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Ever heard of Curb Appeal? It’s that certain something when you drive up to a house and think, “Wow, what a great looking home!” Basically, it’s the look and feel of your home from the street. Is it nicely kept? Painted? Does the yard look nice? This presentation can make a huge difference, not only when you’re trying to sell your home, but also when you’re living in it!

Curb Appeal is Actually Pretty Simple

A small investment and some elbow grease can mean the difference between selling your house and having it just sit there. Case in point: We have a dear friend who is a contractor, and he recently listed a house he built in 2007, right before the recession. He’s been renting it out since. His renters purchased another home that he built, so he was ready to sell the 2007 home. Now, he’s a busy man and wanted to sell it quickly, so I convinced him to give the inside a fresh coat of paint, and I did some virtual staging of four key rooms for advertising.

Jerald Zwak - Gemstone Realty - curb appeal

Dining Room – before

Jerald Zwak - Gemstone Realty - curb appeal

Dining room after paint and staging

The Inside is Great, but What About the Outside?

It needed some serious love. How can you even get people in the door if the outside looks like it needs a major overhaul? So, we hired a landscaper to spruce up the yard and cut back the large shrub near the home’s entry.

 

Jerald Zwak - Gemstone Realty - curb appeal

We had a landscaper remove the large shrub you see here. 

 

One thing that stood out to me was the shutters on the home were dirty and very faded. At this point the home had been on the market for nine days and had seven showings, but no offers. My gut tells me that the shutters are detracting from the charm of this lovely, well-built home. What to do? I convinced him to let me take them down, clean them and paint them.

Jerald Zwak - Gemstone Realty - curb appeal

Exterior of the home before sprucing up the shutters

Sweat Equity

Now, Georgia summers are, for a lack of a better word, sweaty. Why not make that sweat work FOR you? On day ten of the house being on the market, I bought $32 dollars worth of Rustoleum spray paint and spent a very warm, sticky day cleaning and painting the shutters. Once I hung them back up, my hard work and sweat paid off. On day 11, the house went under contract!

Jerald Zwak - Gemstone Realty - curb appeal

Exterior after I cleaned and painted the shutters.

It’s the Little Things

Details like faded shutters, overgrown shrubbery, and paint really do have an impact on how potential buyers view your home. Put yourself in their shoes and really see what details would help sell your home from the perspective of the buyer. As I demonstrated here, curb appeal doesn’t have to cost a bunch! $32 worth of spray paint and a few hours of work can actually get your home sold!

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