My local real estate agent, Jim, referred me to my latest project management client. The vendor Jeff had just accepted a new job in Sydney and had to relocate in 2 weeks.

Jeff’s problem – he needed to sell his home and he needed to sell it fast! Jeff’s biggest problem – his 1970’s house was still in its original condition and he didn’t have time to get it ready for market.

So I met with Jeff and told him how Houses to Impress could take care of his whole house renovation for him, eliminate the stress and leave him free to concentrate on the big move.   I assessed the property while I was there and gave Jeff my expert opinion on what needed to be done to bring his 1970’s home into the 21st century so we could attract some serious buyers in this very tough market.

Jeff was willing to invest some money in some home improvements as he hadn’t done any upgrades since he moved into the house in 1983. He was well aware that it would be very difficult to sell the house in its present condition, in the current slow market.  Jim, the real estate agent, appraised the house “as is” at $280,000 – $300,000. I did a quick calculation on the upgrades that were required and estimated that to fully renovate and style the house for sale would cost about $20,000 – $25,000. Jeff was prepared to spend that amount to ensure he could sell his home fast and for a higher price. I discussed my planned renovation ideas with Jim, the agent, and after doing some comparisons for the area we both agreed that the market price “after reno” would sit in the range of $330,000 to $350,000.

Jeff was happy with these estimated figures and gave me the go ahead to project manage the cosmetic renovation. I immediately got to work with a plan that would enable me to get the whole job done in 30 days.

Step 1 – Renovation Plan

Kitchen

• Remove old narrow style kitchen
• Get electrician to install new power points
• Install new kitchen
• Remove old freestanding stove and replace with new oven, cooktop and range hood
• Install new sink and modern flick mixer tap
• Install tile splash back

Bathroom

• Remove and replace old shower screen
• Remove old style vanity and replace with a new corner unit
• Resurface existing wall tiles
• Resurface existing floor tiles
• Get electrician to install new 3 in 1 heat/lamp/light and replace power points

Toilet

• Resurface existing floor tiles
• Replace cistern and toilet seat

Laundry

• Resurface existing floor tiles

Paintwork – Interior

• Repair minor cracks and gaps in cornices in most rooms
• Paint all ceilings
• Paint all walls
• Prime and paint wall paneling in main lounge room (same colour as walls)
• Paint all door and window trims

Paintwork – Exterior

• Spray Paint old galvanised fences
• Spray Paint shed
• Paint some areas of timber gables at front and rear of property where needed

Main bedroom

• Remove old doors from built-in robe
• Install new doors, frame and return on built-in robe

Bedroom 3

• Remove built in desk and bookcase to open up the space

Flooring

• Remove 70’s shagpile carpet from bedrooms, lounge/dining and hallway
• Replace with new Godfrey Hirst textured loop stainmaster
• Lay new vinyl (over top of old vinyl) in kitchen

Gardening and exterior improvements

• Remove weeds from old garden beds
• Place bamboo screening on one section of fence to hide ugly fence
• Add low maintenance plants to rear garden beds
• Add eco mulch to all garden beds over top of existing scoria
• Trim back all shrubs in front garden
• Repair small sections of wood rot in front windows and paint
• Remove amber glass from front courtyard area and replace with timber slats to match existing features in courtyard
• Paint letterbox

One of the main keys to success in project management is great planning and organisation. Next step will be gathering my dream team of tradies and coordinating the work to fit in with my home makeover schedule.

See some teaser photos below!!

I like to keep track of what is happening in the home staging industry globally and the following article by American Home Staging Expert, Alice T. Chan arrived in my inbox today on this very topic so I would like to share it with you.

Don’t Make Your House Appeal to the Masses

By Alice T. Chan – Setting the Stage

On a recent episode of HGTV’s Designed to Sell they said something that really made me think about the mis-perceptions and old school and ineffective guidance that surrounds the home staging and real estate industry.

The person said, “you should make your home appeal to the mass market”

Let me be the first to tell you that that is 100% WRONG!!

You don’t want to appeal to the masses because that’s not who is going to buy your house.

Think about it. A young family is not going to be interested in purchasing that 1 bedroom condo in the city. In fact, they are probably the sellers of that property, so “staging” that condo to include child friendly features would not make any sense at all. In fact, it would be confusing to buyers and may even be a turn-off to most.

What you need to do is appeal to your ideal target buyer. Who is most likely going to purchase your home? Based on your neighborhood, your price range, your school district and many other factors, who is your home going to appeal to? Is it a young family? A bachelor or bachelorette? A wealthy executive family? or is it seniors?

What has been taught and preached over the years is that you need to depersonalize your home, you need to make it appeal to the general public, and the list goes on.

Unfortunately, what’s happened is that we end up with a flood of boring, cookie cutter, generic houses on the market.

Yes, you should remove YOUR personality from the home, but your home still needs A personality.

Consider this, white or beige walls, white cabinets, white countertops, beige flooring, no photos, no color…BLAH!!! How memorable is that? It’s not! And remember, when buyers are out seeing 10, 20 or hundreds homes, what is going to make your house STAND OUT from the rest and be memorable…it’s not the boring vanilla box you created that’s for sure.

Also, neighborhoods tend to attract a specific type of crowd. Homeowners generally know what that demographic is because they are that demographic or was at one time. Design a lifestyle in your house to attract that specific demographic.

Don’t get trapped in the other mis-perception which is that you just need to make your house pretty. Sorry to burst your bubble again, but pretty doesn’t sell.

Your home should tell a story about the ideal homeowner…make that story count!

So…for a truly effective home sale, really consider who is most likely going to purchase the home and upgrade and showcase your home with the features that will attract those buyers – appliances, flooring, colors, room use and more.

Oh, and one last thing…get away from the mindset that you’re going to put the cheapest products in the home to get it ready to sell. I hear it all the time…you don’t care because you’re not living there. When that is the energy that you’re putting into preparing the house to sell, you will invite the same type of energy back with home buyers who give you lowball offers. It’s an energetic exchange..be careful what you put out there.

I would love your feedback and welcome your comments on this article.

After winning everything in the first few weeks Josh and Jenna totally lost the plot with the living room and hallway challenge.

‘Share accommodation for students” –  that was the opinion of the The Block judges John McGrath and Neale Whitaker.

Tacky, old school wall paneling – I cannot believe Josh and Jenna installed this.  Without a doubt wall paneling is the most out dated thing I find on a regular basis when assessing  clients properties for  pre-sale home makeovers.  I always recommend either removing them or painting the paneling exactly the same colour as the walls so they appear unobtrusive and just blend in.  Of course painting is the quickest and most cost effective solution to this seventies feature of the decade – just don’t forget to prime them first.

And what were they thinking when they used a Chinese checkerboard as artwork!

“The chairs are foul” said Amie.  “Yeehaa” commented Rod on spotting the rawhide covered chairs. The Block’s other contestants weren’t impressed either when they had their walk through.

Where did Josh and Jenna go wrong? Once again they were decorating to their own personal taste. And potential buyers are going to have the same sort of repulsive reactions that the judges and other contestants had.

All of the couples have been guilty of putting too much of their own personality into some of their rooms and frankly it is going be the undoing of them come auction day.

Josh and Jenna were gutted by their low score and the judges criticism but to their credit they took it on the chin and immediately started changing the things the judges hated.  Thank goodness the wood paneling is going along with some of the other kitsch accessories.

Hopefully Josh and Jenna will be back on track for the kitchen and dining room challenge.

I had no renovation experience when I started out as a property renovator so the most an important criterion for me was “Can I do it myself?”  Of course for my first renovation I couldn’t build and install a kitchen myself and I needed a plumber, tiler and electrician to assist with the kitchen installation. However,

• I could pull up Masonite sheeting on the floors and prepare them for the carpet install
• I could clean and scrub ceilings and walls, fill holes, sand patches and prepare all surfaces ready for painting
• I could paint – I got advice from my local paint store and found out the best paints for each surface, what brushes and rollers to use and I chose the same neutral colour paint to use throughout the whole house
• I could weed the garden, cut back dead and overgrown plants, plant new plants and add some mulch to tidy the back yard

I set myself a time frame to complete the renovation (5 weeks) and had a budget of $12,000, which included the brand new kitchen with new appliances.  Kitchens don’t get built in a day so it was vital for me to make the kitchen my first priority so that I could select the kitchen cabinets I wanted, get quotes from a few kitchen suppliers and source the appliances, tapware, tiles to ensure the kitchen would be completed within my 5 week time frame. I used the weeks leading up to settlement to get the kitchen planned and ordered which helped me to achieve getting the renovation on time.  While the kitchen was being built, I was busy cleaning, fixing preparing

I bought the property for $109,000 spent $12,000 on the renovation and sold it for $155,000.  An increase in value of $46,000 in 5 weeks. My actual profit after all buying and selling costs was $30,000 – not bad for my first renovating for profit project.

6 years and many renovations all over Adelaide later, I would like to share my simple tips for a successful “cosmetic” renovation

1. Great planning and organisations skills – getting the job done on time and within your budget will depend on it. Keep accurate records and receipts through the process. (see our Renovator’s Organiser in the product store)
2. Identify which jobs you can do yourself and hire licensed tradespeople to carry out work that needs specialised skills and compliance. How to choose a great tradesperson is a topic all of itself however I do recommend getting word of mouth referrals from friends, colleagues and relatives is a great start.
3. Be on hand to supervise the tradespeople as things can easily go wrong and result in cost blowouts.  Give clear directions to tradespeople about the work you want done (I write a checklist that can easily be followed and ensure nothing gets missed), communicate well with them and show appreciation like making them a coffee or giving them a beer at the end of a good days work.  A happy tradie is a good tradie.
4. Allow some padding in your budget for unexpected problems that may occur. Renovating is all about problem solving!
5. If you don’t feel confident in any of the above areas or you simply don’t have time to supervise the work yourself then consider hiring a project manager. A project manager will ensure that the “cosmetic” renovation is done quickly, takes responsibility for hiring and coordinating all the necessary tradespeople, sources products to get the job done and makes sure it comes in under budget.  People managing their own renovations can take months to complete the job instead of weeks, which not only costs more in the long run but it means quite a bit of disruption to the family environment.

Houses to Impress specialise in Project Management and with an office in the north and an office in the south we have all locations in Adelaide covered if you need assistance with a home renovation.

The latest issue of Australian Property Investor magazine has hit the stands and in this issue it unveils its fifth Hot 100 list of suburbs set for property price growth in 2011 and beyond.

The Property Professor, Peter Koulizos, is also featured this month and he reports on the latest good news and bad news he has gleaned from RP Data Market Update.  Peter is a property educator at UniSA and TAFE and the author of The Property Professor’s Top Australian Suburbs – a guide to Australia’s top suburbs for property investors and homebuyers

Read some of Peter’s article below

Reading some of the newspapers or watching the evening news, you’d most certainly be excused for thinking that Australia was in an economic recession. Much of what we hear in the media is doom and gloom; rarely is there a positive story about the property market nowadays. However, when you dig a little deeper, you can also find some very positive news, which can give us a little bit more confidence in the market. Yes, it may sound strange, but there definitely is positive news out there!

First, the bad news.

• Canberra was the only capital city in Australia where property prices increased
  during the three months to April (and that was by a miserly 0.8 per cent).
• The number of properties selling is well below the five-year average.
  The average time taken to sell a house has increased from 41 days last year to
  55 days.
• The average time taken to sell a unit has increased from 36 days last year to
  51 days – that’s an increase of over 40 per cent!
• Vendors have to drop their asking prices for their houses more than they did last
  year; from a discount of five per cent to 6.5 per cent.
• Vendors have to drop the asking prices for their units more than they did last
  year; from a discount of 4.5 per cent to 6.5 per cent.
• Auction clearance rates have been trending downwards since the beginning
  of the year.
• The number of properties currently on the market are at almost all-time highs –
  there are 280,000 properties currently for sale!

Consumer confidence is dropping.

If you want to read Peter’s good news this month we have a special offer for our readers!

Bundled The Property Professors Top Australian Suburbs & Sold For Top Dollar for a bargain price and FREE postage and handling! Limited stock so don’t miss out!

To read Peter’s full article click here

Charyn Youngson
Professional Home Stager | Property Renovator | Author