Selling with SIMPLE Curb Appeal Tips
May 16, 2020
Getting ready to sell your home? Do you know what will impact your buyers first? Curb Appeal! There’s no need to run for a tux or primp yourself, first thing to prepare for the sale is all about getting your home’s exterior ready for its big debut. This post is all about giving you some simple tips to get your house sold by focusing on the first thing the buyer sees, its curb appeal. When you go out to buy fruit, are you going to pick the stale, scruffy-looking ones, or are you going to take the fresh, almost new ones? If you buy a used car, do you want one that LOOKS used? Or do you want the one that looks new and fresh? That’s what the buyer of your home wants too.
One house we bought started with atrocious curb appeal. There was nothing interesting about it from the curb when we started. It didn’t stand out at all from the neighborhood. It was clean, but there was nothing fresh about it.
A home can be old and durable, but it should look brand new and intriguing for the buyer to take a second look. Charging top dollar becomes difficult when your home is in dire need of a coat of paint or some cleaning.
Don’t panic and think about the expenses required to paint or do your home. We will tell you where to channel your efforts and energy to maximize the value and price with little to no investment. Our ideas are practical, simple, and best of all, entirely affordable for every seller looking to sell their home.
‘First Impression is the Last Impression’ someone once said, and it is more valid than ever when it comes to a house. You get only ONE chance to hook the buyer and make them think that this could be their dream home. How do you entice them and bring them in to consider making an offer? There are several ways and tricks, so do read on.
Curb Appeal
Your buyer is going to start noticing things the moment they reach your home. A lot of sellers make the mistake of focusing only on the exterior of the garden. It is the CURB where you should be paying attention. How your house appears from the street, says a lot. This is the FIRST view a buyer will have of your home. This is why its called “curb appeal.” The view must be beautiful, pleasing, and attractive enough to inspire the buyer to find out more. Professionals, agents, and realtors even have a term for it. Called the ‘Golden Path’ and aptly so, the walk from the curb to the front door can positively influence a buyer.
What is included in the curb appeal? EVERYTHING! The front lawn, garden, driveway, landscaping, and visible exterior area are all included in curb appeal. You would be surprised at the difference a potted plant, a beautiful sign, or a stylish piece can make. Agents will often help you set up the Golden Path for an open house, but there is so much more you can personally do as a seller.
Touching Up the Exterior
It can be challenging to maintain the exterior as its easy to forget. But it is the first part a buyer will see and creates a benchmark for other features of the house. The exterior should be clean, fresh, and well-maintained. Things such as the walls, the bricks, or the sidings should be cleaned often and painted regularly. The color of the wall and the trim should be pleasing and aesthetic. Bricks, roof shingles, windows, and shutters should also be included in a color theme along with the rest of the exterior. That color theme ideally would be carried through the entire house. It is quite affordable to do this on your own and maintain it regularly.
Photo by Lina Kivaka from Pexels
Once we have taken care of those things, we move towards the front door. The front door should be sturdy and easy to use and open. The storm door should be clean and well-oiled. Other unique features, such as the roof or a deep front porch, add to the visual beauty of the house.
When you live in a home, you tend to ignore its appeal as you walk in. Features may blend in, and you may not really pay attention to the small scratch marks or dents in the exterior. You could be forgiven, but buyers are looking at the big picture with fresh eyes. Once you want to sell your home, step out and check your house out from a distance. If you have houses close by, are their exterior colors similar to yours? Does your house stand out for the wrong reasons? We are not suggesting changing your entire style if the color theme or look is applied through the interiors as well. But it is always a good idea to update your style once every few years. Compare your house with the neighbors or surrounding homes. Does it look well-maintained and clean? Does it appeal to you enough to walk in? Is there anything that needs repairing or upkeep?
It is also important that your exterior complement your interior. You can’t have a bright red wall with white trim while your interior is entirely beige, cream, and white. There should be symmetry that pleases the eye and makes the house flow seamlessly from one feature to another. Design magazines, interior blogs, and websites always have useful advice to work on these features. When you plan for renovations, look at your entire house and select a theme that appeals to you personally.
You could always ask a professional for handy tips to re-do your exterior if you need more help.
Landscaping
Nobody wants to walk in a house with full-grown weeds or dying
Photo by Adrianna Calvo from Pexels
flowerbeds. If your home does have a front lawn or garden, you have to be smart enough to landscape it efficiently and regularly. The house with flowers, a landscaped area, and a beautiful garden are going to fetch premium value in any neighborhood. There are several factors to look at when talking about landscaping. The trees, quality of plants, soil, condition of the area, size, and the visual coordination of all these together matter immensely to buyers.
It also depends on the size and the space you have. A half-hearted effort, such as a bare yard with a few shrubs, is not going to add any value to your house. You don’t have to be an expert or spend thousands of dollars, but smart gardening and daily maintenance would give you guaranteed results.
Sellers pay attention to these things when it is already too late. That is why it is imperative you start mowing your lawn and taking care of the garden right when you move in. A sharp-eyed buyer will know the efforts of years of upkeep compared to a week’s quick and shoddy gardening.
What to Do Next:
Now that you know the two things that make up your exterior, what is your role? What can you do about it?
Walk to the curb and look at your house intently. Notice every single thing, and take notes. Write down the condition and look of your exterior. Note the quality of the garden and plants. Is the mailbox clean and freshly painted? Does the roof have broken shingles? Note down the things that need to be fixed or re-arranged.
Are the flowers or plants near the front door freshly watered and maintained? If there is a water feature or decorative piece, is it clean and appealing? You can do some temporary changes or additions that will add value to your home and invite buyers.
Before you take photographs or get ready for sale, try purchasing 2-3 stylish pots with homely plants to place on your porch or near the door. You can personally remove weeds from your garden or hire someone. A simple coat of paint could do wonders for your porch, and it is not that expensive. There are ready-made column wraps for porch support, which you can buy and use to change the look. Our last blog post discussed the kind of renovations that should be focused on. A simple purchase like the column wrap could add high value to your selling price.
Washing and cleaning of the exterior is exceptionally vital. However beautiful it may look, if it is dirty or has grime accumulated then your efforts are pointless. Once a month, take a hose and power wash the entire exterior area. Sweep the porch or the driveway before rinsing and you will be ready with a sparkling clean ‘Golden Path.’ Don’t forget to clean the windows weekly and pay special attention to the gaps and exterior. Clean, big windows make a house look roomy and bright.
These are small, efficient, handy tips you could use to prepare your home for sale. What sellers don’t realize is that these add SIGNIFICANT value to the selling price at a fraction of the investment. Ask any real estate professional across the United States and they would tell you about the importance of a good ‘Golden Path.’ Research and studies have proven that a positive curb appeal could increase the selling price of a house by nearly 7%. That is a massive increase! And that is before even stepping in the house.
You can see we used all these tips to improve the curb appeal of our home which is what helped it to go for TOP dollar!
It is a competitive market, and you need every advantage you can get. A successful seller knows that a buyer only wants one thing- a home that FEELS new. It should not be new, but it should have the maintenance and appearance of a new, clean house. The buyer should be able to imagine living in it right from the moment he sets eyes on it. A good clean home with no surprises or shocks is a dream for every buyer. You should know how to serve the right appetizer so the buyer will definitely be waiting for the main course and pay full price for the meal.