Guest post by NCBIA Member James Miller of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services

All right, thanks for checking out Miller Moves Homes. My name is James Miller. I’m a real estate agent with Howard Hanna.

Today I’m talking with Ted Moss, who’s going to be a seller and has questions about selling his home.

So, hey James, thanks for having me. So, you know, the first thing I noticed here is the landscaping, right? I’ve looked at other people’s homes that they were selling and they don’t have the mulch. They’ve still got some dirt. There’s weeds growing up in the in the beds. So tell us a little bit about why is this important? Because I think it is for me if I’m going to sell my home.

Right. So the curb appeal that you’re presenting for your house is the first item that they’re going to see when they come pulling up: fresh clean mulch, making sure they make sure that you have fresh mulch out in your beds and that your beds are weeded. So it works like paint on the interior. Presents the contrast, gives it a nice, clean look.

Makes sense. Yes. Now, how about also this one? You know, I’ve seen the houses that are dirty. They’ve got a little bit of a green mold on them. Can I just go, you know, to Home Depot and get the spray and hook it up to my hose? Should I hire a power washer? What’s the best way to do it?

Sure. So that’s another easy item to take care of. You can go to your Home Depot. You can call a place to have the power washing done, the products offered at Home Depot and Lowe’s and what have you. Worked really well just for the light algae and mold or dirt that needs to be cleaned up off the house along with products that you can use for cleaning your windows also. So depending on how difficult of a clean job it is, you either do it yourself or hire a company to take care of it.

So the point is just it’s just to make an experience for me, for my buyer. Right? They’re coming down the walkway. There’s nice landscaping. You know, the house is clean. It’s not dirty. Maybe even, you know, throw some new plants in something like that. If you’ve got the time, right?

If you got more in your budget or if your plants are dead than what you want to do is definitely replace them. Doesn’t matter if you’re putting in annuals or just some simple little boxwood bushes like have been put in here. Also, Ted, don’t forget, clean up after your dogs. People are going to be walking through the yard. They want to check out the, you know, the area that it covers. And they don’t want to be walking into any kind of dog bombs. And we’re both wearing flip flops. Right? That would make a huge difference.

It sounds to me like these are some simple things that I can do that are affordable, easy to do but will they add value to my home?

Absolutely. Yeah. It shows that your house is well taken care of, that you care about your house. It’s how you present your house to the potential buyers that’s really going to make a big difference. Taking care of those very simple small maintenance items makes a huge, huge impact on the value of your house. Well, thanks. That’s great advice. Perfect. Thanks, Ted. I appreciate it. Again, thanks for checking out Miller Moves Homes. I’m James Miller with Howard Hanna Real Estate. And I look forward to talking to you in the future. Thank you.

You can reach me at JamesMiller@HowardHanna.com or text or call me at (440) 222-0403.