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Health & Fitness

The Power of Curb Appeal When Selling Your Home!

The exterior of your home is just as important as the interior when trying to find a potential buyer.

Why is "curb appeal" so important when selling your home?  Well, many potential buyers will opt to do a drive-by when shopping for homes.  Their first stop is usually the internet.  Once they have decided on some properties that caught their eye on-line, they might jump in the car and take a ride by.

What they see and how they perceive your home from the exterior is very critical.  The exterior of your home tells a very important story.  The message you convey is either “my home is pristine and I care very deeply for it” or “I could care less if my grass is ten feet high and the inside isn’t any better!”  

Staging the outside of your home is just as important as staging the inside.  This is where a little money will go a long way to achieving your goal of capturing a buyer.

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Let’s take a good hard look from the street…both during the day and at night. Does it say Welcome?  When someone parks at the curb, or in your driveway, does the walkway welcome them to your front door?  Is the pathway safe and clear of debris?  Is the grass trimmed and have you put down fresh mulch?  Have you trimmed the hedges and put in fresh flowers.  Going into the autumn season, it’s a great time to put out some colorful mums in baskets or pots and add some color with other simple fall decorations.

Now go to your front door.  Look carefully at the door and surrounding frame and glass.  Is it clean, does it need a fresh coat of paint?  Do all the hinges work and is the door knob or handle in good working order?  These are important things when buyers come up to your door.  The door knob will be the first thing they touch and it will give them a sense of how well you have maintained your home.

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Check your windows, frames and shutters. Do they need fixing or painting?  Are they clean? Do you have any large trees in your front yard that could be trimmed?  A potential buyer will immediately start adding up maintenance fees in their mind and this will affect the offer they might make. For instance, if that old oak is overhanging the roof.. they may see that as a potential bill of several thousand dollars to remove it, thinking it’s a safety hazard.  Could your driveway use a coat of sealer?  A nice fresh coat of sealer goes a long way!

Do you have proper lighting?  Don’t forget, potential buyers come out in the evening to view homes.  Be sure you have enough light at the doorway so that the buyers and their REALTOR® can gain easy access.

Curb appeal is just the first step in showing your home in its best light. Great curb appeal will lead buyers to the interior of your home and a potential sale! 

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