Summer is over and most homeowners are winding down the yard maintenance, however if your house is on the market for sale, your work has not ended.
Your front yard is the first impression a potential buyer has of your property and the following tips just might be the finishing (or should I say beginning) touch that you need.
1. Pressure wash your driveway and front walk. Pressure washing is a great way to remove years of grunge and grime that builds up on concrete, pathways and patios. It will eliminate ugly oil stains and the danger that someone will slip on slick yuck or mud. Sometimes, you will need a cleaner to remove extra difficult stains, but the effort is worth it.
2. Remove cobwebs from porch ceiling, light fixtures and patios. Fall is the mating season for spiders and cobwebs are abundant. Be sure to remove any that you find, inside or outside of house. It can suggest "differed maintenance" to a buyer, which tends to start a negative feeling in a buyers mind.
3. Place Fall Blooming Perennials at Front Entrance. Everyone gets the flower planting craze in the spring but don't forget about the Chrysanthemum flowers, ornamental kales, flowering cabbages and dusty miller. These will provide the landscape with color well after frosty weather arrives. But don't be afraid to mix in some tender annuals, too. Their contribution will be brief, but spectacular.
4. Rake or Blow Away Falling Leaves . Yes the sound of yard blowers can be extremely annoying and as soon as you finish and look back you can often feel like you need to do it again, but this job has to be done. If you are trying to cut back on your "carbon footprint", then grab the rake and get to work. At our house, this is the final chore with the biggest pay off. We love to see the clean driveway and lawn and potential buyers will notice more if you DON'T remove the debris.
5. Mulch Your Flower Beds. Mulching is a job that makes other garden chores easier because, as well as making your beds look neat, it does a lot of other neat things. Keeping weeds at bay is one of the other advantages. It's hard to think of another job that gives so much garden payback. But be aware that Cocoa Mulch smells like chocolate and contains theobromine, an ingredient used to make chocolate - which is toxic to dogs.
Hopefully the above 5 tips will get you started in making that Great First Impression to your potential buyers.
