Home Sellers Yield High Returns Investing in Curb Appeal

Here's a piece courtesy of ARA Content on how to easily add value to your home (in preparing it for sale):

When selling a home it pays to perk up where you park.

“A remodeled kitchen and bath can help sell a home, but curb appeal is what gets buyers through the door,” says Betty Jane Garrett, a licensed agent with Paradigm Realty in Oklahoma City. “If they don’t like what they see from the street chances are they won’t waste time going inside.”

An old worn out garage door, even on the cutest house, can change “Honey, stop the car,” into “Keep driving,” in an instant.

Realtors in a nationwide survey say replacing your garage door prior to listing your home can increase its curb appeal and the asking price -- anywhere from one to four percent. That's no surprise considering homeowner demand for more storage space has made three-car garages an architectural standard, not to mention, a major design focal point.

If you are thinking of upgrading your home’s garage appeal you may want to consider something more than a standard steel panel door. According to “Professional Builder” magazine, designer garage doors are one of the "50 Must-Have Features for Today's Home Buyers."

“We had a seller last fall who replaced existing 70s style flush panel garage doors with Clopay carriage house style doors and it changed the entire look of the house,” adds Garrett. “It sold for full asking price the first day on the market and the owners made a profit. The interior had been upgraded -- but it was the exterior that the buyers fell in love with at first sight.”

Garrett offers these additional suggestions to help take your home from “for sale” to “sold.”

1. Paint the front door a bright color. Nothing says welcome home like a cheerful front entry. It’s an easy affordable way to freshen up a paint scheme without having to repaint the entire exterior.

2. Change out-dated light fixtures -- or add lights if you don't have some already. Light up your doorways, driveway and walkways. Better to have more lights at lower wattages than one, very bright one. Spotlights angled to highlight trees and bushes create a dramatic nighttime effect. Solar lights that charge during the day are easy to install yourself.

3. Mulch. It makes landscaping and beds look tidy, crisp and well maintained and helps minimize weeding.

4. Plant flowers. This is always money well spent because it adds charm and life to any exterior. Even if you don’t have a green thumb, invest in some planters and have a local nursery fill them with annuals that thrive in your climate and place them at major entry points.

5. Re-surface your driveway. Instead of a black top or smooth concrete, consider stained or stamped concrete patterns. This can do wonders for curb appeal.

To obtain a free Ideas & Inspirations book and learn more about how you can transform your home in less than a day with a new garage door log onto www.clopaydoor.com or call (800) 225-6729.

Comments

[muckdog]

Curb appeal! Isn't there a TV show like that? Just a few years ago when I sold a house, I was fixing up the exterior and freshening up the plants. The real estate agent told me not to bother, because the house would sell in a day or two.

Now, agents are telling folks to spend whatever it takes to make the house look better than the other zillion houses up for sale. With inventories so high, every little thing that gives your house the advantage over the one two doors down is a big deal.

[cory]

"That's no surprise considering homeowner demand for more storage space has made three-car garages an architectural standard"

Ugh.

[Projoe]

Garage doors should be at the back of a house anyway. I drove through a new development my sister moved into and the garage being in the front really bothered me. Of course the fact that no one seems to park their car in the garage also didn't help. It looked like a poorly laid out auto dealership.
Here's a funny story about the new house that my brother had built... he can't park his truck, a F-150, in his garage because it's too long.