Don’t Neglect Areas Which Enhance ‘Curb Appeal’ When Prepping Home For Sale

When it comes to selling your home, the expression, “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression” has never been more valid.

Andwhile many home sellers concentrate on their homes’ interior when itcomes to prepping the house for potential buyers, it would be wise,indeed, to first focus on the yard -- front, side, and back -- inorder to enhance the home’s overall â€˜curb appeal.’ After all,besides the house itself, the yard is usually the second thing thatcaptures the buyer’s focus. And, taking extra steps to get thisarea in tip-top shape will go a long way in enticing the buyer to wantto see the home’s interior, as well.

First, try to put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. With that in mind, it’s very helpful to park at the end of yourdriveway or even across the street to take in the â€˜big picture’ of thehouse and yard, just as the buyer would do. After that, get outof your car, and be super-observant as you walk along the path thepotential buyer would take, paying particular attention to the frontyard, side yards, driveway, and sidewalk.

As you observe theoverall appearance of these areas, take note of your initialimpression, from an objective point of view. Note anythingglaringly obvious that could convey a negative notion to the buyer’s mind, and which would warrant special attention.

Althoughyou will, most likely, want -- in reality, need --to stay within abudget, try to see the financial benefits of spending a reasonableamount of money on enhancements which would obviously augment yourhome’s sale potential. If the financial gains are likely tosubstantially outweigh the costs involved, it would behoove you to goahead and fork out the extra bucks. For example, now might be theperfect time to get rid of the half-rotted tree in the front yard whichhas been an eyesore for some time, and, which, you were planning toremove sooner or later anyway.

At the same time, note anypositive aspects of the yards, walkways, and driveway, and think aboutways to enhance them. Maybe planting some flowers alongside theuniquely-shaped sidewalk, which has garnered countless compliments inthe past, would be enhanced by planting some flowers or other plants

Yard, driveway, and sidewalks:

Observethe condition of the front and side yards – buyers will notice theseareas before they even consider the back yard. And, unless you’rethe type who spends five hours per day transforming his or her yardinto something befitting the Taj Mahal, it may be obvious that it’s indire need of being spruced up. However, it’s amazing the extentto which you can beautify you yard – and, thus – enhance your home’soverall appeal by association – by following these simple tips – mostof which require only your time and sweat (of course, some tips won’tapply, depending on the season):

Rake and dispose of the leaves.
Pruneany unsightly or dead branches from trees, paying special attention tothose which obscure the view to your house from the street, or aretouching your home’s roof.
Trim the hedges and bushes.
Edge the sidewalks and driveway.
Eliminate any vegetation growing in sidewalk and driveway cracks.
Make sure to remove gardening implements, or other objects, which don’t belong in the yard.
Mow the yard, and dispose of loose grass clippings.
Keep garbage cans out of sight.
Sweep, and, if necessary, scrub all hard-surface areas where the buyer may be walking

Takea critical view of everything afterwards, and note any areas which youthink would raise an objection in the buyer’s mind. For example,if the driveway or sidewalk still appears dingy after sweeping andscrubbing, you may want to invest in a pressure-washing service to makethese areas shine. In addition, if a sidewalk or driveway is sodecrepit that it’s basically a mass of countless cracks, is fallingapart, or is, otherwise, unsafe, it would be foolish not to have itreplaced. After all, it’s rather difficult to entice a potentialbuyer to enter through your home’s front door when he or she ishesitant to do so for fear of stumbling on the way there.