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3 Curb Appeal Tips To Attract More Buyers to Your Flips

Mike LaCava
3 min read
3 Curb Appeal Tips To Attract More Buyers to Your Flips

“Curb appeal” is one of the most important factors that determine how fast you sell your flip.

As they drive up the driveway, the outside of the house is the first impression that prospective buyers will get of your property – so what they see first is super important.

The curb appeal will give the prospective buyer some sort of impression of your flip, for better or worse.   Hopefully for you, more better than worse…

If you ignore the exterior of the house and only focus on the inside, you might detract potential homeowners.

In contrast, if you transform the outside of your home into something visually appealing and welcoming, you might attract more buyers.

In addition to the the more people it will attract  to your open house, improving curb appeal will also increase the value of the property.

1. Give Your House A New Face

When people are searching for a house, they often flip through listings of hundreds of properties. They squint at the small photographs on each page.

Related: 3 Tips on How to Rent (or Sell) Your Rehab Before It’s Completed

Quite often, they will decide in a fraction of a second whether they want to move on to the next one or give it a chance. In order for you to catch the buyer’s eye, you want an attractive exterior.

And, since the photos are so small, you want to improve the largest, most space consuming part of the house. Most prominently, you want to improve different faces. Some common ways to do this include:

  • Painting The Exterior
  • Installing  New Siding
  • Painting or Install New Trim
  • Painting The Garage.
  • Painting The Porch If Present
  • Painting or Replacing The Shutters
  • Cleaning or Installing a New Roof
  • Power Washing The Exterior And Porch
  • Cleaning Or Installing New Windows
  • Cleaning Or Installing New Gutters
  • Buying A New Set Of House Numbers

Don’t forget about the landscaping. Around the property you can do a general clean up which  include trimming all loose branches hanging, raking leaves and debris from perimeter and any trash around property including in woods around property and on street.

You can make the front of the house look real nice just by raising the beds, add some nice plants and bushes and mulch. You don’t have to spend a lot of money and you can do some of these things yourself if you have the time.

2. Revamp Your Driveway

An area that many house flippers overlook is the driveway. If the existing driveway is in poor condition, you may want to consider improving it. Things like grass or weeds spouting up through cracks can be an ugly turnoff for potential buyers.

Your first course of action when dealing with a driveway should be to remove any unwanted plants in and around the driveway. If the driveway is too cracked, you may want to consider repaving it or repairing and sealing it. Or, if your property has a gravel driveway and the stones have thinned out, you could set a fresh layer down.

For a more expensive property, try using an unconventional material for the driveway like brick. Maybe consider having an interesting pattern installed.

If you really want to create something unique, try using an interesting pattern of different materials. At the very least, sweep and blow down the driveway and then power wash or hose  it down before you take the photo for the house listing and on the day of an open house.

3. Create An Outdoor Focal Piece

To  bring your house to the next level and really make it stand out from the rest, you want to find some sort of focal piece. Some houses have pre-existing outdoor focal pieces that you can enhance and highlight. For example, a porch on its own is great, but you can make it amazing with some simple improvements.

Related: 5 Tips That Will Make You Better At Open Houses Than Anyone Else

As mentioned before, painting and cleaning the porch are essential. Also, you could add some decorations like flowerpots and even add a few Adirondack chairs. Sometimes, properties don’t have anything in particular that stand out. In this case, you should try to add something if your budget permits it.

Things like a patio or simply patio furniture can create a nice conversational arrangement. Or perhaps you could add an arbor to the side of the house or near a garden.

You could even install a trellis over the garage door Finally, we will leave you with something we’ve said time and time again: always buy a new mailbox!

If you made it this far, leave a comment below!

What are some other ways to increase your curb appeal and sell your flips fast? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.