We all know that in order for a home or property of any type to sell faster and for a higher price, it must have what is known as curb appeal. Often, it’s not the expensive things that make the difference. Here are some things that can be done.
Keep the grass cut, not too short, but well groomed and often; You never know what day a potential buyer will walk by. Include edging along all sidewalks, driveways, and other trim elements. Use the herbicide around all areas where weeds grow. Use hedge trimmers on as many hedges and shrubs as possible. In particular, trim any and all hedges that block views from any windows or reduce light from windows. Use lots and lots of thick, fresh mulch. Mulch is inexpensive but does wonders for dressing up a house. If your yard or acreage has been rented too long, start with a professional service the first time, then maintain the property yourself if you wish. If you have to hire a lawn service to keep the property in pristine condition during the sale period, do so. Well-maintained lots are key to the best sales and a few hundred dollars during the sale period will bring you thousands more in price.
Make the property and home attractive and show it off by using brightly colored flowers; red and yellow flowers of the brightest colors are the best. Keep the flowers well cared for and the beds well cared for. Buyers will likely not see other homes in your price range with similar floral treatments and your home will rise to the top of the buyers list.
Repair, paint and renovate all outdoor furniture, porch furniture and decorations and all decorative elements on the property. This includes the mailbox, if there is one. In fact, a bed of mulch, flowers, shrubs, to decorate the base of the mailbox can make a great first impression if it is well done and well cared for.
Open the windows every day or turn on all the fans in the kitchen and bathrooms to freshen the air in the home. Many people are allergic to perfumes, spices, and sprays, so don’t go to the old tricks of potpourri, spray air fresheners, etc. Vanilla extract is usually safe. You can use some REAL vanilla extract, a few drops, on a piece of bread and put it in the oven at the lowest temperature (around 100 degrees) for 20 minutes or so before showing the house. You can buy or rent electronic room deodorizers to freshen the air with filtration. If you have pets, a thorough cleaning and daily vacuuming and constant running of the air cleaning units is a great idea. There are many people who are allergic to pet dander and the slightest smell of cat or dog will kill the sale.
Rent a storage unit if you must, have at least one and better yet two or three yard sales, and get rid of more and more stuff you no longer need or use. Clean the attic and organize it TOTALLY. Clean up the garage and buildings and fully organize everything left inside. The more stuff you have OUT of the garage, attic, storage buildings, and yard (if not a landscaping asset) and the more you get out of closets, the more spacious the home will appear to buyers.
Even a clean, emptied, and fully organized garage looks so much bigger and better with the cars outside. Before the show, move ALL cars to another location, to the end of the street (not in front of the house) or to a neighbor’s house or driveway. There must be NO cars in the garage, in the driveway or in front of the house when the buyer arrives with the agent.
Go through the whole house and remove most of the decorations and about three quarters of everything else. Go to a model home or furniture showroom and study, maybe even take pictures, how they are decorated. Clean the house, clean the shelves and the top of the things, until your property looks like a model house. This applies to every room in the house! Wipe down kitchen counters, clean or store MOST things in kids’ rooms (anything they don’t use much), and get rid of old paperbacks or unsightly books on book shelves. If book shelves are full, open them up by placing more than half of the books in storage or sell them at the garage sale. Remove a lot of the furniture and sell the ones you don’t want to keep at the next house, or store a lot of it. Dust and polish everything!
Remove all family photos from the walls and the top of the furniture. Remove all unprofessional pictures and artwork from the walls. Repair the holes. Family photos, very few, in the master bedroom and children’s rooms, however, make the home look like a happy home.
If you have a fireplace. Clean it up. Clean with concrete and brick cleaners and clean all bricks and chimney interior with appropriate professional cleaners from a fireplace store or building supply store. In the winter, especially if it’s cold or cloudy and cloudy outside, build a fire before the screening. In this case, stay with the fire until the realtor arrives and then just walk away a bit, to a neighbor’s house, for example, and return (for safety reasons) as soon as the realtor leaves. estate. Just make sure that if there is ANY smoke coming into the house when you light the fire, that you air out the house completely before showing. It’s great to light and set the fire half an hour before the screening.
Be sure to wash all windows inside and outside the house, this includes second story windows, shutters, and pressure washing or brushing and soaping all screens as well. If there is a screened-in porch, make sure all screens are in perfect condition, tightly stretched, and thoroughly cleaned. Keep every piece of glass and mirror inside the house spotlessly clean.
Planters are a great and cost effective touch. A perennial favorite is the bright red geraniums in the outside planters, under all the windows that can be seen from the street. There’s very little that can elevate a home’s curb appeal quite like geraniums in window boxes, and they’re inexpensive to make!
Clean, organize and clean all cupboards, drawers and cabinets in the kitchens and bathrooms. Buyers often pull out kitchen and bathroom drawers and open cabinets to get a better look at the size and quality of construction, as well as the quality of drawer runners, whether there are pull-out shelves, etc. Amaze them with the quality of your interior cabinets and drawers in the kitchen and bathrooms.
Note: You must leave the house during the time the agent is showing the house. Leave just before they get there or right after they arrive. In-house sellers are business killers. Prospective buyers feel uncomfortable discussing the property with the agent and even feel uncomfortable looking too closely at the house if the seller is present.
Fencing is another area where you get much more than you spend, with a higher selling price and less time on the market! The new white vinyl fence is a great investment to increase the value of your home, above the cost of the fence, and to set it apart from all others on the market.
Even condos and townhomes must have curb appeal. If there is no patio; make sure all steps, sidewalk, and driveway are clean, neat, and in good repair. Check with the condominium association to see if they will promptly and professionally repair anything that needs to be done. It is to the advantage of all owners of the complex that their house is sold at the highest possible price and as quickly as possible; It increases the value and salability of each unit in the association. Make sure your front door and surrounding areas LOOK GOOD!
Check everything around your unit; check the parking lot and surrounding grounds; check out the community landscape as well. If something needs to be done, find out if the association will take care of it, or if you can do it yourself in some cases. For example, if edging and weeding is necessary, you may be allowed to do the work near your unit. If you have concrete sidewalks and steps, for example, simply brushing and scrubbing them with bleach will go a long way to improving the look and first impression.
Bleach works wonders. If there is ANY mold and mildew on the outside of the house, a power wash with bleach will clean it and kill the mold and mildew. For wood shingles and siding, pressure washing with bleach (consider double or triple strength sodium hypochlorite, same as bleach but stronger) will clean the wood shingles and make them look refreshed. You can also use oxalic acid wood bleach or one of the professional wood and tile cleaners. Pay attention to the labels, these are strong, effective chemicals!
Proper and efficient landscaping and image enhancement techniques such as these will typically add at least 15% and as much as 25% to the perceived value and therefore the sales price and appraised value of a home. Most of these techniques will return you at least $4 for every $1 spent.
Curb appeal should be powerful enough to make people passing your house at ten to thirty miles per hour stop or at least turn their heads to look at your property as they drive by. With a Realtor For Sale sign on your property and great curb appeal, you should get a lot of people to stop, write down the information on the sign, and pick up brochures from the brochure box attached to the sign. Curb appeal sells!
Maximize your curb appeal and improve your first impressions when you want to sell your property. Otherwise, you’ll sell slower and for less money than using these tips.
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