If you were to Google how to sell your house fast, you are going to find tons of advice. But one of the tips that you’ll see on all the time is that you should be staging the exterior of your home. After all, curb appeal plays a huge impact on first impressions when people come to look at a home for sale. If the house lacks curb appeal, prospective home buyers will lose enthusiasm and interest.
What is Curb Appeal?
Curb appeal is how well your house and property look on the outside. Everything from the way the lawn to the sidewalks in front of the property have an impact on a home’s appeal. It can take quite a bit of time to get your home staged in a way that makes it more inviting and appealing for sellers. And it is something that you are going to want to do to sell your home for the right price and to sell your home fast.
Imagine you have a home with its shutters falling off, a driveway with weeds growing through it, and broken lawn furniture. If you were to see this house, would you want to see the interior of the home? You would likely think that the owners have neglected the house and its not in good shape. Chances are you would not be interested unless you are looking to buy a fixer-upper. And in these cases, those who want to buy fixer-uppers are not looking to pay top dollar. So, as a seller, you aren’t going to be able to command the same price if the exterior is not inviting.
5 Tips for Staging the Exterior of Your Home
It is only the beginning to understand how important staging the exterior of your home is. Here are several tips that can help you make the home’s curb appeal more attractive to buyers.
- Keep the driveway empty! This may be easier said than done, but an empty driveway allows potential buyers to see the home without a vehicle obstructing the view. So, if you have a garage, be sure that the car is in there. If you can park on the street for pictures and while potential buyers come to look at the property then do this. This also means removing the trash cans that may be in your driveway so that they do not interfere with the aesthetics from the curb.
- Avoid putting out a lot of personal items. What does this refer to? Keep bicycles and children’s toys put away and don’t leave the porch or front yard cluttered with items. Also, make sure that you do not have tons of lawn ornaments (think garden gnomes) strewn about. When you have all this clutter visible in the front yard, it distracts potential buyers. Instead of thinking about the idea of living here, they are more often than not thinking about the mess [or their opinion on garden gnomes].
- Be sure that your yard looks great! A lawn that hasn’t seen a mower for weeks gives a bad impression. You want the lawn to look like you have taken care of it as this will tell the buyer that you’ve taken care of the inside of the house as well. So be sure that it is mowed, that the weeds around the home and the sidewalks are pulled, and that there are no weeds in flower beds. If the garden you have is out of season, be sure to remove the dead leaves and debris from them. While the flower beds may not be bursting with color they can envision the nice gardens there during the spring and summer. One tip to remember – do not put out artificial plants or flowers to give the exterior of your home more color, this tends to come off as tacky.
- Check the exterior of your home for eyesores. This could be anything from a broken window, cracks in the driveway, or a pair of faded shutters. Make any repairs that you can that are going to make these eyesores go away. For example, wood shutters may just need a new coat of paint and the driveway can be resealed – both can even be DIY jobs.
- Keep the colors neutral. If you are doing any painting, exterior or interior, be sure to keep your paint color choice in the range of acceptable. Painting your shutters a yellow that could be described as School Bus Yellow is not going to be as appealing to a large pool of buyers as going with a neutral black shutter. Avoid obnoxious or polarizing colors when doing any upgrading to the exterior of the home.
With these tips in mind, staging the exterior of your home should be easy. Remember, you can always avoid the staging process and sell your home as-is to a real estate investor. You will find that they are ready to buy your home in any type of condition and are not concerned with staging. You can have an offer within 24 hours…so it could save you a ton of time while getting your home sold quickly.