Selling a house in Australia’s competitive home market is favoured by having a functional, attractive home. A place where buyers can settle in immediately without any initial repairs.

These kinds of homes usually sell faster and have the highest value.

How exactly do you get your house ready for the market, and how do you increase its value before listing?

Simple. All it takes is the right knowledge and a bit of elbow grease.

If done right, you'll increase your return on investment and expand your audience of potential buyers.

Here are our top picks for how to increase the value of your house before listing.

Table of Contents

Value Addition: Some Basic Guidelines

• Visible improvements Add More Value
• Know Your Potential Buyers
• Keep it Neutral
• Strive for a High Valuation

Tip #1: Maximise Your Street Appeal

• Give Your Exterior A Fresh Coat of Paint
• Invest in Garden Maintenance
• Fix Up The Roof

Tip #2: Create Internal Appeal

• Get Rid of The Wallpaper
• Revive Your Hardwood Floors

Tip #3: Update Your Kitchen

• Revamp the Cabinetry
• Update Your Kitchen Lighting

Tip #4: Revitalise Your Outdoor Area

• Install a Patio or Entertainment Area
• Update Your Driveway

Get the Right Buyer For Your Property

Value Addition: Some Basic Guidelines

Before we dive in, let’s outline some basic guidelines. That way, you don't spend money on your property that you won't recoup in value.

Visible Improvements Add More Value

As a general rule, you’ll add more value to the things that are seen. These include cosmetic upgrades, kitchen or bathroom remodels and street appeal.

Unseen improvements, on the other hand, like restumping and reblocking often cost more but don't immediately wow potential buyers.

Know Your Potential Buyers

For maximum benefit, understand your target market—which often depends on two things:

1. Your area
2. Your property

Different areas and properties will attract different buyers. Consult a local real estate agent to find out what people are looking for in your area and the type of property.

That way, it’s easier to focus on improvements that appeal to that specific audience.

Related: What to Look For When Buying a Family Friendly Home

Keep it Neutral

A great way to appeal to a larger audience is to go neutral, especially in your choice of paint colour and designs.

The goal is to let your potential buyer imagine themselves living in the space.

Bold colours and designs may put off some buyers or make it harder to envision themselves there.

Strive for a High Valuation

Banks often minimise their risk by undervaluing properties.

Make sure that your bank values your property at the highest amount.

A surefire way to ensure this is by following our tips on improving the value of your home.

Tip #1: Maximise Your Street Appeal

First impressions count; there’s no way around it.

You want to encourage any potential buyers to want to own your house before they even see the inside—and the only way to do this is through street appeal.

Street appeal influences the feelings and imaginations of your potential buyers. If attracted, they imagine sparkling interiors and will be willing to pay more from the start.

If the exterior is unappealing, they likely won't even bother visiting the house, let alone buy it.

Here are a few things to improve street appeal:

Give Your Exterior A Fresh Coat of Paint

Refreshing your home’s exterior with a new paint job can expand your market and attract a whole new demographic.

It’s relatively inexpensive to do but promises a massive boost in value. Remember to stick to neutral colours that complement the house and its surroundings.

Invest in Garden Maintenance

Your front garden contributes to the overall look of your house from the street. Make it look clean and well taken care of.

Contract the help of a professional landscaper to help tidy up and maybe even add a few low maintenance flowers.

Fix Up The Roof

If your roof looks a little worse for wear, your potential buyers will assume it needs some work done, and roofs can be expensive to fix.

Paint your roof and replace any missing or broken tiles. Your prospective buyers will notice and appreciate it, further pushing up the value.

Tip #2: Create Internal Appeal

While external appeal might get a buyer through the front door, it’s the inside that’ll close the sale.

Internal appeal pulls on your buyer’s heartstrings, evokes attachment, and gets them to sign on the dotted line.

Here are a few of the things that create internal appeal and boost the overall value of your home:

Get Rid of The Wallpaper

There once was a time when bold feature walls and decorative wallpaper were en vogue. That time has passed.

If you’ve got wallpaper, take it down and give your walls a new coat of paint.

Remember to stick to neutral shades when interior painting. You want to make your property appeal to as many buyers as possible.

Revive Your Hardwood Floors

Dirty old floorboards and carpets indicate a property hasn’t been well looked after.

Interiors like this leave the buyers wondering, “what else is wrong?”

You want to avoid this at all costs.

Thankfully there are ways to revamp your floors and increase property value without breaking the bank. These include:

• Deep Cleaning - Give your floors a thorough clean and remove any built-up dirt and grime.
• Sand and Refinish - Sometimes, a simple clean won't cut it. In this event, you’ll want to sand and replenish your floors with a wax or lacquer finish.
• Buff and Polish - If your floors don’t need a thorough workup after cleaning, a quick buffing and polishing will work magic.

Tip #3: Update Your Kitchen

Updating your kitchen is one of the fastest ways to increase the value of your property dramatically. Most of the time you won’t need to rip out the entire kitchen and spend a fortune.

Here are a few cost-effective tricks to revamp your kitchen and boost value:

Revamp the Cabinetry

Retain your existing cabinets, but replace the doors and handles with modern options. You should also re-paint them to freshen things up a bit.

If you choose to go this route, consider consulting an interior designer on current trends for maximum valuation.

Update Your Kitchen Lighting

Update old light fixtures and increase natural light to make your kitchen look more inviting.

Lighting is also an excellent opportunity to highlight and show off other features in the kitchen.

Tip #4: Revitalise Your Outdoor Area

Investing in outdoor areas could make all the difference in your home. The Australian weather makes outdoor space living very valuable.

Here are our top tips to easily revamp your outdoor areas to add value to your home:

Install a Patio or Entertainment Area

Depending on your budget, outdoor entertainment areas can be simple or extravagant. No matter the size of your project, these areas should include:

• Comfortable outdoor furniture
• A hard, flat surface
• Protection from the weather
• Green areas

With patios that offer additional living space, install attractive lighting over the entire area.

Update Your Driveway

The driveway is your first opportunity to make a lasting impression on a prospective buyer. Old, cracked concrete can reduce perceived property value and how much a buyer is willing to pay from the get-go.

Thankfully, there are affordable options you can take advantage of to spruce up your driveway.

Pavers are a brilliant and affordable way to revamp your driveway. They come in different colours and styles that allow you to get creative. They also work well with other materials like grass and gravel.

Related: Factors That Increase the Value of Real Estate in Gold Coast

Get the Right Buyer For Your Property

Selling your house can be a monumental task—from adding value to your home to finding the right agent and possibly vacating your place for open-for-inspections.

It need not be this challenging—this is where Listing Loop comes in.

Listing Loop is a real estate marketplace for off-market and pre-market properties that connects buyers, sellers, and agents.

What exactly does this mean, and how does it help you get the right buyer for your property?

Off-market listings, sometimes referred to as secret listings, are properties on sale that are not advertised on mainstream real estate websites.

With the off-market approach, a seller can avoid expensive advertising fees while maintaining their privacy.

Related: Top 3 Benefits of Selling Off Market

Listing Loop is Australia's leading marketplace for off-market properties and secret listings. With a broad and ever-increasing buyer database and the use of intelligent technology, Listing Loop identifies and pairs the most suitable buyer and property.

It's a new take on the traditional method of property searching with real-time property match alerts.

Additionally, a seller that lists their property on Listing Loop through their agent enjoys:

• A fast, discreet sale at a great price (often above market value)
• Access to a database of over 100,000 pre-registered buyers
• Immediate listing with no fuss
• No expensive upfront marketing fees.

We're here to help

We're always happy to help with all the dramas and stressors of house buying and selling.

And if you're particularly tired of house-hunting, we've even partnered with buyer advocates who can check out homes for you and organise sales assessments and negotiations.

Our off-market and pre-market marketplace gives you VIP access to properties so you can get in first.

Just sign up at Listing Loop or download our app.

Photo by Ярослав Алексеенко / CC BY