Renovating your home for sale can be a balancing act, say experts: skimp on upgrades, and the best sale price may elude you. But spend too much, and you may not recoup your investment.
To minimise outlay while still achieving a good result, Renovating For Profit founder Cherie Barber says sellers should prioritise certain rooms while doing the bare minimum – or nothing at all – in others.
Kitchens and bathrooms add the most value when renovating to sell, say experts.Credit: Getty Images
The rooms she thinks sellers can skip entirely? “Definitely bedrooms two, three and four. They are the rooms that are least likely to make or break a sale.”
Barber says sellers should ideally spruce up the master bedroom but they “needn’t go overboard.
“You could install two or four downlights that’ll really illuminate the master bedroom and make it look 50 times better, and do so very cheaply. An electrician will come and do that for $500.”
Barber believes backyards can be deprioritised.
“You can get away with just mowing the lawn and leaving it very plain. That creates a blank canvas for somebody else to flesh it out and make it their own.”
The home’s front is a different matter. Barber says sellers often neglect the façade and front garden to their detriment.
“First impressions are lasting impressions. You can have an amazing house internally, but if it looks crap from the street, that will pull the value down.”
Barber says rooms that add the most value when you’re renovating to sell are kitchens and bathrooms.
This Potts Point apartment sold recently after getting a makeover, including a kitchen renovation.Credit: James Brickwood
“That’s because they’re hard to do. They’re the most labour-intensive rooms, the most material-heavy rooms, and the most complicated.”
She says bathrooms often require more time and money than kitchens.
“You’ve got to get the layout right. You’ve got to get the fixtures and fittings right. There are a lot of things you need to get right for the bathroom to be practical, functional and good-looking.”
Kathryn Fantov, director of Sydney Vendor Advocates, says sellers with limited resources should pick either the kitchen or the bathroom, so as not to spread their money too thin.
She says kitchens can be updated cosmetically without a significant financial outlay.
“It could be things like painting the cupboard doors to liven them up, or changing the handles to something a little more modern. Sometimes you can replace the benchtop, which can make a huge difference, without ripping out the whole kitchen.”
When deciding which rooms to renovate, Fantov encourages sellers to think about the “move-in potential” of their home.
“It’s not ideal if a buyer walks in and thinks: ‘I need to redo the bathroom immediately’ or ‘I really need to redo the kitchen.’ They will either put your property in the ‘too hard’ basket, or they will make a low offer.”
This Coburg property sold at auction recently. The listing said the renovated bathroom blends retro flair with glitz.Credit: Domain
However, if funds are tight, Fantov says creating a bright, clean-looking home is more important than renovating any single room.
“White paint and freshly polished floors lift the whole feeling of a property. I believe you can get a return of up to 10 times what you spend on those.”
Deep cleaning is also essential, says Fantov, as is fixing any broken features like cracked glass or tatty carpet.
“Once buyers start to notice little things on the surface, they start looking for flaws in a lot more detail.”
White paint and freshly polished floors can lift the whole feeling of a property, experts say.Credit: Charday Penn
Lani Nioplias, The Barefoot Stylist director, says cash-strapped sellers can work with stylists to make outdated decor and property flaws less noticeable.
“We can display florals in the kitchen to create a pop of colour and divert the eye. We can put rugs down to hide scratched floors. We can put beautiful art on the walls to hide marks. We can bring in lamps.”
She believes sellers should leave older-style kitchens and bathrooms unrenovated if they don’t have the resources to update them properly.
“I’ve seen far too many examples where a seller has renovated a kitchen or bathroom, and it still looks terrible. It’s better not to spend the money at all than do a cheap-looking job.”
Some experts suggest deprioritising any backyard renovation. Sellers should instead focus on the front yard.Credit: Peter Rae
By contrast, Barber says renovating sellers shouldn’t be afraid to economise in certain areas.
In the kitchen, she says it’s fine for sellers on a budget to seek the cheapest serviceable options.
“If you’re renovating the kitchen, you don’t need to buy a brand-name oven. If you’re replacing the benchtop, you can choose laminate over stone. It’s all about getting the look and the functionality.”
Barber believes liveability should be prioritised for renovating sellers with limited resources.
“Take window furnishings, for example. There’s nothing worse than buying a house with no blinds or curtains, moving in and knowing your neighbours can see you walking around your house at night.”
Barber recommends buying bottom-of-the-range curtains to fix this.
“They still do the job, and at a later stage, a buyer can upgrade those if they want.”
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