If your Pasadena house doesn’t look good from the curb, potential home buyers aren’t going to get out of the car. The interior of your home may be gorgeous, but if the exterior is not appealing, home buyers won’t be motivated to walk through the front door. If you can’t get them through the front door, it is highly unlikely they will be making an offer to buy. 
Landscaping and Curb Appeal:
Stand across the street from your home and snap a photo. What do you see? Do you see overgrown shrubs that block the front of the house or the windows? Do you see a weedy lawn that hasn’t seen fertilizer and a mower for a while? Do you see a bunch of junk laying around the yard or the dreaded ‘dead’ car in the driveway with weeds growing up underneath? Mow your lawn. Fertilize it an water it regularly. Plant some colorful flowers along the front wall and near the front door.
If the exterior of your home hasn’t been painted in 5 years or more, consider painting the exterior.
If you can’t afford to repaint the entire exterior of your Pasadena house, at the very least have the exterior of your home power washed or steam cleaned. After cleaning, you can determine the areas most in need of being repaired or repainted.
To determine a pleasing exterior color drive around your Pasadena neighborhood and look for homes that are a similar style as yours, and find one that is painted an appealing color.
Many major paint companies have brochures on display at your local paint store that demonstrate pleasing paint color combinations for exterior paint. You can also choose paint colors online. One of my personal favorite on-line color selector tools is the Benjamin Moore Personal Color Selector. You will have to choose a body color (the main wall color), the trim color, and an accent color. If you can’t choose, or are afraid you won’t make the best choice, hire a home stager for a color consultation.
The drive up to your Pasadena home is the first time potential buyers will see it. Make sure what they see leaves a positive impression that makes them want to go inside.
READ MORE: Pasadena City Guide
*Curb Appeal – Get Buyers Excited About Seeing Your Pasadena Home* Copyright 2009 Michelle Minch and Moving Mountains Design. All rights reserved.
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Call Michelle Minch at Moving Mountains Design Home Staging to arrange for your Comprehensive Home Staging Consultation (626)441-8975. Or visit our Pasadena home staging portfolio to see pictures of our recently completed projects.
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Great tips Michelle.
Sometimes a buyer just driving through a neighborhood is so impressed with the curb appeal of a certain home that they’ll call from the car for a showing & they may not have even thought to consider this particular neighborhood before and on the opposite end of that, some will even drive away without previewing a home they scheduled to see based on poor curb appeal.
Hi Michelle!
Great post! The curb appeal of the house definately helps make the decision for buyers if they want to venture inside or not. Great curb appeal also makes for great MLS photos that draw the buyers in when looking online. I love the before and after picture; it is a perfect example of the importance of first impressions!
Michelle, great points about curb appeal. Standing across the street is the perfect way to start assessing your own curb appeal. It’s what I do with my own Staging clients.
Great, sound advice for homeowners. Home/color consultations simply are an easy, affordable way for homeowners to prepare their homes for sale. By hiring a professional such as Michelle, you know that you are in excellent hands. Your home will go from sale to SOLD!
Lori Kim Polk
Artful Journey Designs and Staging
Sacramento, Roseville, Granite Bay
Great post, Michelle. Homeowners will truly benefit from such sound advice! The outside of the home sets the tone for the entire visit. Appealing on the outside will surely help draw the buyers inside.
Kathy
Hi Kathy: Thank you for your vote of confidence. Now that spring is here, home sellers should be planning ahead by fertilizing lawns and plants and trimming and generally cleaning up vegetation.
Thanks, Lori Kim. Staging and Color Consultations are not expensive and they are a great way to create a road map for preparing a home for sale.
Wendy: I’m glad we’re in agreement. You are absolutely correct. If the sellers haven’t addressed the curb appeal issues then the MLS photos won’t compel buyers to come take a look. Once the buyers come to the house, it better look better than the other 10 houses they saw that day, or buyers might just drive on.
That’s so true Karen. I have myself, on occassion, called to inquire about a house that looked adorable from the street. When you put your home on the market, you are entering it in a beauty contest. The best looking homes sell first and for more money. Don’t get eliminated from potential buyer’s must see list because you haven’t invested a little time and money to prepare the outside of your home.