| Have you been considering selling your home in the | | | | There isnt a realtor in existence who wouldnt tell you |
| near future? If you have, then it wouldnt be a bad idea | | | | that one of the most important terms that you can |
| to take a good long look at your home, using an | | | | learn when youre trying to sell your house, is "curb |
| unbiased eye. | | | | appeal." |
| After all, a clean, appealing, well maintained home has | | | | Therefore, while youre sprucing up your home, its wise |
| much better odds of selling, selling for more, and selling | | | | to start outside, and work your way in. Take the time |
| faster. | | | | to walk around your property wearing good thick |
| When looking at your house, the thing you need to | | | | gloves, and carrying a garbage bag. Pick up every bit |
| keep repeating to yourself is that "first impressions are | | | | of refuse, yard waste, and other unsightly things, and |
| lasting impressions." This couldnt be truer when it | | | | throw them away. When the garbage is gone, then do |
| comes to selling real estate. | | | | another lap and remove all of the clutter outside. This |
| However, this doesnt mean that you should take on a | | | | can include things such as: kids toys, yard care tools |
| major renovation project just so that you can sell your | | | | (wheelbarrows, lawn mowers, weeding tools, garden |
| property. Remember, there are no guarantees that | | | | hoses, etc.), tools, and bicycles. |
| you would recover the costs of an enormous | | | | Depending on how you usually keep your property, this |
| overhaul. | | | | one effort can make a staggering difference to the |
| Instead, take a more conservative approach, and have | | | | outer appearance of your home. |
| a look at the different cosmetic improvements that | | | | Shrubbery and other greenery that has an unkempt |
| can be made for an overall improvement. These can | | | | appearance can often be misconstrued as a sign of |
| include things such as cleaning, painting, refinishing, and | | | | neglect, and gives a bad impression of your house |
| other such efforts. These are the projects that dont | | | | overall. Prospective homebuyers who see shrubbery |
| require all that much capital, and yet they make an | | | | that has not been well maintained may not even be |
| immeasurable improvement to the overall look of your | | | | aware of their observation, but it will have an impact |
| home. | | | | on the way they view your property as a whole. |
| Before you take on any fix-up-for-sale projects, take | | | | If they do observe the unkempt shrubbery directly, |
| on the mindset that you are sprucing up your home in | | | | they may make the assumption that the rest of the |
| order to sell it. Dont think of it as fixing it up for | | | | home has not been properly maintained. |
| someone else. Youre trying to create more of an | | | | Keep bushes and shrubs neat, and well-shaped, to |
| appealing look than you are a perfect home. | | | | give the overall impression that the entire property has |
| If you fix up the house with a certain person in mind, | | | | been well cared for. |
| youre limiting your market. Limiting your market will | | | | If you take the effort to ensure that the outside of |
| usually mean a slower sale, and a lower selling price. | | | | your home is appealing, then it will make certain that |
| So instead of tackling a whole mess of huge projects, | | | | potential buyers will want to look at the interior as well. |
| just focus on making the home attractive, clean, | | | | Therefore, its obvious that you should work on the |
| presentable, and well maintained. Let the new owners | | | | outside of your home for precisely that reason. |
| do their own customizations. | | | | |