The housing market has been slow, so there's a good chance you'll run into potential clients who are becoming frustrated that they can't sell their property. As it turns out, the key to selling a home has a lot to do with the landscaping.
Potential buyers are more likely to check out a house that's on the market if it looks appealing from the street. This tip has been shared before, but more and more evidence is emerging to support it.
If homeowners still aren't sold on the power of a well-manicured lawn and won't buy your services, share this story from the Miami Herald:
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Quick Tips is a new weekly feature that will offer brief pointers to help sell your services or improve your practices. Topics will range from selling the benefits of a healthy lawn to clients to getting rid of crabgrass. Look for it every Wednesday. To comment on these tips or share your own, visit our Message Board. |
He was a mid-level government manager who dreamed of building a custom cottage where he could retire. Just one barrier stood in his way: selling his 20-year-old ranch-style house.
After he saw his house sit on the market for a month without so much as a nibble of interest, discouragement set in. The manager's listing agent, Sid Davis, knew the source of the problem: the dozen overgrown pine trees that cloaked the front of the place.
''Some years ago, this guy planted the pines too close to the house. Back then, the trees were little and cute. But they grew into a thicket that towered over the roof line, hiding the outside of the house and making it dark and gloomy inside,'' recalls Davis, a real estate broker and author.
For weeks, Davis had urged the owner to remove the trees, but the appeal fell on deaf ears. Then one Saturday morning, he called the seller with a plan.
''I told him I was coming over with my chain saw and he should get his out, too. Three hours later we had cut down all those trees, turning them into a neat pile of firewood. The total cost was just $15. That covered gas and oil for the chain saws,'' Davis remembers.
Removing the trees transformed the place. Showings picked up, and within two weeks the owner had a full-price offer.
'Plain and simple, it's that old notion of `curb appeal.' If you have lousy landscaping, people won't even go inside.
They'll just drive on by,'' says Davis, author of the forthcoming book: Home Makeovers That Sell.
For sellers, failing to rectify landscaping problems is a common blunder. Trees and bushes that grow alongside a home shouldn't be allowed to crowd the property or to rise above the bottom line of window frames. Lawns should be kept weeded and fertilized. And all plant life should be neatly trimmed and healthy.