Give Your Outdoor Space a Wash & Haircut

When preparing a home for sale, most people focus on making the inside look as appealing as possible. But the outside of your property deserves your attention too. After all, it’s the first thing a potential buyer sees.

You can dramatically improve the appearance of your property by giving it a “wash and haircut”!

Clean the driveway, walkways and deck or patio. A pressure washer — which can be rented from most home improvement stores — works best, although you can do nearly as good a job with a water hose and walkway cleaner.

Trim hedges and shrubs. Mow the lawn. Pull any weeds out of flower beds.

These small measures will help you make the best first impression on buyers.

Home Inspectors Help More Than You May Think

If you’re thinking of buying a particular home, you’re probably aware that you should get a qualified home inspector to examine it. In fact, most offers will include a condition that the property be inspected before the sale becomes final.

A good home inspector will go over the property from top to bottom, inside and out. He or she will look for things like cracks in the foundation, outdated wiring, repairs that need to be done, and aging components (such as the roof and furnace). The inspector will also provide a timeline for the replacement of any of the major components including HVAC, windows, roof, etc.

Basically, a home inspector helps you understand the condition of the home and the related expenses you should expect.

But it can also be very beneficial for a seller to hire a home inspector. Getting your current home inspected before you list it for sale can help sell your property faster and for the best price.

Say you put your home on the market. You get an offer. That offer is conditional on a home inspection. What if the inspector uncovers a major issue, like a leak you weren’t aware of, or some problem with the wiring? The buyer could potentially walk away from the deal.

If, however, you got your home inspected first, you would know about those issues in advance and could deal with them appropriately.

So a good home inspector can be more valuable than you think!