5 Reasons Curb Appeal Matters So Much
When selling your house, you hear a lot about improving curb appeal. But why exactly is that so important? Here are just a few of the top ways that improving curb appeal can help sell your house.
Drive-By Traffic
Great curb appeal is important for getting drive-by viewers. If people see a place with overgrown weeds and missing window screens, most will just drive on by. A perfectly-groomed yard and well-maintained exterior will get them excited about seeing the rest, even if they weren’t thinking of buying in that neighborhood. This also applies online: Many viewers won’t even click past the first picture if the outside doesn’t look enticing.
Word-of-Mouth
It pays off to attract non-buyers, too. Nobody is going to tell their brother-in-law about the hovel for sale down the street, but if they see a pleasant-looking exterior, they’ll pass the information along to everyone they know who is looking for a new home.
First Impressions Matter
Curb appeal doesn’t stop working once they’re in the house, either. People will make up their minds before even stepping through the door. If the outside looks sketchy, they’ll be looking for reasons to dislike the rest of the house, too. But if the fresh paint and bright flowers have them loving the place, your work is already half-done.
Don’t Make Them Think About Work
Make sure the buyer never thinks about maintaining the place. The dishes should be done, the laundry out of sight, the floors mopped. There should be nothing to make them think about how much work a house takes. That goes for the outside, too. You may have a wonderful lawn, but if all the buyer sees is that it needs mowing, you’re sunk.
The Outside Reflects the Inside
If the outside is in disrepair, buyers will assume that the inside is neglected, too. Even if the problem is as simple as dead-heading flowers, they’ll wonder what else has been ignored. And if the problem is something bigger, like a crumbling chimney? The place might as well be abandoned. Taking steps toward getting it fixed, even easy steps like looking up brick chimney repair Louisville or whatever it is your house needs, will go a long way toward selling your home.
Great curb appeal is vital to getting your home sold. It could be your key to getting the most money out of your property.