Staging Your Home for a Quick Sale #3 – Curb Appeal

The Exterior of Your Home is What Potential Buyers See First

The third in a series of five, each Saturday, I will provide you with some tips and tricks for staging your home so it will sell more quickly and easily. To see all of the blogs in the series, click here.

Staging your home on the exterior of your home is crucial – this is, after all, what potential buyers will view first before entering your home. First impressions are always important, but particularly so for the selling of a home.

Curb appeal can’t be stressed enough – individuals looking to buy your home will catch their first glimpse from the curb! Be sure that what they see from the curb is appealing.

Tips for staging your home’s exterior for maximum curb appeal are as follows:

1. Begin by actually going to the curb in front of your home and really looking at it from a buyer’s perspective. Take a notepad and pen with you and take note of anything that “screams” poor curb appeal. You can even have a friend, relative or neighbor do the same. Blend your lists to make a master list of what needs your immediate attention.

2. Make sure you check your home’s paint for chips or fading, paying particular attention to your doors, shutters, and trim.

3. Mow and neatly edge your lawn. A mowed lawn is essential to curb appeal, so a cutting twice a week while your home’s on the market – depending, of course, on the season – is probably best.

4. If you’ve severely neglected your lawn, you may need fresh sod; be sure you do this at least a month in advance of listing your home so it will have the time it needs to grow and blend to look its best.

5. Mulch is the second most important factor of curb appeal. Add fresh mulch to flower and plant beds regardless of the season (unless there is snow on the ground).

6. If the weather is nice, plant fresh flowers around your property, particularly near the front entrance where buyers will be coming into your home. If you’re short on time, potted plants may be simplest.

7. Yellow is a great accent color for your home’s entry; yellow puts people at ease, is cheerful, and draws attention.

8. Don’t forget to weed! Weed regularly while your home is on the market. During the fall, be sure to rake; same goes from shoveling in winter!

9. Trimming bushes and trees to look nice and tidy is another way to perk up the front.

10. Make sure you keep your windows sparkling clean and all doors and railings are washed well. Power washers are great for ground-in dirt or washing vast amounts of siding. Wood railings and trim may need a fresh coat of paint.

11. If you have a nice-size porch, consider adding a nice bench or a pair of chairs; this gives a nice, welcoming effect and creates great curb appeal.

Once you’ve taken care of some of the bigger issues, go to your curb again and see how things look. What else can you do? Look at others’ homes that are appealing to you; what “extra little something” have they done to their exterior that you could do to yours as well?

Always think like a buyer and you’ll rarely go wrong!