Renters tell me that they prefer renting for flexibility reasons. I talked already about “Does renting gives you more flexibility than owning a place?” In these discussions I often sense a lack of commitment.  If you own your family home or an investment property you are committed to keep your property well maintained and pay your mortgage. For renters is it convenient to call the landlord, if the water tap is dripping – right?

Flexibility is a mindset. If you keep your property in good conditions and upgrade your house within your lifestyle standards then your property will be desirable for other people. And you maintain a high re-sale value. High re-sale values attract buyers who look for good properties to live in.

How to keep the re-sale value high?

In most cases when walking along the street you can identify a proud homeowner’s property. Looking at the front garden, drive way, cladding, roof and windows tell you everything. These are the areas to maintain a high re-sale value.

Consider this:

• Quality maintenance and repair saves money on long-term, short-cuts often cause hidden damage.
• Faulty by design houses lose substantial re-sale value. Leaking homes are a good example.
• Keep up with renovations and lifestyle trends such as solar technology, thermo insulated walls and windows, etc
• Do online checks on trades people you hire and research about proposed solutions or materials. Don’t trust blindly a “Silicon Fix”.

To summarize, if you own a property in a desired area and maintain a high re-sale value, you will be flexible to sell your home at any time in any market. If you enjoy a comfortable lifestyle in a warm, energy efficient home with indoor-outdoor living and landscaped garden, you can be sure that other people desire that lifestyle, too.

Let me tell you a quick story;

Shortly after moving into my current home I started renovating and people asked me “Do you want to sell?” Much later I understood the question, because where I live people used to renovate before moving out to sell.

TIP: As buyer I am very inquisitive when inspecting a fresh painted house and you can guess why.

And by the way, life is unpredictable because of career changes, health issues, family and relationships. That is why it makes sense to be prepared by keeping the re-sale value high – would you agree?

Good luck

Klauster