Staging Your Home's Exterior

A buyer’s first impression of your house begins when they pull up to your property. If buyers don't like what they see on the outside, chances are they won't want to see the inside. You can help make sure they want to come inside your house by spending some time working on your exterior appearance.

• 
  Kill any mold and mildew on the house, sidewalks, roof, or driveway.
• Pressure wash the outside of your house and dingy decks.
• Remove all unnecessary garden implements and tools. Remove all novelty ornaments such as garden gnomes, pink flamingos and gazing balls.
• Clean windows and gutters.
• Mow the lawn. Get rid of weeds. If you have a weed problem in your lawn, add a weed and feed to your lawn.
• Edge sidewalks and remove vegetation growing between concrete or bricks.
• Rake and dispose of leaves and dead flowers or plants.
• Trim tree limbs that are near or touching your house's roof.
• Cut back all overgrown plants and vines.
• Sweep your driveway, sidewalk and porch or entry way.
• If you still have your Christmas Lights hanging, now is definitely the time to remove them. You don't want buyers to be turned off by them.

To make your curb appeal even more impressive;

• Update outdoor light fixtures.
• Touch up any house paint which is peeling
• Paint house trim. This is an easy upgrade which will make the house color look updated.
• How does your front door look? If your budget permits, add a new front door or upgrade the hardware. If this is out of your budget, a good cleaning and/or a fresh coat of paint will make it look great. Oh and don't forget the hardware, polish it or spray paint it to make it look new.
• To add color to the front yard, plant flowers around trees, in flowerbed or pots to the entry way. Hanging baskets and flower boxes are a nice way to upgrade the look of a house too.
• If you have any areas which are patches of dirt, add bark or rocks. Make the yard look "finished".

Curb Appeal Maintenance - Once your house has been on the market a few weeks, don’t forget to keep it looking its best.

• Mow the lawn on a weekly or semimonthly basis. Hire someone if you have to.
• Make sure your “For Sale” sign is not falling over and any secondary signs on it are not dangling.
• Keep your flyer box full. A lot of buyers will pull flyers and if your box is empty, you could have just lost a sale.
• Make sure everything look the same as when you first listed your house.

By making sure your home’s exterior looks its best, buyer will want to take a look inside. By Staging your house’s interior and as well as the exterior, your house will make a positive first and lasting impression. Stage it! Style it! Sell it!