The fall is one of the trickier times to sell your home. The summer is the busiest season of the year for the housing market, and things really start to cool off when the fall rolls around. As we wrote in our post on things to know about selling your home in the fall, this isn’t always a bad thing.
However, there is no denying that fall weather can diminish any home’s curb appeal. This is especially true when you live in an area that experiences four distinct seasons. Cold weather and plants often do not mix well, and the fall can leave your flower beds in rough shape.
Just like the leaves fall off the trees as the seasons change, so do your flowers and shrubs wilt. However, the fall weather does more to your curb appeal than just affecting your plants. This post will zero in on ways to increase your curb appeal in the fall as you look to sell your home.
1. Plant Fresh Flowers and Shrubs
The first thing you can do to enhance your home’s curb appeal in the fall is plant some fresh flowers and shrubs right before you start showing the home. If you’re selling in the fall and you live in an area with four distinct seasons, there’s a good chance that your plants will already be wilted for the year. To remedy this, consider going to your local hardware store and planting some fresh flowers in your flower beds.
While they may not last very long, the goal is just for them to last long enough for the house to sell. It doesn’t matter if the flowers die after the new owners move in, because most owners prefer to plant their own flowers and shrubs anyway. However, by showing them how beautiful the yard can look during the right seasons, you may convince them to close on the deal faster or for a higher price.
Flowers are fairly cheap at the hardware store. By investing a couple of hundred dollars in your front flower beds before listing your home, you could set yourself up for success when it is time to sell.
2. Set Up Minimal Yet Attractive Fall Décor
Another way to enhance your home’s curb appeal in the fall is to decorate accordingly. While the rule of thumb is to steer clear of decorations, using tasteful fall décor on your exterior can be an advantage. Fall is one of those seasons that gets buyers in a cozy mood, and decorating with some pumpkins or gourds can make your home appear cozier to them.
After all, potential buyers want to envision living in a cozy home. While you don’t want to include personal effects or any items that make a statement, some subtle touches may be a welcome feature that helps put your home over the top.
Before trying this, you should absolutely discuss it with your realtor. There are times when this is a good idea, and other times when it is a terrible one. That will all depend on your home, your geographic area, the style and price of your house, and more.
If you decide to use real pumpkins or gourds as exterior decorations, be sure they’re fresh and healthy. There’s nothing worse than a slightly rotten pumpkin to greet your potential buyers to the house.
3. Pay Attention to Lighting Options
The sun goes down sooner in the fall than it does in the summer. To maximize curb appeal, you want to maximize the amount of time that your home is in the light. One way to do this is to install temporary lighting that showcases the highlights of your home’s exterior.
Do you have big, beautiful gables? Consider shining a floodlight on them in the evening. Similarly, if you have a noteworthy porch, yard feature, or garage, consider installing lights to show them off to potential buyers.
These lights can go with you to your next house, so long as the buyer knows they’re not included in the sale. Adding hours of light into the day means more hours that a potential buyer could drive by your house and be moved to ask for a tour.
Beyond just that, floodlights do more than just show what your home has to offer; they highlight it! If your floodlights turn on when the sun goes down, it means that the features they are shining on will be the first things that potential buyers see if they drive by after dark.
4. Pressure Wash Your Exterior
One of the easiest, cheapest, and fastest ways to enhance your home’s curb appeal is simply to clean it. Over time, residue can build up on your stone, brick, and siding. This buildup can be very unsightly, and it can make your house look older or less desirable than it actually is.
Pressure washers are pretty cheap to rent, and you can pressure wash the exteriors of most houses in one day. Pressure washers use soap and high-pressure streams of water to bust away dirt and grime from your home’s exterior walls. Taking the time to clean your exterior can move mountains when it’s time to sell your house, as it can leave the exterior looking almost brand new.
If you decide to do this, be sure to test the machine out on a less visible area of your house. Some older sidings and building materials are too weak to withstand the high-pressure blasts of water, and they can break while being cleaned. This is costly and something that you don’t want.
Also, if you’re cleaning your exterior, consider cleaning your driveway and sidewalks, too! You’d be amazed at the difference that a pressure washer can make.
5. Mow Your Lawn One Last Time
The final way to enhance your home’s curb appeal in the fall is to give your lawn one final mow. In places with four distinct seasons, it is usually a best practice to stop mowing once the fall months roll around. The grass stops growing, and cutting it after this point can cause it to die or sustain damage in the winter.
However, if you’re listing your home, one last mow probably won’t hurt. Getting your yard into its best condition can help showcase the beauty of your home’s natural landscape. Best of all, it hardly costs you anything to do, as it is something you likely have already been doing for years!
If the weather is already pretty cold, or if your grass has already stopped growing for the year, you probably shouldn’t mow it. You don’t want to cause any damage to the lawn right before you sell it!
Thanks for reading our post on ways to increase your home's curb appeal in the fall. While the fall may not be the best time of the year to sell your house, it can still be a great one so long as you take these steps to maximize your curb appeal.
If you visit Myrtle Beach or any other place in South Carolina and fall in love, we’re here to help. We at The Boyd Team are committed to helping you find the right property for your needs and dreams. Any question that you have about moving to the area and finding your dream home by the beach is our pleasure to answer. Feel free to send us an email at eddie@boydteam.com or text or call us at (843) 222-8566, and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Being true natives of the Grand Strand and Horry County and with over 25 years of experience in the local real estate market, whether buying or selling, we can help you make your dreams a reality.
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