You never get a second chance to make a first impression...You have heard it, usually when going on a date or interviewing for a job, well the same adage holds true when you put your home on the market.

Every house tells a story but often people don't know what their story is and how to tell it and literally sell it....that is where I come in...I have been telling stories (aka selling homes since 2007) and determining what your home's main character is...(your biggest selling asset). It is very important when you are preparing your home to sell that you understand what will attract the most homeowners to your home and what will get you the most offers on your home.

Often sellers are stuck because they either don't know how important the prep phase of the home sale is OR they think it is impossible to do what they need and they don't have the time or the money OR they don't believe the payoff will be there. 

Below is a case study, the first of many I am sharing about how I help sellers sell their house for more than they thought they could and it in a short amount of time with a small monetary investment on their part but no time or stress required at all.

Background: My clients bought the house right before covid landed in our laps in February 2020. They had to outbid multiple other offers to get the house and had planned to renovate inside and outside but with a new baby on the way and both people working from home due to covid, they soon realized they were overwhelmed with the amount of work that needed to be done both inside and outside. 

They had bought the home because of the amazing yard and they loved the neighborhood but had not been able to invest the time or money into making it work for their family. They also realized that they most likely needed an au pair or in-law suite for their child care since it seemed like they would be working from home indefinitely... the house that they had hoped to invest more time and money was not not working for them and they didn't know if or when they would be able to make this house they had loved so much work for them during covid so they decided it was time to sell.

They had only owned the home for 2 years so they had a lot of legitimate concerns. Would they be able to make their money back? How much would they have to invest to make their money back and have enough to purchase their next home? Where did they even start with all of the work that needed to be done? Inside? Outside? They didn't have a lot of time or money so they needed to know if the ROI would be profitable. 

Here is a case study of how I helped my clients make strategic upgrades and a few before/after photos of the exterior of the home. I will put together part 2 for interior photos but let's start with the home's biggest selling asset.

Part 1 showcases what we did outside...as we knew the main character of this home was the huge yard but and while the size was a huge asset, the yard itself was a certified mess...and while it was big it had no structure, no flow, and buyers would have no understanding of how to use the yard...it would just be a large outdoor space...so we needed to turn it into a yard buyers could see that would work for them.

The Vision: Going back to our adage you never get a second chance to make a first impression, we tackled our home's front facade first...Curb Appeal is everything when you are selling your home! This home had so much potential with the yard, the gorgeous trees, porch, and cute front door and steps but it needed a little help! 

Firstly, I knew we needed a bright pop of color for the door...the white door just blended in and didn't provide the welcome we wanted or any visual interest. This blue is a favorite of mine. It is striking, unique and gives the home a cheery welcome. We also needed to paint the top of the house a white color to blend with the white trim on the porch and deck below (see the triangle section at the top of the house-the before picture it is brown) The brown color was dull and uninviting, by changing the color to white the house was fresher, brighter and more cohesive. 

Once I picked our door color, I could stage the rest of the front porch with other blue hues including the rug, 2 chairs and table (inexpensively bought from Lowes) pillows and cushion. We then added my signature gorgeous bright blue ceramic  pots for balance and color to tie it all together. 

The yard had no growing grass when we started the project so we added fresh sod to the front yard, removed old and dead plants, cut back branches on the tree, added black mulch (I always work only with black mulch), painted the lattice work below the porch black (another signature color I use) to blend in with ground and recede so the focus was on the home and the porch and we painted the cement steps from ugly brown cement color to a soft neutral (again always use exterior paint) Paint is always your best friend inside and outside just make sure you use the correct paint for the surface you are painting. 

In the backyard I needed to create a structure and to show how this yard could work for adults, children, dogs, and gardeners. To provide that structure I created a walking path from the back door to the porch area. My landscaper added pea gravel, pavers and railroad ties to create the path leading to the porch area and with that change we created an area to grill and entertain. The deck was in pretty bad shape so we repaired it and painted it a neutral color using exterior paint. I wanted it to feel like it blended in with nature so we chose a color that could blend nicely with the browns and greens of summer. Next where the raised beds were already installed we added soil and planted the raised beds where we planted herbs and added a sign that said "garden" and put little herb markers to designate this was where you could garden and further down the yard we added a cute chalkboard and kids picnic table (and the little kids went gaga over that set up!!) We also edged out the whole yard and mulched it and of course he got rid of all the debris, leaves, dirt and old mulch. We added hanging plants and potted plants along with cute signs and we were ready to go!

By the time our open house was set the yard was ready to be shown to potential buyers! We went from a yard with potential to a yard that showcased how it could be used for all kinds of great outdoor activities. 

The Success!

They purchased the house in March 2020 for $1,173,000. We put it on the market on 6/9/2022 at $1,295,000 and sold for $1,508,000 July 24, 2022 for all cash!

The sellers also invested inside too with upgrades and renovations and I will share that in Part 2 but the yard renovation was a great investment and paid them back more than they ever thought they would get for this house.