Curb Appeal When Selling Your Home:
Our Top 10
Curb appeal. We hear the phrase a lot in today’s HGTV world. While everyone wants their home to look good to those driving or walking by, home sellers need it more than most. Here’s why you need curb appeal when selling a home, plus the top 10 tasks to undertake to give it a boost!
Curb Appeal When Selling Your Home: Why You Need It
In a nutshell, your home’s curb appeal reflects on the entire house. Buyers equate your home’s appearance to how you’ve maintained it overall. If your home’s exterior appears well cared for and loved, potential buyers will know that quite likely, the entire house has been well maintained under your ownership.
Even before entering a home, buyers can easily be turned off by a sad-looking mailbox or a front door with peeling paint. These things can be major red flags for house hunters and cause them to look at the house with an extra critical eye.
Good curb appeal helps your home stand out from the rest!
In today’s digital world, sellers need all the help they can get to make their homes stick out in the minds of potential buyers. This is especially important with online house hunters or those looking to tour 10 houses in a single outing. Househunters are more likely to recall the “townhouse with the red front door” or “the house with the fabulous hydrangeas” over homes that don’t have that visual punch.
Curb Appeal When Selling A Home: Our Top 10 Must Do’s
So what to focus on? Here are our Top 10 curb appeal “Must Do’s” when preparing to list your home.
- Powerwash: Get rid of all the green mold and brown dirt. Your power washing should include all brick, siding, walkways, and decks/porches. Nothing turns a buyer off more than seeing this:
- Landscape: Get to work and mow, rake, weed, mulch, and trim! Pay extra attention to overgrown trees, bushes, and bare patches. Be sure to plant some colorful blooms to create that visual impact.
- Edge: Sidewalks, driveways, and walkways should all be neatly trimmed.
- Update: Make sure your exterior fixtures and finishes are modern, of good quality (no peel and stick house numbers!), and pleasing to the eye.
- Declutter: Decluttering is just as important outside as it is inside. Remove items from porches and the lawn, including bikes, lawnmowers, lawn flags, sprinklers, kids’ toys, etc.
- Paint: At a minimum, touch up the trim and front door as needed. Consider repainting the front door a bright, eye-catching color. If you need to repaint the entire exterior, do it. We know that is a daunting and expensive task, but if you don’t, house hunters may just drive right past your house if they see a sad-looking paint job.
- Clean: Clean the gutters. Not much is more off-putting than overflowing gutters that look like this:
- Window Wash: Have all windows professionally washed. Not only will your home look better from the outside, but the interior will also seem brighter and more appealing.
- Resurface: Fix any concrete and asphalt issues that need attention. Apply a fresh coat of sealant to the asphalt. If you have a gravel driveway or walkway, place a fresh layer of gravel on top.
- Inspect: Check your roof and how it looks from the street. Replace any missing or broken shakes or tiles.
For more tips on creating curb appeal for your home, click here.
The Bottom Line
Curb appeal is never as important as it is when selling a home. Sellers, you have a very brief window in which to capture a potential buyer’s eye, be it online or in person. Curb appeal is your first (and sometimes only) chance to have their home stand out from the rest. Great curb appeal when selling your home also signals to house hunters that you have taken excellent care of the home — inside and out.
If you’re thinking of selling, it’s never too soon to start working on your home’s curb appeal. If you need help getting started, please reach out. We’d love to help!
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I definitely agree with decluttering, cleaning and painting because not only it makes your house looks clean and new but also it is a way to save money when you are trying to sell your house. Great blog by the way. Thanks for sharing!