Having splendid curb appeal can make or break the sale of a home. First impressions last. It goes that way when meeting new people, and it goes that way when viewing a new home. While it’s obvious that we should dress up a bit to meet someone new who will be important to us, it is of equal importance that we prepare and do some proper landscaping around the house, when we’re selling that home.

It has been stated that an attractive landscape design can potentially add 10-15% to the value of a home. That means that if your home is valued at $300,000, an effective landscaping job could raise the value of the house by $45,000.

Houses with good curb appeal are also likely to sell faster. Spectacular curb appeal is not a guarantee your home will sell. However, it will dramatically improve the odds that it will sell. More people are likely to come see the house as an attractive house exterior makes prospective home buyers want to see the interior of your home as well.

So, let’s get to work at these easy to implement landscaping enhancements to spruce up your curb appeal, and help you sell your home quickly!

Top 10 Landscaping Tips for Selling Your Home

1. Perfecting Your Lawn
   Your lawn is one of the first things to attend to it takes some time for a lawn to improve. Keep a regular watering and cutting schedule, and initiate regrowth and repair of damaged spots. Consider hiring professionals to lay new grass sod if your time to repair the lawn is limited or the lawn has been unkept for a long time. Lush green grass is attractive to new home buyers, while an lawn that is brown, overgrown, or filled with weeds, is a turn-off. Furthermore, prospective buyers may conclude because the yard is unkempt, the rest of the house is not maintained. Ditto for other house exterior elements.

2. Mulching Garden Beds
   Adding mulch to your garden beds is a great and inexpensive way to really make your landscape clean and tidy. Cedar mulch has a nice clean smell and really makes the greenery pop. Best of all, mulch can be applied quickly and easily if your landscape needs a quick pick-me-up before a home showing.

3. Trimming & Pruning
   A very simple way to tidy up your outdoors is to prune up any overgrown trees or shrubs near the home. This will not only make the garden look nice, but it will also highlight the architecture of your home. And you can prune deciduous trees and shrubs any time of the year, which will help if you’re trying to sell your home in the winter.

4. Power-Washing
   An easy way to give your home a new appearance, short of a new paint job, is to power wash its exterior. With little effort, a dingy and dirty surface can shine and look like new! And don’t just stop at your home’s exterior! You can power wash the drive, your deck, a brick sidewalk, fences, or any hard surface that needs sprucing up.

5. Kill mold and mildew.
   Go beyond the sidewalks and driveway with respect to mildew and also eliminate mold on the sides of the house and the roof.

6. Adding Outdoor Lighting
   Many potential home buyers drive by to view your home for sale at dusk or in the evening! Capitalize on this fact and add lighting that highlights the best features of your house and garden. Eg. place low voltage lighting along the driveway or sidewalk or near landscaping that you want highlight. A well-lit patio or deck is more inviting.

7. Being Neat & Tidying up the Garden.
   Ensure overall neatness in your garden, even if it’s woodsy. Stow away unnecessary garden implements and tools. Neatly stack firewood. Get rid of unsightly toys and ‘unfinished projects’.

8. Add Attractive Reds
   Place fed flowering plants and bushes near the front door of your home. The plants/flowers should make a significant, inviting statement. Choose appropriate sizes and choose the nicest pots you can afford if potting them.

9. Raking.
   When you dispose your garden of excessive leaves, even if your lot is wooded, you are highlighting the structure of your garden, rather than reminding prospective owners that a garden can entail some work from time to time.

10. Making it Picture Perfect.
    Taking pictures of your house and garden is a great tool for you to be able to see your house as a prospective house buyer would see it. Add interest to your garden with selected garden art, or plant a few colorful scrubs to fill visual gaps. Your landscaping pictures will suggest the adjustments needed.

Because it can substantially increase the speed of sale as well as the value of the property, it is worth taking care of the landscaping of your house when you are interested in selling your home.

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April Home Maintenance Projects

These projects that are ideally undertaken in or around April:

1. Inspect home from bottom to top looking for damage that occurred during winter. Prepare a ‘to do; list of needed repairs.

2. Lubricate hinges and tighten loose hinge screws. Apply clear wood floor wax to door edges that rub.

3. Replace batteries on smoke, heat and gas leak detectors. Do this when you set the clock back to daylight saving time.

4. Do spring clean-up. Wash walls and windows; clean carpeting, upholstery and window coverings.

5. Check doors and windows fro proper operation.

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March Home Maintenance Projects

These projects that are ideally undertaken in or around March:

1. Check operation of toilet. Check the area between the tank and bol, and around the base for leaks.
2. Remove ‘pop-up’ drain plugs from sink or tub and clean.
3. Turn off the water supply to the house. Observe the water meter after 1 hour. If it has moved, there is a leak somewhere in the plumbing system.

4. Inspect grout and caulk around sinks, tubs and showers. Repair or replace damaged areas.
5. Inspect water heater for leaks. Flush tank
6. Clean underside of range hood and clean or replace filter(s).
7. Check valve where water enters the house, outdoor faucets, and any valves to toilet, bathroom or kitchen sink, bar, etc. for leaks. Turn each off and on several times to check for leaks.

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February Home Maintenance Projects

These projects that are ideally undertaken in or around February:

1. Trim branches around the roof line to keep squirrels, roof rats and other pesky animals off the roof.

2. Inspect all vents, repair as needed, and remove any debris blocking air flow.

3. Clean condenser coils or fins beneath or behind refrigerator according to the manufacturers’ instructions. Make certain there is adequate air flow around the appliance.

4. Using binoculars, inspect roof from the ground (walking on a damp or wet roof can be very dangerous), looking for loose, missing or damaged roofing materials. Repair any damage. If you have access to the underside of the roof, check during a heavy rain for leaks.

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January Home Maintenance Projects

These projects that are ideally undertaken in or around January:

1. Clean rain gutters. Leave and other debris will hamper drainage and may promote rusting and roof damage. Make sure that water flowing from down sprouts is draining away from the foundation.

2. Inspect crawl space after rain for water accumulation or excessive moisture, as well as indications of water damage on the sub floor and joists beneath bathooms, kitchen and laundry.

3. Compost the leaves

4. Look for signs of pest or dry rot damage. do not block perimeter wall vents to a crawl space in winter.

Also look over the projects suggested for November and December to ensure your house is well maintained, safe and sound.

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December Home Maintenance Projects

These projects that are ideally undertaken in or around December:

1. Clean lint from clothes dryer vent, from the dryer drum to where the air is vented outdoors.

2. Service clothes dryer, cook top or stove, dishwasher, trash compactor, counter-top appliances, exhaust fans, etc. according to the manufacturers’ recommendations.

3. Disconnect the garage door opener. Lubricate hardware. Springs on overhead doors should be adjusted by a qualified service technician.

4. Clean underside of range hood and clean or replace filter.

Home maintenance means both safety and savings, and are little projects like these are best done on a year-round basis. I am sure you can think of other projects that can both protect your family and entail in savings when done well.

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Oh I know. In some parts of the country, this season is short, for others it’s looonnnggg and quite severe. We all have one thing in common: we need to take precautions to save money and protect from potential harm and disasters in this cooler season, so we can enjoy all the fun parts of Fall and Winter.

How to Winterize Your Home

Here are 7 tips for (little) winterizing projects for us all that my local real estate agent, Sam McCall, alerted me to:

1. Seal cracks and gaps around doors and windows with caulking and weather strips. Those little drafts can add to an unwanted hefty 10% to our heating bills !! A priority project for some…
2. We all know the gutters and down sprouts need cleaning when they fill with leaves. Again, this is a good preventative project to do as it prevents water from seeping into our homes ~ Which would be much more work to take care of, and it would cost more money…
3. Fire safety: inspect your furnace and replace or clean dirty filters.
4. Another fire safety tip: test that smoke alarm and replace the batteries if necessary. Some of us are blessed with a carbon monoxide detector, so check that one also if that is the case.
5. Just before it really gets cold, it’s time to drain our outdoor hoses, faucets and sprinklers. This prevents bursting pipes.
   
6. Consider this: you may want to invest in a programmable thermostat to vary the temperatures in your home at various times of the day/night. If you program it right, you can really safe a lot of money on heating while you’re sleeping or away from the house, and you can be nice and warm while you’re awake.
7. Now, if you really want to be ‘good’, drain the gas from your lawn mower to prevent costly service problems next summer.

OK. And when we’ve done all this, let’s bring in the hot chocolates!

‘Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!’

p.s. Don’t forget to also winterize your vacation home. This might mean a special, last trip to that wonderful place… Bring the hot chocolate and cookies along!

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November Home Maintenance Projects

Here are some projects that are ideally undertaken in or around November:

1. Shut off the water to the washing machine and remove water supply hoses. Check washers. Replace hoses that are damages, or where fittings are badly corroded. Check the owner’s manual for any other maintenance recommendations.

2. Inspect crawl space after rain for water accumulation or excessive moisture. Do not block vents to a crawl space.

3. Check furnace filter. Clean or replace if necessary.

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October Home Maintenance Projects

After weeks of playing in the sun, you may wish to do some home maintenance on a cloudy afternoon.
Here are some projects that are ideally undertaken in or around October:

1. Insulate outdoor pipes to avoid freeze damage. Use plastic to cover insulation that is exposed to water.

2. Inspect and clean the fireplace and flue before lighting the first fire. If using a wood-burning stove, remove the stovepipe between the stove and chimney and lean that section and the pipe exhausting outdoors. Hire a professional if needed.

3. Replace batteries of smoke, heat and gas detectors. Do this when you set the clock back to Standard time.

4. Compost the leaves.

5. Clean gutters. Leaves and other debris will hamper drainage and may promote rusting.

Advice on Home Repair & Improvement, Home Loans and Mortgages. Copyright ©. All Rights Reserved.

September Home Maintenance Projects

After weeks of playing in the sun, you may wish to do some home maintenance on a cloudy afternoon.
Here are some projects that are ideally undertaken in or around September:

1. Paint the inside of your house if needed.
2. Remove ‘pop-up; drain plugs and clean.
3. Check valve where water enters the house, outdoor faucets, or any valves to fixtures, such as to toilet, bathroom or kitchen sink, bar, etc. Turn each off and on several times to make certain they operate properly. Check for leaks.
4. Inspect grout around sinks, tubs and showers.

5. Repair or replace damaged areas.
6. Inspect water heater for leaks and flush tank.
7. Test temperature and pressure relief (TPR) valve, according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
8. Clean patio furniture and prepapre for winter storage. Protect metal surfaces with auto polish. Clean and cover the barbecue grill. Refinish wood surfaces as needed.

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