Spring is finally here! We made it through another winter, but this means that you have some cleaning and repairing to do if you want to sell your home.

Curb appeal refers to the attractiveness of your property, specifically when it is up for sale. Traditionally, the better your curb appeal, the more likely it is that your home will sell.

Spring also happens to be one of the busiest selling periods in the industry. The weather is warmer, flowers are in bloom and people are trying to settle into new homes before the fall. If you're getting ready to sell this spring, here are some tips on how to boost your curb appeal after a long winter!

Rake the lawn and trim back trees
At this point, your lawn is probably looking pretty sickly. Now is the time to get your lawn back up to spring standards. Rake and pick up any leaves, sticks and debris that may have collected during the colder months. Clearing these out will leave a fresh space for that green grass to start growing back.

Your trees and bushes are also going to need attention. Cut back any dead branches and trim up any areas that have gotten carried away in their growth. A clean, trim yard will give new life to your home!

Replace dead plants and shrubs
Take some time to freshen up your garden beds and shrubbery. Because you're selling, you don't want to plant any high-maintenance plants, but you want to have some fresh spring flowers to welcome potential buyers. Weed the gardens, remove any dead plants, and plant new, brightly colored flowers.

Clean gutters
There is one thing that always comes with spring - rain. Make sure that you clear out your gutters of any debris and make any necessary repairs. Not only does this look nicer, but it will also allow all that rain to flow through with no issues.

Wash home's exterior
When spring arrives, car washes fill up with people getting all of the mud, leftover salt stains and last remnants of winter off of their vehicles. Why wouldn't we do the same thing to our homes?

A good pressure wash to the exterior of your home can really spruce the place up. If you don't have the proper equipment, or are unsure of how to use the equipment, consider reaching out to a local company to do the job instead.

Clean up driveway and walkway
Driveway maintenance depends on what type of driveway you have, and if you experience the repercussions of ice & snow. For example, if you have a gravel driveway and you had to have it plowed because of snow, you might have to replace some of the gravel that got swept away, or clean up gravel that got pushed into your yard. Asphalt driveways might need to be resurfaced after damage caused by extreme freezing and thawing throughout the winter.

Driveway and walkway repairs are more likely for homes in northern regions, but if you live in an area that has a mild winter, hopefully you just need to pick up debris and pressure wash.

Camouflage Eyesores
Get out the lawn decorations and start covering up some of those eye-sores that you have to have in your yard. These can include utility boxes, meters and grates. If you can do something to make them look nicer, or just hide them completely, this will make your yard look more appealing.

 

Looking for more advice during the buying/selling process? Visit www.crye-leike.com/blogs for more real estate tips and tricks!

ABOUT CRYE-LEIKE: Crye-Leike Real Estate Services (www.crye-leike.com), a full service real estate company for over 40 years, is ranked as the third largest independently owned real estate firm in the nation and the largest serving Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and the Mid-South. Crye-Leike has more than 3,200 sales associates, over 800 employees and 140+ company-owned and franchise offices spread across nine states. It generated $6.5 billion in sales volume and 29,925 closed transaction sides corporate wide in 2019 - its biggest year ever - and is on track to achieve the company's goal of $6.8 billion in sales volume this year.