How visitors or potential buyers first view your property is called street appeal or in the case of a house that looks bad, lack of street appeal.

One of the top improvements I recommend to clients when they are preparing their property for sale is to upgrade the interior lights because light, bright spaces sell!  Using outdoor lighting to enhance the outdoor areas is another great way to create a dramatic look.  I always recommend that homeowners and real estate agents request that the photographer who is taking the photos that are going to be used for the Internet marketing campaign, take some photos at twilight with the front of the house all lit up.  It certainly makes the house look like magic and increases that important first impression by bucket loads.

I love using feature outdoor lighting that creates a great atmosphere and lights up key focal points in the garden.  My favourite type of lighting that is simple to install is solar lighting.  Solar lighting has come a long way and provides a low cost eco friendly solution to your outdoor environment.

Solar lights are a great way to increase the value of your home and the best outcome is it allows you to light up your outdoors for free, using sunlight for power.  Outdoor solar lights can be installed yourself so you can save the money a contractor would have cost and invest in some extra lights! As longs as you install the lights where they receive adequate sunlight to recharge the batteries throughout the day then the solar lights can operate for hours on a single charge. In these days of rapidly increasing power bills this is an added bonus and one that potential buyers will be impressed by.

So Many Styles to Choose From

There are so many solar light choices to make your yard or patio light up at night.

• Solar patio lights
• Solar yard lights
• Solar walkway lights
• Solar house number lights
• Solar floodlights

Solar garden lights are stocked at all hardware stores but if you like to really SAVE money by shopping online check out dealsdirect for their amazing range of low cost lights that will surely inspire you to light up your house.

Charyn Youngson

Property Renovator | Professional Home Stager | Author

I sold one of my properties last year and one of the final clean up jobs I had done before sale was to bring in my expert pressure cleaner professional.  After 40 years of wear and tear, the concrete driveway and paths surrounding the house badly needed a facelift.

Pressure cleaning is one of my most common recommendations for vendors before they go to market.  It is a simple way to give instant appeal.  Not only can a professional pressure cleaner clean your cement but he can give all your external walls a wash down prior to painting or selling. Sometimes it makes such a difference that painting is no longer necessary. It is amazing what a good scrub will do.

When my pressure cleaning guy was giving my outdoors the once over, I also had him pressure clean the timber decking on my balcony. It came up a treat and then I re-coated it with a natural timber stain and it looked like it was brand new!

Of course you can hire or buy a pressure cleaner to DIY but my feedback is these small machines just do not stack up against the industrial pressure cleaners and only get half the result.  There are some jobs that are just better done by a professional and I think this is one. Some of the other areas that benefit from being pressure cleaned are:-

• Dull and worn pavers
• Moss covered pavers and concrete
• Drink, BBQ and oil stains
• Roller doors and security screen doors
• Fences

Even if you are not thinking of selling your property consider pressure cleaning one of those prevention and maintenance jobs that will keep your concrete and paving looking new and fresh.

Here are some before and after photos to motivate you.

Before                                  After

Letterboxes are usually made of cheap materials, which is why they deteriorate after just a few years of use.  Of course they are exposed to the elements all the time and it is not surprising that they can become an eyesore in a very short space of time.

Since a letterbox is one of the first things that you notice about a property, it makes sense to give this important piece of architecture an overhaul and give your property an instant uplift.

Painting an existing letterbox is the easiest way to upgrade your letterbox and perhaps adding some new numbers but if you really want to make a statement for visitors to your home consider replacing your old daggy letterbox with a brand new one.  There are so many choices.

• Classic cast iron aluminium
• Sandstone
• Architectural
• Timber
• Fence and Wall
• Brass and chrome

You can find many of these at your local hardware stores but I love to shop online where I can find an extensive range all in one place. An Australian company that delivers direct to customers is Mailmaster. They have a stunning range of letterboxes that will help you add some style and class to your home.

I love the fact the fact that they colour match your mailbox to match either your gutters, window or garage door trim or even some other feature colour of your home.

House Numbers are also a cost effective addition you can make to your home that can really make a statement.  I see a lot of homes in my line of work and it never ceases to amaze me that very few people bother to display their home with prominent house numbers. It is also very frustrating trying to locate homes that have paid little attention to displaying home numbers especially a night.

While you are investigating buying new letterbox at Mailmaster don’t forget about the house numbers.  House numbers should be clear enough so that police, the fire department, paramedics, etc., can quickly locate properties in an emergency. House numbers are often the only way that first-responders can identify their intended destinations. For a small investment you can reap disproportionately large rewards that will add massive value to your home.

I was watching a recent episode of Better Homes and Gardens and Jason did a story about picket fencing that caught my eye.
Being an avid DIY person, I was amazed to discover that there is a picket fence made from sun tough vinyl that:

– Never rusts, rots or peels
– Never needs painting
– Can’t be eaten by termites
– Doesn’t need maintenance
– Is put together without a hammers or nails
– And it is easy on the pocket

If you are looking at simple cost effective ways to create great street appeal for your home then this is type of easy to install picket fencing will make a great addition. If you want to find out more about this picket fencing click here.