The Safari Guide to Listing Your Home
This is the fifth installment in our weekly blog series to help you prepare your home for listing in today’s market – Get Outside! If you follow this 8-week guide, you’ll be able to break up all those to-do’s into manageable steps that will leave you in the position to present your home in the best light! Check out the prior blogs in the series here: week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4.
Get Outside
We’re now 4 weeks away from actively listing your house LIVE to the market. While we revisit your CMA (Comparative Property Analysis) to identity any recent comps and potential new competitors on the market, you’ll be focused on sprucing up the exterior elements of your home!
You’ve heard the term curb appeal, but what does that really mean? In our experience, and simply put, it means making your home ‘the prettiest girl on the block‘. While it may seem overwhelming, many times it’s really just rolling up your sleeves to tackle small projects you can do yourself. Of course, this is in addition to a good exterior cleaning!
Now is the time to focus on power washing the exterior of your home, garages, sidewalks, and driveways. You’ll be AMAZED at what an immediate difference this makes. If you don’t have a power washer, head to Home Depot where they rent power washers by the day. Our advice is to rent one for at least 2 or 3 days, because once you get started and experience the difference, you’ll find other areas to power wash!
Ask a friend to park on the street just in front of your house and share their honest first impression with you. Do the bushes and landscaping look tired? Does the front view look confused and messy from garden tsotchkes, kids toys, and hoses lying everywhere? Are there broken front porch hand rails, or a cracked and uneven path to the front door?
Speaking of front doors…
One of the most significant realities we’ve experienced is the importance of a friendly and clear view to the front door. We don’t know why this matters, but it does! If you have tree branches or any other element blocking a clear front door view, now is the time to remove those visual barriers. Buyers are attracted to a friendly, happy, and welcoming front door and front porch experience, both from the street and while waiting for their agent to unlock the front door. This is the very first impression and it must project a happy, friendly, home that has been well taken care of. Happy homes sell. This is a fact.
Below you’ll find our checklist for exterior attention and preparation. Not all of these items will apply to your home. However, almost universally, we can attest to the importance of putting a fresh coat of paint on both your front and back door. Consider a complimentary or contrasting color that sets the tone for the color palette of the interior of your house. Check out some ideas here! Your front porch is Chapter One of the buyer experience – it starts to tell the story of the house and sets the stage for the rest of the showing. If a buyer has a positive experience from the front porch, their showing experience of your house is bathed in a positive light. If a buyer has a negative experience from the front porch, they don’t give it much of a chance once inside. This comes from our experiences showing more than a thousand homes.
The Parking Plan
When you need a short break from exterior projects this week, it’s a great time to create a parking plan if you have more cars than garage space. Nothing says, “this home is too small” more then the sight of cars parked in the driveway and in front of the house in addition to a full garage. This can also give the impression that too many people live in the house, which speaks directly to wear and tear. We recommend keeping your driveway available for buyers and agents to park during showings. If you have several cars, make a plan for parking around the corner or down the block.
Now, roll up your sleeves, and get outside! As always, if you have any questions or are on the fence about an exterior project, give us a call!