Yesterday at WCR (Woman's Council of Realtor's) we had Jason Haywood as our guest speaker. He spoke on contributing to our F.L.O.W. project and curb appeal.
Jason and his crew helped me last summer with the pilot program with F.L.O.W. and landscaped 3 yards at no cost to lower income families.
Curb appeal in my opinion is one of the most important things you can do to your home before listing it.
If you are just starting to think about listing your home, and think maybe in the next year or 2 you will list, this is something I would work on now.
You only get one shot at making a first impression and about 20 seconds to do so. SO IT BETTER BE GOOD! You know what they say; it is easy to make a good impression, hard to change the opinion of a bad one.
I know, when I get a new buyer, if they have not narrowed down the area in which they want to live, I send them out driving. Inevitably they come back with a few homes that caught their eye while driving by. This is all due to "CURB APPEAL"!
A question I had for Jason was: If you only wanted to do one thing to improve your curb appeal, and not spend much money, what would you do?
Answer: Fix the entry way. Paint your front door or put up a new one. Put plants by the front door and if there is room a swing or a bench, perhaps a lantern. The biggest mistakes people make when purchasing a lantern is they choose the wrong size, they usually go too small. The lantern head should be 1/3 the size of your door. Make the entry way inviting.
Red is a good color to use for the front door and/or plants, as it draws in your eye - catches your attention and creates depth. If you use a mix of colors (Jason suggested 3 main colors) correctly you can make a flat ranch home have that 3D effect. For an example: Red stands out, yellow is a good contrast and grey sets back in.
Another good question was how do you tackle the condo or house that has the garage up front. Keep the garage from being the main focus?
Answer: Paint or get a new garage door of a dark color and then paint the trim around the garage door a light color to create that 3D effect. The dark color on the garage door will set back in the door and not make it stand out. Also put in a tree some where off to the side, to draw you eye away from the garage door. You want to focus on the home not the garage.
He also spoke on thinning out your full grown trees. Jason said a full grown tree is so pretty and wonderful, but if you do not thin them out and let the sun in, your grass will die. This will make your yard appear undesirable. So thin out those trees and plant some grass!
The last thing he said that made a difference in outdoor lighting. Jason said it makes a huge difference in the yard. I would have to agree, as Jason installed outdoor lighting in our yard and we love it.
I just listed a home in Alger Heights, and one of my requests from the seller was an out door light by the house number so people could see the address when driving by at night. This is another pet peeve of mine. My client drives by a home and loves the out side, but they can not tell me the address as they could not find or see the house number.
Up lighting around full grown trees or around colorful plants makes such an impression.
WCR has many wonderful guest speakers; this is a great group to become a part of. You do not need to be a Realtor to be a member. It is a Great net working opportunity and fun people to be around. (Who doesn't want to net work with a bunch of Realtors? We tend to be the source of information to our clients. Where to buy, where can I find etc............The funny thing is we always know the answers!
We are having a member ship drive for WCR right now through March, if you would like to visit and come to one of the luncheons or come to the membership drive cocktail party let me know. I will send you the details.
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