Ways to boost your home valuation

We are always looking to increase the value of our home’s whether that’s by furnishing your home with new lounges tables and TV’s or putting in that new garden but does that increase the value of your home or just personalizes your home.

Worth a mention is that a valuation is done by a qualified valuer which in most cases is appointed by your lender when you refinance a home loan and works for your lender not you. A valuer is not a real estate agent, a real estate agent can offer you an option on how much you might sell the property for, often over valued to get you to sign up with them but that’s another story. The point here is there is a big difference between a bank valuation and a real estate agent valuation, the reason is the valuer uses a combination of past history of sales, compares your property’s features and takes market conditions into account and then uses these figures to produce a valuation for the bank. There is very little emotion that goes into this figure as this figure is used by the bank to base how much security they have, so this figure is more like a fire sale figure not a best price like a real estate agent could get.

So now we know how they do it lets look at ways that matter most when a valuer comes to value your home.

Fresh paint job and tidy up

It sounds dramatic I know, but it can make a real difference. Some simple cosmetic improvements, like repainting the house can be one of the easiest ways to add a few dollars to the value of your home. Rendering an old brick home makes a massive shift in look to an old home.  The one thing that a valuer will look at when comparing values of similar properties is the general appearance so in order for a valuer to value your home higher than another home in your area is appearance. If you have a backyard covered with old timber or iron sheeting these are the easiest things to do, and remember your front yard is your window to your home and is the first impression the valuer will see so make it a good one.

Build extensions and renovations

Far more expensive than a quick trip to the paint aisles at Bunnings, I admit, but adding a room or two to your property can boost its value by thousands. Of course that room will only make a difference if it’s actually a decent size – adding a new boxroom and advertising it as a third bedroom won’t fool anyone.

Valuers look at how many bedrooms a home has and will generally value a 4 bed home higher than a 3 bed home all other things being equal.

Extend a carport or even build in an existing one, again more car spaces has a similar effect, more is better than less.

Decks and BBQ area’s has another space effect giving the total home more area and is another tick in the valuers eye’s.

One word of warning here, over capitalization can be a killer, you need to know what other properties are worth in your area so a little research here can save you much wasted dollars. What’s the point in spending an extra $70k only to see that extra money gobbled up.

One last note is the one thing that you can’t change that has a big influence in your valuation is the size of your land, a valuer has two parts to his valuation the land component and the improvements to the land “your home”. So be aware that not all things are in your control, so good luck and happy cleaning!

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1. Pre-approval – Gives You The Power To Negotiate
2. The Buying Process
3. Crunching the numbers on an investment property
4. Your guide to refinancing