While there are slight signs of an improvement in some property markets, real estate prices remain under pressure and stock levels are at very high levels. In some locations there is 8 years worth of stock up for grabs at once.

It’s tough out there. Buyers are spoilt for choice so sellers have to present a house which ticks all the boxes to get a sale.

Now is the perfect time to look at how you can add value to your house or home unit through improvements.

Whether grooming for sale or just improving the place you to live in, here are 8 easy ways experts reckon will inject real value into your property.

1. Create Space

When someone buys a property, they’re buying the space inside it. If you can create more space then your place will be worth more to a potential buyer. Arranging your furniture aside, the most effective way to do this is by knocking a wall out.

It’s not necessarily expensive, you just need to know what you’re doing. Taking out a whole or half wall to create an open plan kitchen or casual living area is one of the best approaches, and especially attractive to families with teenage kids who always hang out in the kitchen.

1. Landscape

Improving the outdoor area is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to add value. A couple of weekend busy bees and you can have your place looking like you’ll never want to leave.

Apparently the current hot landscaping trend is to use limestone blocks. They come by the pallet for less than $10 a piece and can be used to raise the garden bed. It looks great and the retaining wall doubles as seating for entertaining.

1. Lighten Up

Lighting a place up makes it feel bigger, brighter and better. The first step is to look at improving the natural lighting. Skylights are a great way to achieve this, as is replacing any curtains with venetian blinds. If the budget allows, replacing a wall with some French doors is a winner in the value for money stakes.

In addition to improving natural light, think about new light fittings too. Dated light fittings really age a place and can be replaced with subtle, modern fittings for a very modest outlay.

1. Go Green

While the Carbon Tax may not have many friends, an environmentally home has buyer appeal. The best way to make your house eco-friendly is by installing a water tank and converting to solar power. Both are a trade off between incurring what can be a significant outlay now for cost savings later, however the benefits can be well worth the cost with rising power and water costs.

Not only is there a significant long term financial incentive that will improve the value of your house, but there’s also a great environmental appeal to prospective buyers too. Plus you’ll feel good for doing it.

1. Front Up

It might sound strange, but for a house first impressions last. Having a sharp set of steps, a well groomed garden or a nice heavy door really makes a strong impression on whoever enters the property.

1. Change the Floor

While it’s a bit of work, changing the flooring can be a great move to dramatically change the feel of a house. Laying timber floorboards can look great but, for the expense, you run the risk of having potential buyers who don’t like the look.

A more affordable and flexible alternative can be to replace the carpet or lay big rugs. Even ripping up existing carpet and polishing the concrete beneath can look great and it’s cheap to do too.

1. Cook and Clean

Giving the bathroom and kitchen a facelift adds a feeling of decadence to a property. In the bathroom it might be bringing in a big mirror, laying some easy vinyl tiles or, for the creative, doing a tile mosaic in the shower. For the kitchen new fixtures are a big plus, as is increasing bench space by removing cupboards or adding an island.

The bathroom and kitchen get used just as much as the bedroom so creating a nice space is definitely worth your while. It will get appreciated, as will your house.

1. Paint the Place

If you’ve ever painted a room before you know the huge impact a fresh lick of paint has. Neutral wall colours are what you’re after to really open a room up, just like dark colours will make it feel smaller.

Sure there’s a chance the Reserve Bank will cut official interest rates tomorrow but there is plenty you can do on your own to slash your mortgage.

1. Increase the frequency of your repayments.

In a calendar quirk, changing your repayments to a more frequent cycle will mean you make extra repayments each calendar year. Also, by increasing the regularity of your repayments you’ll end up paying less interest on the loan as there’s less interest compounding each period.

2. Keep repayments constant when interest rates fall.

When RBA head honcho Glenn Stevens comes out on a Tuesday afternoon with some good news, don’t go book a holiday. Instead of taking the opportunity to reduce your repayments at the first sign of a rate cut, keep them constant.

3. Budget for an extra $100 a month.

By putting an extra $25 each week into a $300k, 25 year mortgage at 7.5%, the interest saving is $19,000 and the loan shortened by 2 years and 10 months.

4. Ask your financier for a better deal.

By way of illustration, each quarter point cut in the interest rate will knock about $15,000 off the loan mentioned above. They can only say no.

5. Look around.

If you haven’t already done it, look seriously into switching your home loan provider. Sites such as Infochoice (http://www.infochoice.com.au/) and Cannex (www.canstar.com.au) make the process of researching comparable loans very easy.

The share market is still fraught with uncertainty as Europe battles to keep a lid on spiralling debt, China winds back its horse-powered growth and the US staves off creeping recession. Because of this investors have shied away from investing their hard earned in financial markets.

The fact Australia’s biggest online stockbroker, Commsec, is sitting on more than $5 billion of client cash illustrates current mum and dad investor sentiment. This figure has swelled over 20 per cent in the past year as investors have fled shares for the safety of deposit accounts.

Conversely, Australian Self Managed Super Funds (SMSF’s) are arguably over exposed to equities and perceived as taking on too much risk. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Australia’s super funds have the highest allocation to equities in the world, about 60 per cent. These same super funds also have the lowest allocation to bonds.

An alternative for both these groups, investors sitting on low yielding cash deposits and SMSF’s carrying too much equity exposure, is investing in corporate debt.

Over the past month an influx of $5 billion of corporate debt issues to the market has seen some existing bonds and hybrid issues (securities that combine elements of debt and equity) become pretty attractive propositions.

Predicting the future value of the Australian dollar has almost become a national sport. It is certainly the most common question we get asked these days.

Usually the motivation behind the enquiry is because everyone seems to be planning an overseas holiday or shopping online to take advantage of the currency.

The historic value of the Aussie dollar to the US dollar has been around the mid 70 US cents to low 80s.

But when the currency hit $US1.10 around the middle of last year many currency experts were saying it could go to $1.50.

Times have changed. At the current $1.03 there looks to be a greater chance of the Aussie falling over the foreseeable future than rising back toward the $1.10.

A slowing Chinese economy, falling coal and iron prices, expected cuts to interest rates and improving US economy seem to be combining to soften our currency.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see it dip back under parity to the greenback.

While such a move would make imports more expensive, it will be a welcome tonic for exporters.