Beautiful on the Outside

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but many homebuyers do just that: judge a home by its external appearance. If you’re gearing up to sell your home this spring, you need to make sure your home’s exterior and landscaping stops buyers in their tracks and gets them to come in for a walk-through. Here are some easy and effective ways to accomplish that.

* Clean up the yard. Take a weekend and start mowing, trimming, weeding, raking and doing everything you can to make the yard neat as a pin. Trim back grass and other ground coverings away from the bases of trees, shrubs and flower beds for a professionally landscaped look.

* Start planting. If your front yard is sparse, invest in some small, inexpensive trees and bushes from your local home store or nursery. Likewise, plant flats of various spring flowers to add “pop” to your landscape.

* Nix the gnome. It’s time to stow all your cherished lawn ornaments in the garage. That said, you can keep one or two truly engaging landscape features, such as a unique fountain or simple outdoor sculpture, if you and your real estate agent feel they would add a tasteful, designer appeal to the landscaping.

* Get a wash and trim. While painting your home might be out of budget, get the exterior power washed and paint all the trim. Additionally, paint your door in an engaging color that accentuates your exterior color scheme and invites the prospective buyer to knock.

* Make an entrance. Add some design features to your entryway to further draw attention to your front door. If there is enough space, aim to create symmetry in your design elements. For example, two small, flowering trees in decorative pots on either side of your door add a welcoming touch. Just make sure your color choices match or compliment your door color.

* Roll out a clean carpet. Lastly, clean up your concrete and stone driveways and walkways. Besides the standard sweep-up, remove any built-up dirt and grime. If you have stones separated by moss, grass or other ground cover, give the greenery a good trim to help redefine the stones. And don’t forget to eradicate any oil stains from concrete driveways. If you’re concerned about chemical run-off, there are a variety of highly effective cleaners that are environmentally friendly and safe for your storm drains.

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