Curb Appeal: It's Not Just Your Curb That's Important

Pat...

And then there's the guy with the Christmas lights up in July. What can you do?

Again we have the same clients, Pat.  The house I have is next door to a rental owned by one of the top realtors but it looks like the Clampetts live there.  Overgrown yard, broken garage door, until recently plastic on the roof for leaks, and occasionally towels hanging on the open truck window. 

Oh my pink flamingos!  I guess this little lady is entitled to her eccentric yard art.

You're right, it's more than curb appeal, it's street appeal.  Don't you love the faded and torn red or blue patio umbrellas that can be seen over the backyard fence? 

Patricia,

tis maybe the reason why in many areas people are going for HOAs. There are restrictions, limitations, but they do not look like what you describe

A tear comes to my eye when I pull up to a saleable listing appt with a nasty home across the street. ug

This would be something Jeff Foxworthy can use.  So many people judge a book from its cover, but they also need to obviously judge on how the neighbors may end up devaluing their property.  Great post.

The Seller could maybe offer to "help" the neighbor in the garden. A flamingo may be a casualty that can not be avoided!

Pat - that can really mess up a sale - been there! for me back then the house across from the one I was showing was vacant, being foreclosed on and was the largest home in the neighborhood - it had been vacant for over 2 years and really looked it!!!! Needless to say, we moved on..............

Pat - Flamingos in DC?  Interesting.  I have yet to run into a flamingo lawn ornament in my area.

Hi Pat, I hit upon this very topic last week in my blog "Your Gasp May Sabotage the Deal" - to each his own - that's a shame for the seller.

Linda

LOL Pat, many complaints here about that odor from the farm up the road, or... how about the feuding neighbors who put up a bright pink fence, or one even painted the house bright pink.... :D

If it's a nice old lady, maybe someone could talk to her.  Would your seller be willing make her an offer?  Maybe tell her that they are selling and they are staging their house and would like to "stage" her yard a bit (for free) just to help their chances? 

What a bummer.  I hate it when that happens.  You have found the perfect home for your buyer and then wham - a nasty neighbor dog, unkempt yard across the street or too many cars parked out front. 

Pat, Too bad for both your buyer and the seller. So, if the seller convinced the neighbor, how soon do the flamingo's go back in the yard? Perhaps the buyers could just bring in their own set of flamingo's?

Pat

There are a number of Dogpatch properties out there today with the short sales and foreclosures,hopefully they will be cleaned up shortly.

Good luck and success.

Lou Ludwig

Howdy and afternoon there Patricia

I get to see a lot of that in this here area. A lot of folks here will also only repaint one side of their home, some of them also only will put siden on one side of their home. Those and many other things they do, is how they keep their property taxs down in this area.

Have a good one

Dale

I will take the little old lady and the yard art anytime over the jerk with a beautiful lawn. I have had both and it is an easy choice.

Someone needs the Prince Mongo of memphis as their neighbor.  He buys homes in great upscale neighbothoods and then applies his touch.  He has broken many a neighbors dreams of a home sale.  He is known to place old toilets, old cars dangling from crains, brightly painted graffati on the house, fence, etc., He is something else.  He prays to the Gods in his yard with many yard objects that normally look like junk yard finds.

Great post.  It served to warn others about the "Prince Mongo's" that show up in any neighborhood.  In the south we simply nickname them RED NECKS!