CURB APPEAL

CURB APPEAL

In the real estate business, sales have a pronounced peak during the spring. Therefore, we must get ahead of the game! Over seventy percent of persons looking to buy or to rent a home consider curb appeal important enough to make or break the deal. Even if the interior is pristine, we need to entice them with an inviting exterior.

Usually referred to as the frosting, and defined as the pride of ownership, homes with clean and fresh curb appeal command higher prices and take less time to place. Property values are indicative of a neighborhood curb appeal: the more attractive, the more desirable.

Along with the mandatory spring clean-up recommended by the experts that includes landscaping, pot holes, street drains, pavement cracks, sidewalk upheavals, clogged gutters and spouts, we compiled a list of easy and fairly inexpensive suggestions to boost the curb appeal of your communities:

• Repaint/repair entrance signs
• Repaint yellow curb lines at entrances and intersections as well as ground STOP signs and lines, and speed bumps
• Replace faded traffic signs
• Repaint the fire hydrants exactly as they currently are: yellow body and the different cap color, which represents the size of the pipe to the main connector
• Remove stains and moss from roof
• Remove stains from siding.
• Tour the community at dusk to make sure all street lights are operational and try to standardize the fixtures
• Ask your waste management company to repaint/replace all rusted or deteriorated containers
• Repaint/replace grills and benches at parks or picnic areas
• Repaint/replace playground equipment
• Repaint/replace house numbers, if possible, front and back of units
• Repaint/replace mailboxes or box clusters
• Replace broken glass in windows and doors of common areas
• Replace broken screen in windows and doors of common areas

Remember: we never have a second chance to make a GOOD first impression!