Does renovating add up?

WHEN it comes to finding a buyer in a quiet market, the old adage you have to spend money to make money can be more relevant than ever.

renovating

WHEN it comes to finding a buyer in a quiet market, the old adage you have to spend money to make money can be more relevant than ever.

But does spending money help you boost up the sale price or do you only make back as much extra as it cost to do the work?

Ian Agnew of Archicentre says that depends on what you spend your money on.

He says you can add value to your home with little things, but the best money spent is on giving people an idea of what can be achieved with the home, without having to do the work yourself.

"One of the things we have done is concept plans for people who are selling,'' he says. "You can add value to the house by showing the potential and having it costed as well.''

Mr Agnew says $2000 to $3000 spent on having plans drawn up that can show how to extend or change a home can be money well spent.

In terms of doing the work yourself to add value, Mr Agnew says the best renovations to increase the value are an extra bedroom, a renovated kitchen and sustainability measures.

He says a new bedroom is probably the least costly addition to a house, but it can substantially lift the value of a home and increase the number of potential buyers prepared to look at it.

"The moment you have created an extra bedroom, you have more appeal (to buyers) and can go up to a higher price range,'' he says.

Doing up a kitchen can also add value, Mr Agnew says, although he warns it can be expensive.

"If you are renovating to sell it is probably best to not do anything with the kitchen but just show what could be done with it.''

Adding sustainable features such as solar panels and water tanks is another way to add value.

"It is something that people will see value in," he says.

Michael Sultan and his wife Tuyet Pham decided when it came time to sell their Corinda home they would spend a bit of effort and money on it to add value.

"We replaced stainless steel wire balustrades on the main deck with glass. We had some walls professionally repainted to remove any scuff marks. We had the wooden floors and decks repolished. The front door was stripped back and repolished,'' Mr Sultan said.

Mr Sultan believes the work they have done to add value will help buyers appreciate the beauty of their home quickly.

"If the home is cluttered, furnished with non-matching items from previous homes, walls covered with family portraits and gardens unkept, then it takes longer for the buyer to form a positive opinion of the home. By spending the money upfront on improvements and decorating, logically, it should attract buyers more quickly.''

Brad Robson, of Brisbane Real Estate, who is marketing the property, said spending money can add value beyond the costs when selling. In some circumstances, he says, it can be just about finding a buyer and increasing demand by lifting the desirability of the home.

On the other hand, depending on the location and type of home you start with, you can do things which can add value substantially.

"For some properties, doing up the kitchen, for example, will certainly add more value." For example, you could spend $100,000 on a paint job and modern kitchen for a 1900s Queenslander on a 1500sq m block and you would see significantly more than a $100,000 return.

"A smaller 1950s workers cottage on a 400sq m block just down the road from that big Queenslander, if you spend $7000 on an IKEA kitchen in it, you would more than likely only get that $7000 back, but it would improve the desirability of it,'' Robson says.

"All of a sudden you open your door to a wider demographic of buyers."