When selling a home, first impressions are everything, and a home’s first impression is its exterior appearance. When selling a home, the first thing buyers are going to see is the home’s exterior either through photos online or in person while heading to a showing, and if the home’s appearance leaves something to be desired, it’s going to affect how the buyer sees the rest of the home. Here are five easy curb appeal mistakes homeowners make and how to avoid them. 

1. Dead or Overgrown Lawn

Lawn care might not be one of the easiest household chores, but when it comes to selling a home, it’s a necessity. Having a healthy green lawn shows buyers that the homeowners care about the state of their home and how it looks, so it’s especially important. When taking care of a lawn, it’s important not to overestimate how much mowing it needs. Mowing a lawn too often can cause the grass to die, so homeowners should do it only when necessary, which may be just once or twice a week at the very most.

2. Forgetting to Prune the Gardens

In order to keep a garden, they require work. Between weeding and watering and laying down fresh mulch, there’s a lot to keep a homeowner busy. If a homeowner forgets to take care of their garden, it’s obvious to all visitors because the garden will either be completely dead or completely overgrown. When selling a home, the homeowner needs to remember to take care of their garden watering and pruning it as needed so it stays neat and tidy. And if the garden gets to be a little too much to handle, they can always rip some of the plants out and fill the space with stepping stones and woodchips to prevent weeds from taking over.

3. Personal Decorations On Display

Some homeowners love decorations in their garden like little stone statues, windchimes, or pink flamingos. While these sorts of decorations are fun, they can also be distracting to buyers who are visiting the home. The last thing a homeowner wants is for potential buyers to be distracted by a funny garden gnome when they should be looking for the things that actually come with the home, like the new siding or windows, so it’s best to keep the extra decorations in storage until after the move.

4. Distracting Paint Color Choice

In neighborhoods, there’s a very good chance that all the homes that make it up have a certain shared aesthetic that gives them all a sense of uniformity. This aesthetic is often achieved through the color of the home or its siding, and if a home’s color deviates too much from the norm set up by all the neighbors, it can be off-putting to potential buyers because they might worry about it being something they’ll have to fix. When picking a color for the home’s paint, it’s best to stick with something neutral so the next owner can decide if they want to change it to something new later on.

5. Necessary Repairs Are Obvious

Unless the home is being marketed as a fixer-upper, obvious flaws with the home should be kept to a bare minimum, and homeowners should make sure to improve features in the home that are likely to impress buyers. When a buyer arrives at the home for a showing, seeing things like cracked windows, peeling paint, and rotting siding can feel like being greeted by a to-do list, and it can turn those buyers away. In order to prevent this, all repairs the home needs should be taken care of well in advance of showing. 

It’s easy to make mistakes when selling a home, but by following these five tips, homeowners can help their Murfreesboro home stand above the rest through its curb appeal.