What is Curb Appeal?

This is a question that gets asked quite often. What is curb appeal and why is it important? Curb appeal actually can impact the sale of your house a lot. I will go over precisely what curb appeal is, why it is essential, ways to improve your curb appeal and what homeowners neglect when it comes to curb appeal.

Let's start with what curb appeal is. Curb appeal is your front yard! Yes, it is as simple as that, but many elements affect the look of your curb appeal. Curb appeal includes how your front yard is maintained, its presence, the way your house looks, and how you want people's first impression of your home to be perceived.

When people are driving up to your house, what do you want them to see? People unintentionally make a first impression on everything within 7-10 seconds. Make sure you present your house in the best possible manner. Ensuring you represent your house correctly right from the minute a potential buyer drives up sets the sale of your home up for real success.

Curb appeal includes; the bushes and plants you have on your front your, the way your rocks lay, the way your grass is trimmed, are your windows clean, what about the outside of your house, how does the driveway look, and what all can be seen when you initially drive up. All of these affect the mental vision buyers start with.

Make sure your bushes and plants are alive and trimmed nicely. Racking your rocks so they are evenly spread throughout the entire yard or mow your grass to look fresh and have the mow lines. To make an excellent first impression, get your house and windows professionally cleaned with a local pressure washing company. Removing dust and debris from windows and the stucco gives a clean and fresh appearance. Get your driveway cleaned even if you park your vehicles on it all the time. Buyers do not want to see oil stains or discolored concrete. They want to see a clean and “new” look, not a stained and oily looking driveway. Make sure buyers see a clean and minimal amount of things. You do not want buyers to show up and see a bunch of stuff everywhere or an unmaintained landscape.

Making a good impression right off the bat is highly effective. This shows buyers how much you care about the house and it proves that this is an excellent potential buy for them. Think about it, if you pulled up to a home you were thinking about buying and saw the yard with a ton of weeds, bushes that are all over the place, trash bins out, and a house that looks like it is ready to fall apart, that you would go into the house not wondering what else might be wrong with the house? I know I unintentionally would probably think that way. It is an initial reaction most people would have. Set your house sale up for success inside and out.

Besides the initial clean up of your front yard, pulling weeds, maintaining the landscape, and cleaning up the driveway and house, you may want to consider a few other things. If, after cleaning your house's face, it still appears dull and semi sad-looking, you may want to consider a fresh coat of paint. This can be an expensive task if it is not in the budget, considering getting more plants or décor to hide the dingy looking paint and add color and life to your house facade. Adding flowers is always a good idea! Maybe some pots with pretty flowers that go with the specific season at the time. Flowers and colors make people feel happy, whether they know it or not. If you cannot get your driveway clean, you could epoxy it, as long as the HOA is ok with that. This will show fewer tire marks and will freshen up the appearance of the house. Freshen up the paint on your brick wall or fencing. Paint is always an excellent way to appear new.

The front yard is something a lot of sellers neglect or completely forget to think about. Sellers are typically more entitled to get the inside and the backyard looking their best because that is where most buyers will focus, but you should always think about making an excellent first impression. The things sellers forget to do in the front yard are; pick the weeds or trim the plants. If all the things stated above to help with your curb appeal are not in the budget, cut your plants and trees and pick those weeds. Hide your trash bins and make sure your yard is always looking fresh and clean.

As you can see, if essential, Curb appeal is the first thing buyers will see when they arrive and it will make their first impression of your house. Make it good with the few tips I have left for you.

If you are ready to get started selling your house, give me Maricopa Amy, your local Real Estate Gal, at call at 480-577-4496 or send me an email at amy@siennahomegroup. I would love the opportunity to help you with the selling of your house! Also, when you use me as your Realtor, you get to take advantage of my interior design background for FREE!!!

Sienna Home Group

Brokered by EXP Realty

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