Curb Appeal for
Selling House Smart

Lacking Curb Appeal is Costly!

For selling house smart, curb appeal is first in a series of essential first impressions potential buyers make when considering whether to make an offer on your house.

Sadly, many sellers skip this obvious step and lose equity - and many prospective buyers - as a direct result.

Lacking exterior luster, potential house buyers blame it on the house. That is, the negative first impression created by an unappealing house exterior, reflects poorly on the home interior as well - before the buyer even steps inside.

Buyers often refuse to enter the front door they can hardly find!

Serious Green - for Selling House Smart

This is serious business to sell house smart. It can make or break when (or whether) you sell your house and how much money the buyer will offer. Simply stated, without curb appeal, you risk no sale at all.

So to get more green out of your house, get green (and more) around your house.

That is why the third step in our sell house smart action plan is curb appeal. In addition to landscaping, key components include surrounding exterior elements on all 4 sides of the house, such as the roof, chimney, gutters, or windows, screens, blinds and window treatments visible from outside, or porch (front, back and/or side), or decks and wooden fences, or driveway (pavement & landscaping), or patio, and more.

We consider these key components as exterior "rooms," because each has its own purpose, its own cost and its own unique contribution to sell house smart.

Location, Location, Location!

Before house buyers even consider your house, they assess your neighborhood. Is the surrounding area well maintained, convenient, clean, orderly, safe, inviting, etc.?

Buyers will compare your house within the neighborhood - how does your house compare?

Getting Started, From the Other Side of the Street

It all begins with the big picture - in day light - from the other side of the street. That is the view potential house buyers have when they first see your house, from top to bottom and all sides. Follow our top to bottom curb criteria to enhance buyer interest in your house!

Considering Night Time Curb Appeal is Key

Landscaping is just the beginning. Have you considered the night time impression your house makes in addition to day time? For each, we will add, where appropriate, tips and techniques regarding improving the night time impression of your house.

Visible Value - Yes! not Yikes!

For curb appeal (and every other sell house smart category), spend time and/or money on things potential house buyers can see. Oh, and get rid of the Yikes! reaction.

Driving by your house, you want the buyer to think Yes! not Yikes!

You know the Yikes! reaction (to unappealing exteriors) when you see it: brown spots on the lawn, weeds everywhere, a hoarde of gnomes, a herd of pink flamingoes, plastic deer, etc., gutters full of leaves and/or partially detached from the house, cracked driveway, broken metal blinds visible from the street, front windows without shutters, front door with peeling paint.

Also, a big part of the Yikes! factor is what you cannot see (from overgrown shrubs and trees): the front door, the front windows. You get the picture.

And so do potential buyers. With some or all of the Yikes! factor as a first impression, buyers are repelled not rewarded for attempting to look at the house.

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