Does exterior of home need 'staging'?

Dear Joan,

I know you have talked about staging a house before and I don’t believe that we need to do that to sell our home. As we consider choosing a Realtor to list our home, we have been wondering what we should do on the exterior. Our house is about 12 years old. My wife says it doesn’t look bad, but it doesn’t look good either. I am worried that if we spend a lot of money dressing it up, then we will never get it back when we sell the house. She said I should ask you what to do.

Dear Doubter,

I think you should select a bright, professional Realtor first, who will give you a list of things you could do to improve your house and hopefully benefit financially from the investment. Each neighborhood and home is different, so it is hard to say exactly what would be best for your home, but I can give you the general guidelines from the elite Realtor members of the Council of Residential Specialists. I have scheduled showings and have had clients reluctant to enter houses because they did not like the exterior.

The basics that are usually done on a home or duplex to increase the appeal are:

• Clean up and trim all of the landscaping.

• Power wash the exterior of the home, walkways and driveway.

• Wash all windows — inside and outside.

• Repaint or stain the front door and make the entry inviting.

• Repair or replace siding or stone work.

• Repaint exterior or garage doors if applicable and needed.

According to the 2015 remodeling cost and value report, produced by Remodeling magazine with the National Association of Realtors and Realtor Magazine, here are the percentages you can expect to get back directly from the following four improvements:

• 101.8 percent for replacement of your entry door.

• 92.2 percent for replacement of stone veneer.

• 88.5 percent for a mid-range new garage door.

• 84.3 percent for siding replacement.

If you do the clean-up and can afford to enhance your curb appeal, you could sell your home up to three times faster, according to some Realtors. Buyers simply have a better attitude when they enter a well-kept, spruced-up home and will expect to like the interior, rather than fear that the deferred maintenance outside will be seen again on the inside. You definitely want it done before they come take the professional photographs. Good luck.

Joan Harned is an owner and broker for Keller Williams Mountain Properties and heads up Team Black Bear, her own real estate team. Harned has been selling real estate in Eagle County for 27 years, is a past chairman of the Vail Board of Realtors, past Realtor of the Year, past director on the Great Outdoors Colorado Board and a member of the Luxury and Land Institutes. Contact Harned with your real estate questions at Joan@TeamBlackBear.com, 970-337-7777 and www..TeamBlackBear.com.

Originally published 5/6/16 and can be seen here.