Improve Your Home Exterior Prior To Listing For Sale

Are you ready to put your home up for sale?  After all, 2021 so far is quite the seller’s market.  Frequently bidding wars are taking place, raising the list price of the home!  Usually, it is the other way around, negotiating price reductions.

How can you list your homes for sale and have prospective buyers love your property so much, you get to participate in one of these raising the price bidding wars?  Not only bidding wars, but you can sell your property quickly!

Let’s discuss some exterior improvements you can do on your property that will make your home stand out from others that are on the market in your area.  It is far better to have buyers in a bidding war on your home than someone else’s.

How Can You Make Your Home The Most Desirable?

There are many ways to make your home more desirable to prospective buyers. Of course, updated and upgrades to your home’s interior are helpful but let’s realize the first thing buyers see is your home’s exterior.  If your exterior doesn’t grab their attention, it is unlikely they will spend the time to schedule a showing inside your home. So how can you grab their attention in that five-second drive-by and have them pay cash for houses?

Paint

Even if your home is 100 years old, buyers expect the home to be new to them.  To make that happen, you need to freshen up the exterior of your home with paint.  If your home has vinyl siding, you don’t need to paint the house itself but consider painting shutters, doors, trim, or others.  Anything that may have seen some wear over time, make it have a new appearance again.  No one is attracted by a home with peeling paint, a faded door, and mismatched shutters.

House Numbers

If you have ever had an emergency at your home or requested deliveries from Amazon, Instacart, Door Dash, or more, you know how critical clear, crisp and prominent house numbers are.  You want your home to be found especially by prospective buyers.  If they need to drive in circles to find your home, they will give up. Prospective buyers with any special needs family members will absolutely focus on this feature.  It is an inexpensive upgrade and well worth it.

Mailbox

Be sure to have a nice mailbox at the end of your driveway, in your front yard, or by your front door.  A mailbox that is 50 years old does not scream “new” to prospective buyers.  You don’t necessarily need to buy a new mailbox, but sprucing it up with paint, straightening the post, and taking care of the small details does help.

Landscaping

Landscaping includes green grass, flowers, a spruced-up entrance to your home, trimmed bushes, and a nice cleanly feeling in the yard.  If you have a patio, pool, or fire pit, clean them and do whatever you can to highlight them since not every home has these features.

Walkways

If you don’t have a walkway, perhaps create one with pavers.  If you already have a walkway, clear it, clean it and tidy it up.  If there are broken pavers, replace them.

Light Fixtures

Check all exterior light fixtures.  Are all sensors in working order?  Walkway lights? Front door lights?  Backyard lights?  If a prospective buyer views your home at night, these lights can really accentuate everything you have done to prepare for them.

Shutters

As I noted previously, sprucing up existing shutters is a must.  However, if you don’t already have shutters, consider installing some if your windows have space.

Doors

Doors must all be in working order, opening and closing smoothly and properly.  Paint or stain your doors to give them a nice update.

Front Entrance

The front entrance includes paint, landscaping, doors, and more.  Do you ever drive around and notice doors on homes?  That green door is unusual, but you are drawn to it.  Grab their attention but don’t be so unique that you turn buyers away.

Decks And Porches And More

Many homes do not have decks, porches, or pools.  If you have any of these, accentuate them every way you can.  Stain or paint them and make them new.  Any repairs should be completed.  Clean out the underside of the decks and porches.  Make sure pools are clean and in working order.  If you don’t have a deck, it is definitely worth building one out of composite decking, and the price of your home will reflect that additional investment.

Are You Ready?

You’ve done everything you can to freshen up your home’s interior and exterior, and you are ready to list your home on the market.  Congratulations and good luck with your new journey.