated. 

By rendering your home you have now concealed the real age of your home and have made the home appear more modern. Rendered homes are always in vogue. Driving through the more established and prestigious suburbs of any capital city in Australia will support that statement.

It provides to any home an elegant look that can be presented as either a traditional or heritage style look, or as a modern masterpiece, sleek and sharp. However it is often the other elements to your home that can really accentuate these themes, especially with things such as lighting, colour schemes, external fixtures and landscaping.

By rendering your home you can improve the street appeal of your home and in turn increase the value of your home. If a home is considered attractive and appealing, it will result in greater attention and demand. And this translates into increased value. 

Wow! How about this property market of ours? Sydney is going gangbusters with real estate activity at an all-time high! Low interest rates, a new government, summer on its way… Bring it on!

It was interesting to catch up with our good friends last weekend after they spent a whole day house hunting in our local area. They had set out in the morning with a list of 11 properties to look at that had initially appealed to them on an internet search.

However, upon arriving to the properties one by one, they decided to walk into only six of them to make their inspection, but not even bother with the other five. Why? 

Well, according to them (and in their own words), ‘they looked crap!’. Unappealing, run down, too much work needed, generally not attractive enough to even warrant any further inspection… Gee, that’s very disappointing.

So it got my mind thinking about how many other prospective buyers felt exactly the same way and did exactly the same thing that same weekend, and drove right past the property because of its lack of street appeal.

And what if the seller had actually put some thought into better presenting their home to better attract potential home buyers, rather than have them drive right by as a result of feeling let down?

And more importantly I guess, what effect would this have on the final result with respect to the eventual sale price? Could a higher price have been achieved with just a little more thought and consideration put into the home’s exterior appearance.

I mean, after all, if the exterior appearance of the home is not appealing enough, then there is no reason for a prospective buyer to park their car, get out and proceed to the front door.

The inside of the home could be a hidden treasure with a newly renovated and well-designed kitchen, designer bathrooms, an amazing rear decking with outdoor entertainment areas, but without any curb side appeal from the street front, the seller misses out completely on the opportunity with this particular buyer.

Remember, it is only the simple things that can often increase the street appeal of your home. Minor adjustments can provide truckloads of character to your home, and will have car loads of prospective buyers expressing interest in your home and in turn, nudging the sale price way up beyond your expectations.

Check out www.rendermyhome.com.au for more ideas and inspirations on how to get your home looking its very best!

Have you ever taken the time out to think about what the appearance of your home tells neighbours and friends about you as an individual? Ask yourself the question, what could you do to the external features of your home, to improve its overall street appeal?
 
A lick of paint? A new front door? New fascia boards? Maybe a new garden feature to impress your visitors? Or maybe just fix that pesky crack on your front fence that just doesn’t seem to want to go away!
 
It’s quite funny that many of us take much pride in polishing (and even detailing) our cars every few weeks without fail, yet neglect the general maintenance and appearance of our homes.
 
There is nothing worse to the street appeal of your home than external cracking to walls, fading and blistering paintwork, out-dated colour scheme, old and daggy-looking awnings, rusted balustrading and overgrown
gardens, giving our home an impression of being cold, unloved and even abandoned! 
 
The very first and last impression a person makes about you when they see your home is the external condition and general upkeep of your home.  This is even more important when considering a successful sale price and return on your money on the property market. 
 
A well designed and finished exterior façade will naturally add significant value to your property, but just as important, will fill you personally with a great sense of pride and achievement. A homes façade should be a reflection of you and your family, just the same as a business or shopfront is a reflection of the business and its owner.