When selling your home, the tremendous importance of making a good first impression cannot be overstated. There’s not a seller out there who would want potential buyers to drive by and just continue on their way. But despite the critical role of curb appeal, there are still a fair number of people who focus so much on preparing the inside of their house that they forget about the outside.
You know you’ve achieved great curb appeal when the outside of your house looks inviting enough that a buyer will want to stay long enough to see the inside of the home. Great curb appeal will not only help you sell your home faster, but it can help the value as well.
[amazon asin=B000V9QN1A&template=*lrc ad (left)]If you are like most people, you probably have a budget with which you need to adhere while your home is on the market. So what can you do, if anything, to improve the curb appeal of your place? Here are 3 simple, quick, and affordable strategies you can deploy right now to give your curb appeal a boost.
Clean Up & Repair
Nothing makes the outside of a house less appealing than piles of trash, toys, or debris lying around. Walk the perimeter of your house and throw out any trash you see. Find a place to store any toys or bikes that might have taken up residence on the side of the house. Time to put away any projects you may have started and left outside. Once the outside clutter is gone, take a step back and examine the windows, doors, sidewalks, decks, etc. If you haven’t washed the outside windows recently, it’s time to break out the soap and water. Look for areas of exterior paint that might need touching up; it’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do for doors and shutters. Likewise, updating the weather sealant on a wooden deck breathes life back into the space. Look for minor repairs that should be completed. Items such as garage doors, sidewalks, front porches, fences, siding, shutters, etc. should all be in good repair if your home is on the market.[amazon asin=037601167X&template=*lrc ad (right)]
Landscaping
After you have performed a thorough clean up and done all necessary repairs to the outside of the house, it’s a good idea to throw some time and attention into your landscaping. Be careful, this is an area where you don’t want to spend too much money because you won’t recoup your dollars. However, a little bit will go a long way in creating a warm, inviting entrance into your house. You don’t need to spend $15,000 on a premium landscape package, but for a few hundred dollars you can get the facelift your yard may need. Start by trimming trees and pruning shrubs, and then follow up by removing any and all dead or discarded foliage. Pull out all the unsightly weeds. If needed, plant a few inexpensive shrubs to fill in empty spaces. Put down a new layer of mulch in your landscaping beds and under trees. Make sure your lawn is fertilized and cut to the appropriate length; routine lawn maintenance produces great results.
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