Curb appeal not curbing your appeal

Curb appeal works to not only get more for your home, but also to have it sell faster! I recently had a house for sale in a nice neighborhood in San Jose, CA. Just a few days later another house down the street with similar floor plan, lot size and square footage went on market. The one with nice curb appeal sold with multiple offers in two weeks and the other sold with one offer in almost 4 weeks. Curb appeal really does make a difference! Top ten easy tips for adding curb appeal! 1) Give those trees and bushes a haircut! It is easy and free. You can borrow trimmers from a neighbor if needed. While on tour with agents, I often hear feedback like ‘you need to lift the canopy up’ meaning if from the street you have a tree that is blocking the view of the house, trim those lower branches. The eye tends to like to see things neat and orderly (especially when spending the kind of money you do on a house!). 2) Mow and edge the lawn. And keep mowing it until the house is sold! Again, easy and pretty inexpensive. That whole neat and orderly thing again. 3) Power wash driveways, walkways and house. Clear out the cobwebs, oil stains and any mold, fungus or moss growing on the exterior of the house (while you are at it get any of that stuff growing on the inside too!). Power washers are sold at Costco and hardware stores now for about $150. I am finding that many of my neighbors and my friends have power washers. So ask around to borrow one. 4) Front door. Polish, replace or paint the front door and the door hardware. You want that door to shine and be inviting. Anything dingy, faded, discolored or broken has the potential to put a buyer right into a negative attitude about the whole house before they even walk in. 5) Flowers! Grab a few 6 packs (of flowers) and put them in the ground or planters around the front yard. Be sure to get something that has showy flowers and that works in the area of the yard you are thinking. Most flowering plants like part to full sun. So, if you have a shady area, consider trimming any trees if needed (see #1) and look around at the hardware or nursery for shade plants. 6) Consider painting the house. It may not be as expensive as you think! I have painted a 2000 sq ft. house for $2000 and I have had a 65 year old client who painted her whole house herself (with a brush, roller and ladder). The buyers of course repainted the whole house at the close of escrow! I have also had clients that painted only the front of the house or only the trim of the house to give it some POP! 7) Keep your driveway clear. Park your car in the garage (crazy, I know) or down across the street. Buyers will drive by at random times and if there is always a car or two in the driveway, it blocks the view of the house. When there are no cars at a house, I have noticed my buyers are often a bit more at ease as we go to the door. They do not have to worry about having a seller there watching them as they look around the house. If they like the house, they will take the time to find all the great things about it. 8) Roof and gutters. I have seen gutters and roofs with things growing on them. Be sure to pay attention to what the roof and gutters look like. You can sometimes paint and clean your gutters at a low cost. You can also have a roofer come out and give you a 1 year leak free tune up for as low as $100 depending on the roof. You can also power wash it. Obviously, you want to be careful with that option as you are on a roof with a high powered hose, aka wet and slippery you get what I am saying here. 9) Clean those windows! Again with the free and easy item. Gotta love that! Buyers do notice anything dirty and if they don’t directly notice it, they get a dirty or icky feeling. Have you ever heard that buying a house is emotional or hear someone say, ‘we just fell in love with the house’? Well, buyers do get emotional so don’t let dirty windows get in the way of those positive emotions. 10) Shiny mailbox and visible address numbers. Mailboxes are often neglected and sometimes just need a spit shine. If it is beyond that, you can get a new one for about $40 at a hardware store. Address numbers need to be clean and easy to read from the street. Many times there are more than one house for sale on a street and you want to be sure people can find your house. Seems simple, I know, but if a buyer cannot see (or find) the numbers it is a small irritant that is easy to avoid. Remember we are going for the positive emotions! As always, talk with your realtor about what you can do to make your home sell for more and sell faster! What easy inexpensive things have you done to improve your curb appeal and not curb your appeal?