There are many factors you need to think of when selling your home. However, one of the most important of them is to make your house attractive and inviting. Why should buyers place an offer on your house versus someone else’s? Walking around your house should make a prospective buyer almost visualize themselves living there.
This is one of the reasons we often stage the interiors of our homes. It helps people get an idea of how different spaces may look were they to inhabit them. While staging interiors is a great move, don’t ignore your home’s exterior.
The outdoor space is one of the most important features for buyers. The exterior must look great to give them a reason to see the interior. Use these tips to bring out the best features of your home’s exterior and present buyers with a beautiful property they can’t refuse.
Take Care of Your Landscape
Help potential buyers imagine themselves enjoying barbeques and gorgeous days in your yard by beautifying your landscape. Give overgrown shrubs and bushes a trim, and haul away dead debris. Prospective buyers are also likely to be more interested if they know your home has added features, like landscape lighting. If so, encourage evening tours, light up your yard and give those interested a taste of how color changing landscape lights add pizzazz to their future home.
Not to worry if you don’t have lighting for your landscape, you still have ways to add more color and appeal to your home’s exterior. Plant beautiful plants around your yard, and add a healthy layer of mulch over the soil.
Make buyers feel right at home before they even enter your home by adding vibrant flowers around your front door. Aim for matching flowers or bushes on either side of your front door, to give the arrangement balance. If you have little room to work with on your porch, using a large corner planter also works well.
Clean Exterior Screens and Windows
Windows can often be starved of TLC. Break out a squeegee, scrubber, or sponge and some dish soap, and put it all in a bucket. For a reliable cleaning solution, mix two gallons of water with roughly a teaspoon of dishwashing liquid.
For hard-to-reach windows, use a mop to clean the glass and restore its shine. If you’d rather not use the mop head, drape a clean microfiber cloth over the mop and dip it into the cleaning solution. For especially hard-to-reach windows, consider calling a professional window cleaning company.
Tackle Minor Structural Issues and Repairs
Updating your property’s exterior can increase its value, but some upgrades net you a greater return on investment. Research how much the upgrades you’re considering cost, how long they take, and how much they boost your property’s value.
Selling your home is the perfect time to knock out structural repairs. Prioritizing siding, roofing, and window upgrades and repairs not only makes your home look more appealing, but the fixes also improve your property’s structural integrity. When these structures fall into disrepair, they may lead to pest infestations, mold, mildew, and water damage, any of which can cause you financial strife and an unnecessary headache.
Not to worry if you don’t have the financial means (or the patience) to upgrade your home. A few well-chosen minor repairs may be all you need to attract potential homebuyers. Examples of common minor home repairs include replacing and clearing out the gutters, repainting the front door, patching up the walkway or driveway, and repainting a fence.
Pressure Wash Surfaces
Passing years can leave a film of dirt, grime, and mildew on your home’s exterior surfaces. Pressure wash vinyl fences, concrete, brick, and decking to make them look new. Before you blast away, check that you use the right pressure for the surface. Small and soft surfaces, like your exterior windows, work well under light pressure. Always start at the top and wash your way down, so you save time and energy and ensure dirt flows down.
Once you give your home’s exterior a gleaming shine, wash your deck and porch free of accumulated dirt knocked off from other surfaces. Focus on blasting the grit and grime close to a wall before directing it all into your yard.
You may feel unsure about handling a pressure washer alone. After all, you don’t want to damage your home weeks or days before staging it by using too much pressure. Hire a professional for the job instead while you sit back and tend to other areas of your property.
Increase your chances of selling your property for a price you think is fair by using these tips. Rather than stage harder, stage smarter.
