If you are buying and planning on re-selling or renting out, to get the most out of your property you might want to do some upgrades to give it curb appeal. The amount of upgrades needed would depend on a case by case scenario. Obviously if the roof, foundation, etc, needs to be done, that’s without question. I am talking about major renovations, but upgrades. That curb appeal and that make a buyer go, “wow” and pay a little extra for the place.

If you aren’t going to work with a designer and you would like to do it yourself, I suggest going to the library or buying a bunch of up-to-date home style magazine to get ideas of what’s in right now. Knowing your market isn’t such a big deal because most everyone wants something chic and stylish. Something I like to call “urban chic”; a lot of clean lines, minimalism and bright open spaces. A Zen like approach. That look is selling to the mass market right now.

First impressions are always important, so the outside of the house needs the most love. Don’t go boring either. Chose exciting colours like grey/mauve, terracotta or sage. Paint everything that needs it, wood, railing, mailbox, light fixtures, etc. I’m not talking all one colour, have some black or white in their for contrast. If they can’t be painted, replace.

If there isn’t any landscaping or it’s shot, you need to revamp the look. Take out or trim everything that is overgrown. Be ruthless if necessary. Cedars are great when they are green and small, however if they are yellow and too tall, get rid of them. Keep the look short, so you can see the entrance way. Weed the grass if any, add more seed. Clean out the dirt of debris and weeds, add more dark earth and mulch. Make a nice clean line between the grass and garden. I would invest in a couple of bushes that contrast each other and some bright annuals that light up the front.

Floors are the most important. They make such a big impact. They have to be nice. If there is hardwood I suggest refinishing them. Staining them dark is always a nice touch. Parquetry looks incredible stained chocolate. It goes from a bad 1970’s look to something modern and Asian looking. If the floors need to be replaced, bamboo and other sustainable flooring are trendy right now. If the lino is old, change it. If you can afford tile, do it.

Kitchen. If the kitchen is an old wood 1950’s style, no need to rip that out and redo it and spend all that extra money. Paint it glossy cream and add stylish knobs. You could even add a moulding.

If it’s white melamine, you could either paint it with special paint, or keep it as is. Sometimes it’s the surrounding area that can buff it up and make it not look so “melaminy”. Meaning, add a trendy tiled backsplash, a new countertop, and knobs. If the melamine has a 1980’s boarder that can be taken off, remove it for a cleaner look.

If you have the 1990 oak cabinets, they look incredible painted as well. If the cabinetry is hanging from the ceiling dividing the eating area, you could take those down and reuse them somewhere else, like an island.

According to Realestate, your renovations costs shouldn’t exceed 5% of the purchase price of your house. This means that a typical renovation budget in Australian homes shouldn’t be more than $25,000 (based on a mean price of $544,800 for residential houses in the June quarter, 2014, according to data provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)). In order to avoid overspending, you should first have a pretty good reason why you actually want to remodel your house and more specifically your kitchen.

Here is a sample of sound reasons for remodeling your kitchen:

1. Improving Functionality

It really doesn’t make any sense at all to have a kitchen that is of limited use or no use at all. You would rather even go without having any kitchen. Functionality is a key aspect in any room, particularly the kitchen.

Answering these questions will help you identify issues of limited functionality:

- Is there enough space for everyone involved in food preparation?

- Are there enough storage units for all items?

- Is it easy or difficult to move around?

- How easy or difficult is it to prepare food?

2. Enhance Safety

Safety is a crucial consideration for any design feature. You must ensure that the risk of accidents is eliminated or at least reduced to a minimum.

When evaluating the level of safety in your cooking area, various aspects must be considered, including:

- Air quality: the room should be well-ventilated.

- Temperature: excess heat can affect performance, as well as health of anyone present.

- Humidity: Damp conditions would also affect people’s health.

- Physical structures: proper placement of fixtures and appliances is necessary to avoid accidentally bumping into them and hurting yourself.

3. Improve The House Value

Cooking areas play a crucial role in influencing the decisions of house buyers. If you’re planning on selling off your house, a good kitchen remodel is sure to enhance its value.

According to Realestate, well-planned and properly executed renovations have the potential of adding as much as 10% to the house value. This means that a $20,000 renovation on a $437,500 home can add as much as $40,000 on the value of such a property. This is especially so if it has been under your ownership for a period of 5 years or more.

4. Proper Storage And Organization

Although the aspect of storage falls under functionality, it deserves further in-depth analysis. New advances in storage facilities means that you can benefit from more user-friendly features that allow better utility and productivity.

Storage facilities are no longer just limited to food items and utensils. You can also conceal appliances within special units. Such appliances as dishwashers, microwaves and fridges can also have particular storage units to accommodate them within a seamless layout.

5. Energy Efficiency

The aspect of energy efficiency can never be overemphasized. In fact, you should be constantly assessing the energy use within your cooking area, to identify areas of improvement. Moreover, any investment you put into energy efficient appliances is sure to save you a lot more expenses that you might have with less efficient appliances.

One thing that goes without saying in today’s business world, is that regardless of the nature of your home based business, a website is an absolute MUST. Whether you have a product or service to sell, whether local or global, your business will go nowhere fast if you don’t have an online presence. If you need internet marketing help, you’ve landed on the right article. I’ll give you some home based business marketing ideas that will help you promote your business successfully.

The first step is choosing a domain name and getting it registered. You can build your own website (if you have the time) and host it yourself or you can have everything done by another company (if you have the money). Either way, you have many options and tools at your disposal that can align with your business plan and budget. Also note that you can still start your own home based business even if you don’t have a product or service to sell. There are thousands of individuals and companies that have products you can sell for them while earning a commission, called affiliate marketing.

Of the many business marketing strategies known to man, internet marketing is, hands down, the best strategy to use for promoting a home based business as it is the cheapest method and has the potential for reaching millions of people all over the globe. Driving traffic to your site through online resources is like killing two birds with one stone. You can tackle print advertising by writing articles and publishing them to directories and ezines and by submitting ads to the many available (and most of them free) classified ad sites. Online media advertising encompasses writing press releases and distributing them to press release sites. One of the biggest and most popular online advertising trends today is via social media advertising through sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn where you build relationships with your customers. Forums and communities are also great ways to build relationships which helps promote your home based business in the long run. Simply Google your market or industry with the word ‘forum’ or ‘community’ behind it and search for one or two that seem to be the best fit for you.

All of these methods of online advertising contribute to search engine optimization (SEO), which is to say improving your online visibility and escalating in the search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Your goal is to claim the #1 spot in the organic search results (the results on the left, not the right side which are paid ads). This is where your traffic will come from. If you are 800 in the list of search results, no one is ever going to see your site because very few people have the time or patience to scroll through 800 search results. Research shows that people typically won’t even scroll past 4 or 5 search results, let alone 800.

Can you grasp the importance of internet marketing for any business? If you are new to the internet marketing phenomenon and don’t know exactly where to start, there are many great programs or systems online that walk you through every aspect of marketing your online business. A lot of these systems were created by online entrepreneurs who have spent thousands of their own dollars trying to figure it all out over the years and finally DID. Their sacrifices have made it easier for newbies to become successful at their own online home based business. If you are new to running your own home based business, I recommend you find a great system (do your research, read reviews, ask questions in forums) and start marketing your home business from there. Don’t waste the time and money that so many of us have in going it alone, without a proven system, as it will just set you back further and hinder your progress.