Episode 1: Frank Valentic - How Do You Add Value To Your Property Without Spending a Fortune

'The Block' favourite, buyer's advocate Frank Valentic from Advantage Property Consulting explains how to add value to your property without spending a fortune.

It’s amazing how many houses we go through and the owners have spent good money on things that could put a buyer off – like different tile combinations in bathrooms rather than being consistent, yet they forget to fit out the wardrobes with shelves and drawers to have more effective storage. We want to get the expert advice on what’s the best way to spend your money & add value to your property without spending a fortune.

Intro:

Frank valentic has been regarded as one of melbourne’s trusted opinions in the melbourne property market for almost 2 decades. He also been a regular buyer’s advocate on ‘the block’ for all of the 11 melbourne series. Welcome frank!

Grant: frank, how did you get into advocacy work?

1. What elements of a house add value to the final price?
2. My biggest bug bear is seeing mirrored boxy wardrobes in a period home, what value do buyers put on storage and the quality of storage?
3. Ken from Deer Park has an unusually large second living area which gets used as a bit of a dumping ground. He’s worked out a way that he could possibly put in a wall and a door to create a 4th bedroom in his home and still have a 2nd living area.
a. Would he need to get council permission to do that?
b. Would he need to get a professional builder to do it to get a building certificate, or could he do it via the video school of YouTube, his better than normal carpentry skills, and a few mates for the price of a slab of beer?
c. What sort of price difference could ken be looking at, between a 3 bedroom and 4 bedroom home?
4. Say you had $10,000 to spend on getting your property ready for sale, where would you spend it to maximise your return?
Sue’s story: I recently went to a house to write copy. The owners brought in a professional painter and instructed him to patch the cracking walls and repaint the walls in the same colour ‘pink’ so that the didn’t have to paint all the walls. You could see the frustration on the painter’s face trying to match it, considering he needed to patch up half the house, it would have been easier to paint it all something neutral. Luckily, the house sold before it even had its first open to a developer who was looking for land in the right position, and bought the property sight unseen for the full asking price.
5. Is it worth getting attached non-working appliances, such as alarms, superceded heaters, dishwasher, etc in working order before the sale, or disclose that they don’t work?
6. With more people working from home and people wanting to create a bit of income from their property, a lot of people like to add a bit of flexibility within their floorplan, what are some good suggestions that will add value to your home?
7. First impressions count, so how much work should we put into our front garden and entrance?
8. Linh from Box Hill is feeling a little overwhelmed with what she has to do, and how much she has to pay, just to get her home ready for sale. She knows she has the sales commission, the advertising and all the maintenance of her home to pay for before she can get her agent to show people. She’s been advised to get her property styled with modern furniture, and she’s thinking it’s just another cost. What’s your advice on getting your home styled, and is it really worth it?
9. Is there anything regular that pops up that property owners are doing that could be decreasing the value of their home?

Here is the most expensive kitchen in the world the Fiore de Cristallo kitchen designed by Claudio Celeberti:

 

Here is a link to a checklist of what is required in regards to getting building permits & insurance for Extensions and renovations costing more than $10,000.

https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/housing/building-and-renovating/checklists/extensions-and-renovations-costing-more-than-10000

 

Thanks for listening!