Sep
01
2010
Curb Appeal
By Charles Turner
Curb appeal is one of the most important factors in selling a home. It starts with the ability to take a good picture so that when it is viewed online, the buyer actually wants to make the effort to go out and see it. Once they arrive, they need to get out of the car and walk inside. More and more, buyers are confirming what they have garnered from online sources when they arrive at a home; they are not seeing it for the first time as they step out of the car.
The two pictures above were taken from roughly the same spot 30 hours apart. The clean-up, by a licensed landscaper, cost $500 and removed two trailers full of debris.
You can view the complete listing at the property’s dedicated website: 1623NW28th.com.
Agree, on the other hand. Some houses will get less money and later on you can sell it for more profits. Thats other side of coin.
You make a very good point here, the pictures that will show up in the MLS have to show the property in great condition or buyers will stay away.
BTW… I really like what you did with that property website, that is very nice!
I’ve been trying to figure out if this cleanup worked out well for the seller. Any idea how to determine if more than $500 in value was added?
Tim,
It’s hard to measure the success at this point as the home is still on the market. I do think that the “bang for the buck” cleaning up the curb appeal is there. With buyers doing so much research on the web if you can’t get a camera angle that shows off the home you’re in trouble. Studies/reports often cite photos as the most important feature of an online listing. I’m a pretty good photographer but we still hire a professional to take our listing pictures and shoot the virtual tour.