You know that saying 'You never get a second chance to make a first impression'?
Well in many cases curb appeal is the first impression for your home.
Now, I promise, I'm not trying to get all philosophical here with this video,
but these curb appeal tips will help you to sell your Arizona home
by increasing its perceived value and making it stand
out!
If this is your first time here, welcome! If you've been here before,
thank you so much for coming back and for spending your time with me.
My name is Lindsay, and I'm a proud Anthem resident
and your local REALTOR® with the Wise Move AZ Team at Realty ONE Group.
On this channel we have a lot of fun talking about all things Anthem
and real estate every single Thursday and we
absolutely love having you along for the ride. In this video I'm going to give you
10 things you can do to immediately enhance the curb appeal of your home,
Arizona style. Some will be dead easy and others will require a little bit of
planning to accomplish. Before we jump in, let me address a
couple of housekeeping items. You might be wondering why this video is
about making your Arizona home look fabulous. Isn't curb
appeal universal or at least pretty consistent throughout
the US? Yes and no. If you're not in Arizona
you'll still be able to use and implement many of the ideas in this
video and I hope that you do, but here in Arizona, rocks are in many
cases our outdoor decor of choice, because that beautiful lush
green grass that we see on tv is insanely expensive to maintain here.
Oh, and those cute little planters with summer flowers will be
totally scorched in the summer heat. So yeah,
we're tackling these curb appeal ideas with the reality of Arizona living
in mind. I also want to say that while curb appeal is an important part of
peaking buyers' interest in your property, it's not the only thing that matters.
If you'd like to download a copy of our free guide to getting your home ready to
list in 30 days or less click the link in the
description box below. Lastly, homeowners associations are very
common here in Arizona. HOAs often have rules about what you can
and cannot do to the outside of your home.
If you would like more information on HOAs you can click in the cards to watch
this video. Make sure that before you jump in with
both feet on the suggestions in this video that you consult your HOA's CC&Rs
and other governing documents. I would absolutely hate for you to do
something and then have to undo it right after.
Idea #1: Blow Out your Yard. If it's been a while
since you've had your yard blown out, get it done! If you have your own blower,
great! If you don't, borrow the neighbors or
hire a landscaper and get it done. Ridding your yard of leaves and other
debris gives it an instant face lift. You may also want to consider
having your furniture blown off and then wiping it down.
Idea #2: Top up your Rocks. There's nothing quite like tidying your
yard that highlights the bare spots in the rocks or decomposed granite.
If you can see dirt where there are supposed to be rocks, or the rocks are
just looking really sparse, you may want to consider
getting a top up. Now, unless you happen to own a heavy
duty truck you're going to have to hire some help for this one.
Also, fair warning, it usually takes way more rocks than you think. Find out
what depth of rock your HOA stipulates, if any,
and then work with a granite company to determine how much you need.
If you're planning to disperse the rocks yourself, I strongly encourage you to
bribe lots of friends with pizza and beer. It's
very labor intensive. Alternatively, you can leave this one to
the professionals. Idea #3: Trim your Plants. Trim
your plants up from the ground and away from the
house. It's amazing how much more cared for your property looks
when you tend to the trees and shrubs. While you're at it,
make sure that you remove any dead foliage. Don't forget that most of our
desert plants are prickly. So please, be careful and
wear appropriate protective gear. This is a bit of a win-win. Not only will
your yard look better when you trim the trees and bushes
but it will also be good for monsoon season
and if you're selling your house it will be one less thing that shows up on the
inspection report. Idea #4: Touch up Paint. If
you're way overdue, you may need to paint the whole house
but if your exterior paint is still looking
pretty good, I want you to consider just painting the garage door
and the front door. We ended up painting our garage door because it got a little
bit of overspray on it when we were painting the interior of our garage, and
I couldn't believe what a difference it made. It looked like a brand new door!
You may also want to consider painting your side gate if it's visible from the
street. For whatever reason, those wooden slats
really take a beating from the sun. You can also consider switching to
composite slats, which will require a lot less maintenance and will have
that new look and feel for a lot longer. Idea #5: Remove Clutter. If you
have any personal items cluttering up the front yard,
tidy them up. This may include worn out lawn decorations,
hoses, garbage and recycling bins, ladders, and so on.
You want your yard looking open, cared for,
and clutter free. Also, if you're trying to improve your curb appeal because
you're selling please don't just move those items to
the backyard. Obviously, you'll need to keep your garbage bins but everything
else just tidy it up as best you can and get rid
of any items that you no longer want or need. Idea #6: Pressure Wash.
Personally, I do a pretty good job of keeping the
inside of our home clean and tidy but when it comes to scrubbing down the
outside, I am definitely guilty of forgetting. Break
out the pressure washer and clean the exterior of the home, the driveway,
and the walkway. You may also want to have your roof and
gutters pressure cleaned, but I'm always a little bit leery about
encouraging people to get up on their rooves.
One, because it can be dangerous and two, because
you can cause damage to your roof if you're not properly trained to walk on
the tiles. I'm going to recommend that you hire a
professional to assist with that part. Idea #7: Wash Windows. This one
is pretty self-explanatory. Now that you've pressure washed the exterior of
your home, wash your windows inside and out. It's
amazing how much dust builds up on our windows in Arizona.
Idea #8: Replace the Hardware and Fixtures. The
heat and sunlight can really take its toll on
the exterior of our homes. I want you to take a close look at all
of the hardware and fixtures on the exterior of your home,
and repair or replace them, as needed. This
includes the hardware on your front door, light fixtures,
address numbers, and so on. If they're looking shabby,
freshen them up! Idea #9: Light It Up. I want you to look at the
front of your home once it's dark outside. Could it use a
little extra light? Adding lighting can make your home feel
more inviting and more secure. You can add brighter bulbs
to existing fixtures. You can consider adding lights to the
path or even adding a few spotlights on your landscaping.
This can be a really inexpensive way to add to the perceived value of your home.
Since we're blessed with so much sunshine here in Arizona, you can
often use inexpensive solar lights to get the desired effect.
Idea #10: Ditch the Grass. As I mentioned at the start of this video
grass can be painfully expensive to maintain in Arizona,
and even if you tend to it meticulously it can still go through phases of
looking parched and neglected. I know, it's just not fair! If you have
grass in your front yard in Arizona it could be a deterrent to potential
buyers, who see it as an unnecessary expense and
extra work. So, if you have your heart set on keeping your grass, I encourage you to
up your watering and care schedule while your home is listed,
to keep it looking as lush and green as possible.
If you're not set on keeping your grass consider replacing it with
turf or even filling it in with rocks or plants. So,
there you have it! What do you think? Is your curb appeal on point? Are there a
few things that you could do to make it pop? Fair warning, if you take
on all 10 of these tips your neighbors might have a little bit
of curb appeal envy. If you'd like even more tips about
getting your home ready to list and a step-by-step timeline click the
link in the description box below to download your free guide. If you found
this video helpful, let me know by hitting that like button,
subscribing to our channel, and leaving me a comment. Also, in the
interest of making sure that you're totally prepared for the sale of your
home, click to watch this video up top with
our best tips for the final walkthrough or this video on the bottom with our
best tips for navigating the BINSR process,
for sellers just like you. Enjoy those and I'll see you next Thursday!