1. FIRST IMPRESSION COUNTS! Prospective buyers make up their minds about your house even before they get out of the car. A pleasing look to the outside of your property is just as important as how the house/cottage looks inside. For potential Buyers, the outside is the first thing they see and may make the difference between them losing interest immediately or anxiously looking forward to seeing the house/cottage. Flowers and shrubs put people at ease and make them feel comfortable. To ensure they have the right idea, clean up your yard, remove weeds, cut the grass, rake the leaves, shovel the snow and sweep driveways and porches. If you have lawns, keep them cut and trimmed and gardens weeded and edged. In the case of a cottage, clear away leaves and fallen branches, which make the property look cluttered and unkept. Make sure that the waterfront area is clear of debris and the docks and decks are in good repair. Replace old, rusted and dated patio furniture with clean new furniture and umbrellas. If wood siding, decks and trim are looking old and tired, apply a fresh coat of stain or paint. A few dollars spent along with a little labour can reap huge returns on the final selling price. Remember, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. Get out the rags and cleanser and spend 30 minutes scouring your front door, porch railings and steps. Then tuck all your recycling cans and bins at the back of the house. Place pots of flowers, or seasonal arrangements at your doorway for extra flare. 2. UNCLUTTER Purge your closets, empty cupboards, box up small appliances and rent a storage locker to keep what you want and toss the rest. I suggest you take some of your books off the shelves, reduce the number of CD’s or DVD’s and pare everything down. Leave only one thing on the kitchen counter (like a bowl of crisp green apples or vase of garden picked flowers) and remove the fridge magnets and small area rugs. Keep a storage container under the bed to throw in your pajamas and bedtime reading so buyers don’t see it. 3. “IMPERSONAL” WORKS You want buyers to imagine themselves in your home, not to feel like a guest in it. So stash anything connected to your family or personal interests. Hide your son’s hockey trophies, store family photos, remove all traces of day-to-day life. Remove the shampoo bottles lined up on the bathtub rim or toothbrushes lying around the sink, otherwise the buyer becomes very conscious of being in someone else’s environment. 4. KEEP IT FRESH Make sure your house does not smell of smoke, the garbage under the sink or last night’s cabbage and fish casserole. The easy solution is to keep your windows open for 10 minutes a day. This strategy works better than deodorizers since a lot of people have allergies to artificial room fresheners. The best trick of all: leave chocolate chip cookies just baked from the oven on the counter. The fresh baked smell will do wonders to help buyers bond with your home. 5. DECLARE A WAR ON GRIME Cleanliness helps put a buyer’s mind at ease since it suggests that you’ve probably taken good care of your residence in other ways as well. So clean everything; walls, door handles, light fixtures and pantry cupboards. Even consider hiring professional cleaners to scour the inside of your house and a contractor to powerwash the windows, walkways, eaves troughs and pathways. And don’t forget the basement and furnace room. Every home buyer wonders what shape the furnace is in. If the furnace looks clean, it looks newer. That goes for the fuse box and electrical panel too. 6. HIRE A HANDY MAN Dripping faucets, cracked tiles and moldy caulking around the bathtub can knock thousands of dollars off the price of your home. Don’t think that if it is only a “little problem” the buyer can deal with it. If its only a little thing, then you should deal with it. 7. COLOUR IT UP One of your best investments may be a fresh coat of paint in key areas of your home. Paint your front door and place some urns with brightly coloured flowers on the front porch or steps. Those things make a house seem cared for and unique for buyers looking for that special place. 8. REDUCE FURNITURE An easy way to create a sense of space is to get rid of some furniture. Moving a sofa and end tables into storage can give a small room some much-needed breathing space. So too can storing the table and chairs that normally sit in your kitchen, piled high with mail, magazines, books and groceries. If your furniture is old (but not considered antique), consider packing it away and renting a few modern stylish pieces or borrowing a couple of well-chosen pieces of wall art. Keeping it simple will create a show-room feeling for a new house. 9. LIGHT IT UP The brighter and sunnier a space, the easier it is to sell. Start by doing a good window-cleaning. Clean windows let in as much as 30% more light than grimy ones. Then thoroughly clean the shades on your light fixtures, change light bulbs and add floor lamps if an area seems dim. Go with higher wattage lights for maximum illumination. Finally, when it comes time to show your home, make sure all the lights are on, especially in hallways. When narrow, long areas get dark, it gets depressing for buyers going from room to room. 10. ADD A TOUCH OF HUMANITY A couple of planters on your front porch, a vase of flowers on your dining room table or even a simple rose bud from the garden can warm up a room. You don’t want the rooms to end up feeling dull and sterile after removing all the clutter. Flowers and plants can help make it feel warm. Candles help too. Try leaving out a place setting on the dining room table with a few pieces and pretty place mats and candles. A few dollars spent along with a little labour can reap huge returns on the final selling price. Remember, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. EMAIL ASTRID WITH QUESTIONS OR FOR MORE ADVICE ON CURB APPEAL FOR YOUR HOME! astridhood@sympatico.ca Not intended to solicit those currently under contract. All information displayed is believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed.