Just a Little Lipstick

I had a very interesting conversation with a resident of one of my "favorite" neighborhoods this week.  It followed a sales meeting we had recently where the COO of Allen Tate came for some one on one time.  He was emphasizing the fact that, whether it is what we expected to be or not, we as Realtors are often the loudest cheerleaders for our favorite neighborhoods.  As he was talking, I immediately thought of this neighborhood. 

At the same time, I am in the process of putting my personal home on the market.  It isn’t the home we live in now, but it is our first home that we bought as a married couple (and our first home purchase in general).  Trust me, I’m getting to something here…

Anyway, preparing my home for the market really just brought home (no pun intended) to me some of the points made in the conversation with my friend.  Did you realize the exact same homes, but on 2 different streets, can look as if they are thousands of dollars apart simply because of little details?  At my home, for instance, I have put new decorative numbers on the mailbox, so you no longer notice the leaning mailbox post!  Removing a shelving unit from my carport made it seem twice as large.  I see so many similar things as I drive through town.  If no one at your home plays basketball anymore, take down the basketball goal.  If the trampoline hasn’t been jumped on in 2 years because it is crooked, take it out of the yard.  A mailbox cover over a rusted mailbox, new edging around a tree, a small garden flag… small small things can really improve the look of not just your home but the whole street.  THIS IS KEY.  Your home is a prize, and if little things we can do contribute to this, shouldn’t we be doing them?  Even if you aren’t planning to go on the market anytime soon, your “positive peer pressure” can influence your neighbor to do some housekeeping.  This can snowball into a substantially different look for your whole street when you DO decide to go on the market down the road!