Tuesday, January 6, 2009

The Importance of Curb Appeal when Selling your Home

Potential home buyers make a lot of judgments about a house before they even step inside. Curb appeal – or the view they see as they drive buy or up to the house, will determine if the buyer feels welcomed, and if they feel the house is worth further considering.

So many houses are taken off a list before anyone even gets a chance to step inside!

Sometimes it is difficult to look at our own homes the way a potential buyer would. It is natural to become accustomed to the way things look and work, and we lose our ability to see the faults or areas of improvement. You need to pull yourself out of this way of thinking if you are trying to sell, and stop thinking of the house like your home—it needs to be just a property—something you want to sell for the highest amount possible.

Try this exercise: The next time you drive up to your house, slow down as you approach. Take in the surroundings, the other homes, the yard, the trees. Look at the driveway. Does it need to be re-paved? Could the yard use edging or mowing? What is the first impression your house and yard give? What is a positive aspect of the property that you could enhance? Look at the other homes in the neighborhood. What are they doing right? What is attractive about their lawns, gardens, houses?

Next take pictures of the exterior of your home and property from various angles and have them developed. Looking at the house and yard in this way will help you remove the connection and see it the way others will. Show the pictures to friends and consider going to a garden store to see what they might recommend for landscaping.

Then clean up the area, make repairs as needed, and trim the trees, shrubs and lawn. Pick up leaves and tidy the flower beds. Remove old or dead plants and overgrowth. If it is in your budget, hire a professional to do the clean up and the planting. A landscaper will not only be able to see things that you cannot, but spend the time on the highest value activities, or the ones most difficult for you to do on your own.

The more of an investment you put into the curb appeal of your home, the more you will get out. This is one area that could mean getting more people to see the house, and increasing your chancing of selling faster, and at a higher price.

Remember you can’t sell your home if people aren’t interested in walking through the front door and taking a tour!

(c) 2009 Rich Ferretti
www.richferretti.com

Want more information about the Charlotte area real estate market? Check out http://www.richferretti.com/

Visit Rich Ferretti on Active Rain


You can find great local Mint Hill, North Carolina real estate information on Localism.com Rich Ferretti is a proud member of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network, a free online community to help real estate professionals grow their business.

Blog Listing

Bloglisting.net - The internets fastest growing blog directory

About Me

My photo
Charlotte North Carolina Real Estate Professional. Visit our site www.RichFerretti.com