Tue 01 Oct 2019

written by naomi baron

Get Your Kerb Appeal Up To Scratch!

The West Midlands housing market is doing pretty well at the moment.  In fact, with the lowest average time to sell a property in England, and prices rising, we’re excited to see what the rest of 2019 brings. 

But, with competition to snap up a buyer, how can you ensure that your home has got the wow factor?

People often focus on the inside of their properties, but improving the kerb appeal of your home can really positively impact a potentials buyer’s first impression.  And what’s more, it doesn’t have to cost you the earth to do!

A new survey from the HomeOwners Alliance has found that two thirds of home buyers are influenced by the outside of a property.  So, what things should you be focusing on in order to impress people viewing your home for sale?

• Make sure your roof is well maintained.  Replace any loose or broken tiles.  Roofs were top of the list on what impacts highly with kerb appeal.
• Mow that lawn!  Tidy up the front garden before your estate agent takes your brochure pictures, and keep it that way for viewings. 
• Consider cleaning out your gutters – particularly if you are selling in the wet weather seasons!
• Put your wheelie bins somewhere out of sight.  You might have gotten used to them being outside your garage, but it doesn’t make a great first impression.

What Does it all Cost?

Of course, you won’t want to be spending thousands of pounds on a house you’re intending to move on from soon.  But these improvements shouldn’t break the bank.  To a certain extent, it can depend on how on top of things you’ve been over the time you’ve owned the property.  However, as a rough guide:

• Roofing repairs (tiles) should be around £200;
• Hiring a gardener to sort out your front garden might typically cost £150;
• Resurfacing a tired and damaged driveway could set you back approximately £500;
• Installing an outside light could be around £150;

More expensive jobs to help you get that quick house sale might be repainting the front of your house or the windows, as scaffolding might be needed.

Is it Worth it?

Absolutely!  You have one chance to make that first impression, so make it count!  It’s an often stated, but true fact that buyers make up their minds about your property in the first few minutes of viewing it.  So, it’s worth going through this check list to make sure that you have done everything you can do to help achieve that sale. 

Some jobs, of course, you can do yourself.  It’s easy enough to weed the driveway, put up a hanging basket of flowers, maybe even repaint your front door.  A lot of these improvement points can also be done relatively swiftly, so if you’re about to list your home and you haven’t gotten around to doing some of these jobs, you won’t have to delay listing, you can get them done in a weekend.

If you are going to employ a tradesperson to undertake some of the jobs, make sure you get a few quotes first.  A recommendation from friends or family can be invaluable, as can sites such as Trust a Trader or My Builder.