It is possible to improve the value of a property quite dramatically by some very basic improvements. When the seller is a bank auctioning off a foreclosure, it is not entirely unremarkable to find the house in a rather shabby state. The lawns will be dead or overgrown, the driveway will have litter, junk mail and old Robert Kiyosaki "Pow Wow News" promotional pamphlets will pile out of the letter-box.

For homebuyers this is a very definite turnoff. It makes thousands of dollars of difference to the price. A poorly presented house will lose many thousands just because of that, because the first impression does matter.

Professional investors know that, they also know that when evaluating a property objectivity is essential, and feelings shouldn't come into it at all. It is very easy to hire someone to clean up the garden, the total cost will be only about $50 to get the lawns mowed and the edges done. As shown in the renovation article even a coat of paint makes a big difference to the price.

While property trading is an expensive business, there are professionals that do it quite successfully. They buy structurally sound houses of course, which means they make sure they get an engineer or builder to take a look, and the pest inspector as well. Generally to a professional investor a very poorly presented house is wonderful, it provides a great opportunity to buy a house at a much reduced price. The only competition will be other professionals, who are thin on the ground at any rate, and determined to pay less than par for the house, so there won't be any bidding wars going on.

If you do want to get into property trading, take a valuation course and maybe even a course in landscaping and painting. Putting in gazebos and barbecues may or may not pay all that well, but garden landscaping, new paint, fixing of any obvious faults and maybe even a garage will cost you $10,000 and add twice as much to the value of the home. The trick is to find a particularly good house with particularly ugly presentation, absentee landlords, bank auctions and divorce settlements are a good source for all of these.

The only problem is that there are plenty of people out there looking for them already. If you are very good at fixing things and perhaps an ex-builder or architect this can be a profitable business. For passive investors it is a minefield though, too many people overcapitalise with exotic improvements. People don't necessarily want a $20,000 Balinese themed garden, but a double lockup garage is always a plus.

Real estate agents can also tell you about setting "atmosphere" when selling. The person you sell to will probably be a non-investor if you are asking a high price. In this case you want the place to have a wonderful emotional appeal that will make spouses hold each other in delight as they walk in through the door, and definitely see the place as warm and friendly and a nice place to bring up the kids.

The first thing is that if you remove the furniture, you strip away $10,000 or more from the sale price. Gone will be the pleasant home, now people will tramp through a cold empty shell. The perfect carpet from where the sofa sat will contrast starkly with the worn tracks in the traffic areas, and the shadow of the furniture will remain in the unfaded paint. Stains that were carefully hidden by rugs and furniture now are obvious in the middle of the room, and echoes will bounce around the rooms with their hard wooden floors. All in all such a house is just plain creepy.

At the same time, a real estate agent once told me that you shouldn't try to make a place too perfect. In order for the young couple to see themselves living there it has to look real. This doesn't mean that you should leave the dishes piled up with ants crawling all over the spilt sugar in the kitchen, but it does mean if you make the place look too perfect that they simply won't see themselves living there. Rather cliched, but worth a burl anyway, is to bake cookies in order to create a lovely smell. Spring is also a good time to sell, as the house will look bright and inviting, and the garden will be full of flowers.

Make sure you aren't home when the inspection happens. The real estate agent will try to stay out of the way while the buyers look around trying to imagine themselves living in this place. If you are sitting there watching tv they will most certainly not be able to imagine this, and will feel they are intruding on you, keen to get out of there.

Improving the garden can do wonders for the price. A hundred dollars worth of petunias can add a very bright spectacle, delighting buyers.

By scaring away the sentimental types, you will be left only with the more experienced buyers, in particular investors. They can be downright ruthless negotiators who know that cheap properties are available, you definitely won't get your full asking price.