Contact Joanne Selling Welcome page     Interior Tips Home Improvements     Home Seller's Guide: printable. Provided by North American Title Co. Buyer/Seller Information, printable. Provided by North American Title Co.

Tips to improve  the exterior of your home. No doubt you have heard the adage "You don't get a second chance to make a good first impression."  Well, that's true for your house, too.  Often times buyers decide not to look inside a house if they don't like how the exterior looks.  The way we live in a house is often different from the way we need to live when we have our home on the market. 1. Be sure your lawn and shrubbery is kept trimmed at all times. Prune overgrown trees and shrubs that hide the house from the street. 2. Keep the garage doors down at all times. 3. For a touch of color, have seasonal flowers growing in beds and containers. 4. Make sure your driveway is in good repair. Pressure wash concrete driveways and walkways to remove stains and put a fresh coat of sealer on asphalt driveways. 5. Make sure patios and decks are clean and in good repair. Replace any rotten wood and nail down loose boards on decking or steps; pressure wash, if needed. 6. Garage sale time! Clear out everything you don't intend to keep and tidy up what you are keeping. Make sure garage doors and openers are in proper working order. 7. Check the fencing and make sure it's in good repair and freshly stained or painted. 8. Pay special attention to the area around your front door; make sure your doorbell works, clean off any cobwebs, leaves, or other debris that may have accumulated there. 9. Make sure your porch light works and looks good. If it doesn't, take it down and repaint it or buy a new one. 10. Give the front door a fresh coat of paint if needed; paint is one of the most cost effective fix up items you can do. This sets the tone for the whole showing. 11. Check for cracked or broken windows or leaking seals on dual pane windows; replace if necessary. Replace torn window and door screens. 12. Check your mailbox. If it is rusted or damaged, replace it. 13. Does the exterior need painting? Then paint it. That's money well spent and often makes the difference between a home selling and not selling. 14. Wash the windows outside. It's amazing how much crystal clear windows adds to a home and allows maximum natural light to also brighten the interior. Now go across the street and look at your home objectively. Does it have curb appeal? In other words, someone pulls up in front of your home and says to themselves "Wow, what a nice home," that's curb appeal.   Improving a home's curb appeal The sellers of this Cherryland district home in Hayward wanted to minimize yard work and also wanted to avoid bright sun from shining inside.  So it was out with the yard and up with the awnings. Unfortunately, the barren look was a major negative when they went to sell . . . The new owner John B. had good imagination and  decided to bring back this period home's curb appeal.  To begin with, John added new landscaping. Then John removed the awnings to reveal the lovely window details and had the home painted.  John has recaptured this period home's personality and dramatically improved its curb appeal while being true to its architecture.  Nice job, John! Joanne L. Gardiner, Broker, e-PRO Realtor "For Old-Fashioned Service in Cyberspace" Advantage Realty Advantage Mortgage Associates 3205 Whipple Road - Union City, California 94587 (510) 429-4800 San Francisco Bay Area  San Francisco East Bay Real Estate web site: http://www.joannegardiner.com Our primary services in the San Francisco Bay Area are: East bay real estate,  Hayward real estate, Castro Valley real estate,  Danville real estate,  Dublin real estate,  Fremont real estate,  Newark real estate, Niles real estate, Pleasanton real estate, San Leandro real estate, San Lorenzo real estate, San Ramon real estate, Sunol real estate and Union City real estate.  The types of real estate in which we specialize are:  houses, homes, condominiums, townhomes, garden homes, PUDs, single family homes, manufactured homes, mobile homes, modular homes, duets, residential income property, duplexes, tri-plexes, four-plexes, small apartment complexes and special use properties. ~  Affiliations ~

Exterior Appearance Before After The above before and after example was featured on HGTV HGTV links . . . Four Steps to More Curb Appeal Curb Appeal Online Videos   Yard Ornaments, etc. The father of the pink flamingo (the plastic lawn ornament) was Don Featherstone of Massachusetts. Featherstone graduated from art school and went to work as a designer for Union Products, a Leominster, Massachusetts company that manufactured flat plastic lawn ornaments. He designed the pink flamingo in 1957 as a follow-up project to his plastic duck. Today, Featherstone is president and part owner of the company that sells an average of 250,000 to 500,000 plastic pink flamingos a year. I recommend you pack away these and other decorations before the For Sale sign goes up in your yard.   Yard ornaments detract from the landscaping and the architecture.   Planters can add to landscaping appeal if they fit into the design, are grouped, freshly planted and complement the area.  Be careful.  Too many planters can make a yard look junky as does overgrown landscaping. Don't leave garbage bins out on the street any longer than necessary. Disabled vehicles, RVs or too many vechicles are huge distractions.  They  should be moved away from your home and from the area. Well maintained, neat, attractive landscaping makes buyers want to stop the car and look inside.

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