When preparing to sell your home, take time to consider the importance of drive up appeal. Drive up appeal is the physical appearance of your property as seen from the street. Will the exterior appearance of your property help or hinder your efforts to sell your home? How will your home appear to a prospective buyer as he or she drives up to your home for the first time? Some of the following tips may give your home a competitive edge in the eyes of a buyer:

Make a survey of the immediate streets in your subdivision, especially the street that will most likely be the route to your home. If you find any litter, it would be advisable to remove it, if possible. Most prospective buyers expect to see some litter on main highways; but within a subdivision, potential buyers want to perceive the appearance of pride of ownership.

With spring fast approaching, cleaning up within subdivisions is usually a high priority of homeowners. So now is the time to become involved with your neighbors to improve appearances for everyone. Help others help you!

LANDSCAPING

All shrubs should be neatly trimmed and cut to a size that allows them to be in proportion to the size of the house. Shrubs that are too large will dwarf the house and diminish its attractiveness. The lawn should be cut regularly so as to have a neat and well maintained appearance. If there is a "for sale" sign in the front yard, be sure to trim around it. If there is tall grass around a sign, people will surmise that the home has been on the market a long time.

CURTAINS

Curtains should be clean and hung evenly. Avoid gaudy colors in any curtains that can be seen from the street. Go out in front of your home and check the appearance of the curtains in all windows facing the street. Dirty or uneven curtains will give a bad impression to a buyer before they have a chance to inspect your home's interior.

GARAGE

Try to keep bikes, toys, tools, lawn equipment and other outside items in the garage. Also, keep the garage door closed as much as possible. A garage and its contents can be an unneeded distraction to an interested person viewing your home from the street. Most multiple listing services usually hire a professional photographer to take a picture of your home for insertion in the multiple listing book individual real estate office usually takes the photographs that appear in MLS and other locations (in the Quinlan/Tawakoni area, the Photographs are usually taken by the listing office) that is distributed to local REALTORS® via the Internet. A closed garage door will enhance the quality of the photograph.

ADVICE: You never have a second chance to make a first impression. The exterior appearance of your home is critical to a successful sale. Ask your REALTOR® for suggestions regarding how to improve the drive up appeal of your home.

Gena Upchurch
CENTURY 21 Upchurch Real Estate

P.S. You are welcome to email me with any questions you may have about your real estate. I will be most happy to help you. If I don't know the answer, I will find someone that does!


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Note: The information in this article in yellow print is paraphrased from an article by Tom Ervin.