Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 14, 1991 TAG: 9104120077
SECTION: AMERICAN HOME WEEK PAGE: 18 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GINNY ELIAS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Curb appeal, which means how good your home looks from the curb, may provide the answer.
When judging curb appeal, it's important to remember the adage, "You only get one chance to make a good first impression," said REALTOR Peggy Stancil.
She suggests that homeowners selling their houses should find other homes they like and see what is appealing about that home.
"As a seller, you should drive around a neighborhood and see what house appeals to you, then say to yourself, `What does this house have that mine doesn't have?' " Stancil said.
Often, Stancil said, "cuteness" will sell a home. "But neat and trim with a little color are the bywords for the outside of a home," she added.
A little color can mean artificial flowers in pots on the porch. It can mean real flowers lining the sidewalk to the home. Or it can mean flower and plant arrangements in front of the home, Stancil said.
Color can also mean color-coordinated shutters on a home, said REALTOR Janie Chewning.
"Curb appeal is important because sometimes you won't get a buyer inside a home if it doesn't look well-maintained on the exterior," added Chewning. "The first impression is what the buyer acts on."
"An exterior that looks well maintained lets the buyer know that the homeowner has taken care of the property," she said.
Sellers can do many simple things to help their homes sell, said REALTOR Joan Counts of of Roanoke.
"Simple things homeowners can do to improve their home's appeal are to freshly trim the lawn, touch up paint, pick up dead branches from their yard and spruce up the landscape," said Counts.
"The front door is one of the first things that people notice," she added. "Sellers should fix loose knobs and make sure that door is in good condition."
If that door is not in good condition, it would be worth the seller's time and money to replace it, said REALTOR Dave Carty. Homeowners also should look for peeling paint and grass or plants hanging over the sidewalk.
"You want to create an attractive, fresh look, not a worn look," said Carty.
That need to create a fresh look carries over into the home's interior.
Inside there are two general rules to follow, said Stancil: lack of clutter and loads of light.
All the sales agents agreed that there are some simple, basic guidelines to improving the look of the interior of your home. For example:
Let the sunshine in.
A light home is very appealing to a buyer.
The best, most inexpensive way to let in all the light you possibly can is to remove the heavy drapes and replace them with mini-blinds, Stancil suggested.
If a home does not have a lot of natural light coming in, sellers may want to consider leaving the lights on in a room, added Counts.
Another way to improve the lighting in a room, Stancil added, is to clean light fixtures and put in a higher watt bulb than you normally use.
Neutralize your home.
By this the REALTORS mean taking the color out of the inside by painting over wallpaper or bright walls.
Colors that are considered neutral for walls and carpets are off-white, beige, tans, grays and, sometimes, mauve.
All the REALTORS agreed that it is much easier for a buyer to see color in a neutralized home than it is to see a neutral home in a colorful one.
"One of the biggest mistakes sellers makes thinking that `I don't want to do anything because whoever buys my house will want to do it their own way,' " said Stancil. "You can never hurt the sale of your house by neutralizing it."
Neutralizing the home may add to the potential value as the buyer won't consider painting as one of the items he or she will have to do after moving in, she added.
"You can't sell future value as well as you can visual value," Stancil said. "Visual value is 90 percent of a sale."
Pick up all unnecessary items, such as toys, magazines, newspapers and throw rugs from inside the home.
Although the lived-in look may appeal to you, it will look cluttered and unappealing to a potential buyer.
Move all kitchen appliances off the counter and into storage or a closet.
"The two rooms that sell people the most are the kitchen and the bathroom," said Carty. "These two rooms need to be super clean."
Update your home.
Since the kitchen and bathrooms are the two important rooms, homeowners should be careful that these two rooms look modern as well.
"I'm finding that the houses that are updated are the ones that are selling," said Chewning. "By updated I mean changing outdated wall coverings, having modern vanities and mirrors in the bathrooms and getting rid of outdated colors, such as avocado and harvest gold.
Clean your home thoroughly, including the carpets.
"One of the biggest mistakes people make is to say that they will clean the carpet after the home is sold so that the buyer will come into a clean home," Carty said. "Although it makes a lot of sense in terms of efficiency, a buyer will not buy a dirty home."
Examine your home as a buyer might.
Homeowners should walk through their homes and properties and look for old or dented mailboxes that can be replaced or painted, leaky faucets that can be fixed, kitchen countertops that can have stains removed, floors that can be waxed, worn or broken tiles that should be replaced, closets that can be cleaned or re-arranged to make them look bigger, rooms that can be rearranged to give them a more spacious appeal, or fences that can be straightened or cleaned up.
There are small problems with homes that owners live with everyday, Counts said. These little things that aren't fixed may be the very things that will turn the buyer off.
Chewning summed it by saying: "It's easier to sell a home that is ready to be sold than it is to find a house that someone wants to remodel."
by CNB