Weekend property blitz, August 2004

Improve your property in a weekend – August 2004

If you watch too many TV shows, you may think it takes just a day to transform a dull, boring house into a sleek, stylish abode that will break all auction records.
In the real world, it is a different story .. it could take years. Yet if you're planning to capitalise on the spring market and want your house to look like a million dollars, you'd better act quickly. Shortcuts are the name of the day.
So let's take the impossible and double the amount of time available: you've got just one weekend, with $5,000 to spend.
``It's a big ask,'' says interiors stylist Cass Jennings, ``but not impossible''. Jennings is so convinced of the benefits of a makeover when selling property that she's made a career out it, working for north-shore real estate agents to transform million-dollar ugly ducklings into $1.2 million swans in a limited space of time.
Jennings suggests getting your mates together for a working bee. "Get everyone you can to come and help, but make sure only one person is in charge," she says.
So if you're serious about selling this spring, get out your gardening gloves and garbage bags and get to work on your own Domain Spring Property Blitz.

Here's what to do:
SAT, 7AM: The garage sale. You'll need to declutter your house and this is an economical way to do it. An alternative is storing it, but that might cost $400 or more.
L.J. Hooker associate director Trish Rogers says removing excess furniture and knick knacks is vital.
"A stylist would tell you to remove anything that is personal to let people imagine themselves living there," she says. "I personally like to perve at people’s wedding photos, so I don’t think you need to go to any extremes – you just need to make sure the place doesn’t look over-furnished."
Di Jones Real Estate principal Di Jones says getting rid of clutter is the key to helping people feel as though they want to live in your house.
“If you can make it look like they want to live there, you are half way to selling the house to them,” she says.

9AM: The mother-in-law test. Deborah Kerr Real Estate co-principal Deborah Kerr says before you start work on a property, you need to make a list of priorities. ``Start seeing all the negatives of a property, just like a mother-in-law would do" she says.
"Normally I would say invite a tactful best friend over to cast a critical eye over the place, but I sometimes think it's better to invite your worst enemy because they won't have any problems being tactless about the place."
Rogers says sellers should ask their selling agent to list the top three things that need attention.
The key is to make a list of what needs doing in each room and in the garden. Then you can sit down and start prioritizing time and money.
"The other thing that I recommend is paying a professional cleaner around $300 to come for a day and do a proper clean," Rogers says.
Kerr's agency also offers a $130 interior stylist consultation so sellers can get a professional opinion on how to makeover their property to maximise the selling price.

10AM: Home repairs. Fix anything broken, remove anything daggy. Replace old and grimy power point covers, fix leaking taps and squeaking doors, says buyers agent Lisa Bradley from Finderskeepers.com.au.
Residex chief executive John Edwards adds regrouting bathroom tiles. ``Also make sure all the windows open easily so the house can be aired before an open inspection," he says.
Kerr agrees. "Bad smells are the biggest turn-off. Do everything you can to get rid of cooking smells or animal smells," she says.

NOON: Make an entrance. GoodyerDonnelly Real Estate principal Debbie Donnelly says improving the porch, lobby, entry hall and front door of a house is a must.
"For some properties you will just need a new doormat and a quick paint of the front door, others might need to put some pot plants out," she says.
Cornish says the entrance of a home will leave the most lasting impression on a potential purchaser.
"You want to get them through the front door to see the property so make sure it all looks inviting," he says.

2pm: Start hosing – or get out the broom. Jennings says most homeowners neglect cleaning the exterior of their homes.
"You should get out the high pressure hose and wash the place and all the terraces down at least twice a year," she says. "It makes a place look clean, fresh and appealing."
That’s all well and good when Sydney doesn’t have water restrictions, but at the moment hosing hard surfaces, including buildings, is not allowed.
Sydney Water suggests using brooms and buckets of water to clean buildings, and making sure the run-off goes onto a soft surface like the garden rather than a path or a road.
If the water restrictions ever come to an end, you can hire a high pressure hose from just under $200 a day to from places like Kennards - or you can engage the professionals to wash your house for you.
Kerr says $400 to $600 should cover the cost of a professional house washer, who may well have a water restrictions exemption to keep business going.
"Just make sure the washers don't use bleach on the exterior - we've had houses where the bleach has killed the garden surrounding the house and that doesn't look great at an open inspection," she says.

Sunday
7am: Get out the paintbrush
The experts are divided over how much painting should be done before a property hits the market.
Kerr suggests just sugar soaping the walls clean, as it can be just as effective as a coat of paint.
Donnelly says painting chipped arches and doorways is vital to make the place look polished.
McGrath suggests spending $300 on paint for each room just to do a fresh topcoat to brighten the place.
"I would say think about a feature wall in dull rooms or houses that don't have much oomph," says Jennings.
"But if I only had a budget of $5000, I would limit painting to $1500 as it can get expensive."

9am: Sadie the cleaning lady
Get out the gloves, detergent and pernickety attitude and clean each room from top to bottom.
"The one thing people always forget to do is clean their light fittings," says Trish Rogers.
"It's really revolting when you look up and see dead insects and dust floating around in them."
Donnelly says a thorough clean is vital, and that means dusting all the skirtings and steam cleaning all carpets and curtains.
"I think it's easier to pay a professional to come and clean your windows," she says. "You want everything sparkling."

10am: the garden team
McGrath says sellers should budget to spend between $1000 and $2000 improving their garden before a property hits the market.
"Landscaping is the easiest way to transform a property - get some mulch, some new plants and just make the garden look fantastic," he says.
Jennings suggests a $2000 investment in hire plants can transform a poor property with a bad aspect into a dream house.
"I had a property with a privacy problem but we hired some three-metre high conifers to put along the fence and it instantly made the house more saleable," she says.
Rogers says spend $150 on new pots and spring flowers like petunias and pansies to brighten up drab spots in the garden.
"I think with big gardens, you should think about buying a big market umbrella - you can place it down the end of the garden to draw buyers' eyes to how large the space is," says Jennings.
3pm: the finishing touches
Before the light fades and your willing workers give up on the weekend, head to the mall and raid your cupboards for the final flourishes.
"I think you need accent pieces in each room, and they can be things you have in your cupboards," says Jennings.
"A boring nest of bowls can be transformed into something amazing if you put a succulent in it with some pebbles from the garden.
"Or you can set a table, or buy a mirror for a dark room, or display some pots you've had hiding in some cupboards."
Jones says displaying nice coffee table books and turning on some well-placed table lamps makes a room feel more inviting.
McGrath suggests saving $75 to spend on fresh flowers for each open inspection.
"Fresh flowers in a beautiful vase really make a great impression," he says.
Jennings also suggests spending around $300 to $500 to buy the best fluffy towels you can afford and heading to Freedom to buy some modern, stylish bed linen.
"When a house looks as inviting as a hotel, it's hard for buyers to come along and complain about the size of the third bedroom because all they are doing is thinking: 'wow, I want to live there'," she says.

BALMAIN

Graphic designers Philip and Caz Cordingley are, shall we say, particular about how a house should look.
The stylish pair could not contemplate selling their Balmain semi without it looking like the contemporary inner city home they dreamed of when they bought it in 1996 as an unliveable wreck.
Philip says the couple made a decision to sell their house more than a year ago, and they have been busy ever since renovating and adding stylish finishing touches to their pride and joy.
"We've probably spent more money than we should but we're a bit foolish like that," he says.
Philip has spent the last fortnight landscaping the back garden and adding a timber deck to the lower garden.
"I was inspired by the gardens at Wynyard station, I thought it was a fabulous combination of plants," he says.
He has packed away "at least 50 per cent" of their furniture and personal belongings to make the space look larger - but he's also bought slick new furniture.
"We bought a double bed for the second bedroom so it's not my studio any more, it's a proper bedroom," he says.
"We finally bought the Sonet cafaacé chairs for the dining room. We've painted the front of the place in modern colours and we fixed the steep steps at the side of the house."
Philip says if he only had one weekend to get the house ready for sale, he would spend one day building the deck in the backyard and the other day madly painting to freshen the place.
"One weekend is not enough time - it's taken us eight years to get the place to look like this," he says.

RYDE

When Amanda and Shawn Davies decided to auction their five-bedroom house in Ryde on September 18, they ordered two trucks of wood chips and spent an entire Saturday tidying their large back garden.
"I ended up paying a couple of teenage boys to help us haul the wood chips from the front to the backyard - I set everyone to work and we weeded and spread wood chips for eight hours," she says.
Amanda says all the garden beds and the area under a large tree looked fresher with the new chips, so the effort was worth it.
"I also planted some nice flowers, and I'm hoping they will be looking good on auction day," she says.
Amanda paid $680 to have the exterior of the house and roof washed professionally "which just made everything look new again".
"We also had to get the pool guys to come and check the solar heating and all the pool equipment was working properly, so that took a couple of hours," she says.
Amanda plans to organise a window cleaner to come through again before auction.
"There is only so much you can do on your own - when you have a family it's sometimes easier to pay people to do the dirty work," she says

Tricks of the trade:

Use mirrors in dark rooms to brighten the space, or reflect a lovely outlook or view
Don't denude the house of all clutter - keep a few accent pieces like bowls or pots to create atmosphere
Spend up big on fluffy towels for the bathroom and modern bed linen for the bedrooms to make the property feel as luxurious as a hotel.
A new doormat for the front door and back door is a must.
Spend the most time and effort improving the property's street appeal - interested buyers will drive past a property more often than they will inspect the inside.
Clean windows make a big impression and let more light in. And don't forget to clean skylights too.
Improving the garden with mulching and a few fresh plants is an easy way to brighten a property's appeal.

_________________________________________


contact me alex may \| books \| property \| renovation \| magazine stories
Improve your property in a weekend – August 2004 If you watch too many TV shows, you may think it takes just a day to transform a dull, boring house into a sleek, stylish abode that will break all auction records. In the real world, it is a different story .. it could take years. Yet if you're planning to capitalise on the spring market and want your house to look like a million dollars, you'd better act quickly. Shortcuts are the name of the day. So let's take the impossible and double the amount of time available: you've got just one weekend, with $5,000 to spend. ``It's a big ask,'' says interiors stylist Cass Jennings, ``but not impossible''. Jennings is so convinced of the benefits of a makeover when selling property that she's made a career out it, working for north-shore real estate agents to transform million-dollar ugly ducklings into $1.2 million swans in a limited space of time. Jennings suggests getting your mates together for a working bee. "Get everyone you can to come and help, but make sure only one person is in charge," she says. So if you're serious about selling this spring, get out your gardening gloves and garbage bags and get to work on your own Domain Spring Property Blitz. Here's what to do: SAT, 7AM: The garage sale. You'll need to declutter your house and this is an economical way to do it. An alternative is storing it, but that might cost $400 or more. L.J. Hooker associate director Trish Rogers says removing excess furniture and knick knacks is vital. "A stylist would tell you to remove anything that is personal to let people imagine themselves living there," she says. "I personally like to perve at people’s wedding photos, so I don’t think you need to go to any extremes – you just need to make sure the place doesn’t look over-furnished." Di Jones Real Estate principal Di Jones says getting rid of clutter is the key to helping people feel as though they want to live in your house. “If you can make it look like they want to live there, you are half way to selling the house to them,” she says. 9AM: The mother-in-law test. Deborah Kerr Real Estate co-principal Deborah Kerr says before you start work on a property, you need to make a list of priorities. ``Start seeing all the negatives of a property, just like a mother-in-law would do" she says. "Normally I would say invite a tactful best friend over to cast a critical eye over the place, but I sometimes think it's better to invite your worst enemy because they won't have any problems being tactless about the place." Rogers says sellers should ask their selling agent to list the top three things that need attention. The key is to make a list of what needs doing in each room and in the garden. Then you can sit down and start prioritizing time and money. "The other thing that I recommend is paying a professional cleaner around $300 to come for a day and do a proper clean," Rogers says. Kerr's agency also offers a $130 interior stylist consultation so sellers can get a professional opinion on how to makeover their property to maximise the selling price. 10AM: Home repairs. Fix anything broken, remove anything daggy. Replace old and grimy power point covers, fix leaking taps and squeaking doors, says buyers agent Lisa Bradley from Finderskeepers.com.au. Residex chief executive John Edwards adds regrouting bathroom tiles. ``Also make sure all the windows open easily so the house can be aired before an open inspection," he says. Kerr agrees. "Bad smells are the biggest turn-off. Do everything you can to get rid of cooking smells or animal smells," she says. NOON: Make an entrance. GoodyerDonnelly Real Estate principal Debbie Donnelly says improving the porch, lobby, entry hall and front door of a house is a must. "For some properties you will just need a new doormat and a quick paint of the front door, others might need to put some pot plants out," she says. Cornish says the entrance of a home will leave the most lasting impression on a potential purchaser. "You want to get them through the front door to see the property so make sure it all looks inviting," he says. 2pm: Start hosing – or get out the broom. Jennings says most homeowners neglect cleaning the exterior of their homes. "You should get out the high pressure hose and wash the place and all the terraces down at least twice a year," she says. "It makes a place look clean, fresh and appealing." That’s all well and good when Sydney doesn’t have water restrictions, but at the moment hosing hard surfaces, including buildings, is not allowed. Sydney Water suggests using brooms and buckets of water to clean buildings, and making sure the run-off goes onto a soft surface like the garden rather than a path or a road. If the water restrictions ever come to an end, you can hire a high pressure hose from just under $200 a day to from places like Kennards - or you can engage the professionals to wash your house for you. Kerr says $400 to $600 should cover the cost of a professional house washer, who may well have a water restrictions exemption to keep business going. "Just make sure the washers don't use bleach on the exterior - we've had houses where the bleach has killed the garden surrounding the house and that doesn't look great at an open inspection," she says. Sunday 7am: Get out the paintbrush The experts are divided over how much painting should be done before a property hits the market. Kerr suggests just sugar soaping the walls clean, as it can be just as effective as a coat of paint. Donnelly says painting chipped arches and doorways is vital to make the place look polished. McGrath suggests spending $300 on paint for each room just to do a fresh topcoat to brighten the place. "I would say think about a feature wall in dull rooms or houses that don't have much oomph," says Jennings. "But if I only had a budget of $5000, I would limit painting to $1500 as it can get expensive." 9am: Sadie the cleaning lady Get out the gloves, detergent and pernickety attitude and clean each room from top to bottom. "The one thing people always forget to do is clean their light fittings," says Trish Rogers. "It's really revolting when you look up and see dead insects and dust floating around in them." Donnelly says a thorough clean is vital, and that means dusting all the skirtings and steam cleaning all carpets and curtains. "I think it's easier to pay a professional to come and clean your windows," she says. "You want everything sparkling." 10am: the garden team McGrath says sellers should budget to spend between $1000 and $2000 improving their garden before a property hits the market. "Landscaping is the easiest way to transform a property - get some mulch, some new plants and just make the garden look fantastic," he says. Jennings suggests a $2000 investment in hire plants can transform a poor property with a bad aspect into a dream house. "I had a property with a privacy problem but we hired some three-metre high conifers to put along the fence and it instantly made the house more saleable," she says. Rogers says spend $150 on new pots and spring flowers like petunias and pansies to brighten up drab spots in the garden. "I think with big gardens, you should think about buying a big market umbrella - you can place it down the end of the garden to draw buyers' eyes to how large the space is," says Jennings. 3pm: the finishing touches Before the light fades and your willing workers give up on the weekend, head to the mall and raid your cupboards for the final flourishes. "I think you need accent pieces in each room, and they can be things you have in your cupboards," says Jennings. "A boring nest of bowls can be transformed into something amazing if you put a succulent in it with some pebbles from the garden. "Or you can set a table, or buy a mirror for a dark room, or display some pots you've had hiding in some cupboards." Jones says displaying nice coffee table books and turning on some well-placed table lamps makes a room feel more inviting. McGrath suggests saving $75 to spend on fresh flowers for each open inspection. "Fresh flowers in a beautiful vase really make a great impression," he says. Jennings also suggests spending around $300 to $500 to buy the best fluffy towels you can afford and heading to Freedom to buy some modern, stylish bed linen. "When a house looks as inviting as a hotel, it's hard for buyers to come along and complain about the size of the third bedroom because all they are doing is thinking: 'wow, I want to live there'," she says. BALMAIN Graphic designers Philip and Caz Cordingley are, shall we say, particular about how a house should look. The stylish pair could not contemplate selling their Balmain semi without it looking like the contemporary inner city home they dreamed of when they bought it in 1996 as an unliveable wreck. Philip says the couple made a decision to sell their house more than a year ago, and they have been busy ever since renovating and adding stylish finishing touches to their pride and joy. "We've probably spent more money than we should but we're a bit foolish like that," he says. Philip has spent the last fortnight landscaping the back garden and adding a timber deck to the lower garden. "I was inspired by the gardens at Wynyard station, I thought it was a fabulous combination of plants," he says. He has packed away "at least 50 per cent" of their furniture and personal belongings to make the space look larger - but he's also bought slick new furniture. "We bought a double bed for the second bedroom so it's not my studio any more, it's a proper bedroom," he says. "We finally bought the Sonet cafaacé chairs for the dining room. We've painted the front of the place in modern colours and we fixed the steep steps at the side of the house." Philip says if he only had one weekend to get the house ready for sale, he would spend one day building the deck in the backyard and the other day madly painting to freshen the place. "One weekend is not enough time - it's taken us eight years to get the place to look like this," he says. RYDE When Amanda and Shawn Davies decided to auction their five-bedroom house in Ryde on September 18, they ordered two trucks of wood chips and spent an entire Saturday tidying their large back garden. "I ended up paying a couple of teenage boys to help us haul the wood chips from the front to the backyard - I set everyone to work and we weeded and spread wood chips for eight hours," she says. Amanda says all the garden beds and the area under a large tree looked fresher with the new chips, so the effort was worth it. "I also planted some nice flowers, and I'm hoping they will be looking good on auction day," she says. Amanda paid $680 to have the exterior of the house and roof washed professionally "which just made everything look new again". "We also had to get the pool guys to come and check the solar heating and all the pool equipment was working properly, so that took a couple of hours," she says. Amanda plans to organise a window cleaner to come through again before auction. "There is only so much you can do on your own - when you have a family it's sometimes easier to pay people to do the dirty work," she says Tricks of the trade: Use mirrors in dark rooms to brighten the space, or reflect a lovely outlook or view Don't denude the house of all clutter - keep a few accent pieces like bowls or pots to create atmosphere Spend up big on fluffy towels for the bathroom and modern bed linen for the bedrooms to make the property feel as luxurious as a hotel. A new doormat for the front door and back door is a must. Spend the most time and effort improving the property's street appeal - interested buyers will drive past a property more often than they will inspect the inside. Clean windows make a big impression and let more light in. And don't forget to clean skylights too. Improving the garden with mulching and a few fresh plants is an easy way to brighten a property's appeal. _________________________________________