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CHAPTER 3
CREATING CURB APPEAL Someone said, “a stunning first impression was not the same thing as love at first sight. But surely it was an invitation to consider
the matter.” This could not be truer than in selling a home. First impressions matter. Sometimes they are everything.
Nothing sets the tone of a relationship or transaction more than first impressions. So, consider what a potential homebuyer may think as he or she drives up to your property for the very first time.
Think of “curb appeal” as the home seller’s shop window. Like picking a lunch place on a busy avenue in a tourist spot, it’s either the outside presentation or, as we saw prior in the 80/20 rule discussion, some particular feature that brings in the customers. For most lunch seekers, it is the way the place looks (“curb appeal”), and to others, the clams they serve (specific desired feature). You do not have a lot of time to establish a curb appeal relationship with a prospective homebuyer. Whether cruising the web to view online photos from across the country or cruising by your home in the family SUV on a Sunday afternoon outing, home shoppers will decide at a glance whether they want to see more. “We buy ugly houses” is a sign seen nailed to electric poles. Rehabbers look for ugly houses so that they can pay the least amount possible; homebuyers looking for a deal — but not a “basement bargain” — do not.
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