A big part of what home owners can control when putting their home on the market is the over all condition of their home.  Certainly, curb appeal -- how your home looks when you drive up to it -- is very important.  The grass should be nicely mowed and any gardening or landscaping should look as nice as possible.  Any major items should be stored away.  These include things like toys, trash cans and recycling bins, tools and other big things that take away from the overall appearance of the house.

It's important to have good curb appeal for two reasons: 1) your house will look a lot nicer when photographs are taken for the Multiple Listing Service and 2) it'll look great when potential buyers drive up or drive by.

In today's market, lots of potential buyers are searching the Internet before they even call a professional Realtor or try to make an appointment to visit the inside of your home.  Addresses are part of the total information package so potential buyers can easily drive by your home to see how it looks from the outside and to scope out the neighborhood.

Obviously, you can't do much about how your neighbors' homes look.  You can do something about your home so it looks really nice and inviting.  After all, you want the outside of your home to invite people to come inside to look around!

There's a nice website you can take a look at for tips and pointers -- the HGTV Curb Appeal page.

In my next post, I'll talk about the inside of you home and why it's important to have that looking good, too!