Found 43 blog entries tagged as Improve Your Home's Curb Appeal.

It’s easy to make your Santa Cruz real estate look great in the spring and summer, but autumn lawn care and curb appeal is just as important. By taking the following steps, your property will be just as appealing to prospective buyers during the fall and winter as it would be during spring and summer:

1. Rake and dispose of leaves and pine needles. A yard that needs leaf removal can cost a seller. Leaving a mess of leaves that need to be raked can make a buyer think the house needs work, whether it does or does not.

2. Consider planting ornamental kale and cabbage in containers. Ornamental varieties from the cabbage family will add color and withstand the chills of winter.

3. Clean out the gutters. Clean, leaf-free gutters tell potential buyers…

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Before buyers ever set foot inside a Santa Cruz home, the very first thing they notice is its curb appeal. As autumn approaches and plants start to die, it becomes harder to keep your yard looking fresh. Take advantage of this warm weather to prep your property for the fall with the tips below.

1. Keep your lawn in tiptop shape. Adding grass seed, fertilizing your lawn and using some old-fashioned elbow grease may be all that’s necessary to set your house apart and signal to buyers that you care about keeping it well maintained.

2. Declutter your yard. The same advice you’ve always heard about staging the inside of your house is also true when it comes to your yard. Pick up the toys, pack away the yard gnome collection and store the boat or RV…

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If you’re putting your Santa Cruz home on the market, you know you want to make it irresistible to buyers. Here are five updates to consider:

1. Replace or paint garage doors. If you have an attached two-car garage, it is a very prominent feature of the front of your Santa Cruz home. You probably don’t even notice the garage doors anymore, but buyers will. If your garage doors are showing their age, consider painting or even replacing them for a new look.

2. Replace old windows. If your windows are single pane, this is a must. New double-pane windows will not only look great, they will increase the comfort and energy efficiency of your home significantly. In these energy-conscious times, buyers are not interested in a home with drafty old windows.

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With the kids settled back in school, September brings the promise of a normal routine and cooler weather. Don’t get sucked into autumn’s peaceful pace! It’s more important than ever to have your Santa Cruz home looking its best so that you can sell quickly and be in your new home before the holidays.

Most buyers will have multiple properties with comparable features to look at, so you’ll want your house to be the one that stands out — in a good way. To help, here are five inexpensive staging tips to separate your property from the pack.

1. Start with the front door. The front door of your house is the first thing potential buyers see. A few dollars spent on a fresh coat of paint and a couple of updated light fixtures can give your Santa Cruz home a…

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If you are about to put your Santa Cruz home on the market, it’s worth investing some time and a small amount of money in staging. It not only helps your home sell faster, but it can also help you get a higher price for your home.

Here are six staging tips: 

1. Banish clutter – Removing excess clutter is the single most important thing you can do when staging your Santa Cruz home. Clean, open space will sell your home. Non-descript, non-threatening décor allows people to envision living in your home and putting their individual stamp on the place. Ogling your collection of troll dolls, no matter how much they may be worth, will interfere with this process. Consider putting excess possessions in storage and keeping out only what is absolutely…

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Wouldn’t it be nice if all the doors in your Santa Cruz home swung freely and quietly and closed with a neat “click,” just the way they should? Maybe you’ve adapted to all the idiosyncrasies of each door and don’t even notice how they add vexation to your life. But visitors will notice — especially if they’re potential buyers. In today’s market, you can’t afford to have anything working against you, no matter how subliminal. So let’s fix those annoying doors. Pick your problem:

Lock problems.
If the key to the door to your Santa Cruz home is difficult to turn in the lock, don’t try to oil it. This will only attract more dust and make things worse. Instead, get a tube of graphite powder from the key department at your hardware store. Insert the tip of…

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If your Santa Cruz home’s bathroom is looking dull and dingy, you don’t have to wait until you win the lottery to give it a facelift. All you need is a little creativity, a lot of elbow grease and a weekend.

The best part about updating your bathroom is that it’s usually the smallest room in your Santa Cruz home, which means it’ll take less time and effort to give it a makeover. Here are seven tips to update your bathroom quickly and inexpensively:

1. Wash the shower walls: You want to remove soap scum and hard-water stains.

2. Re-grout the tub: If the grout joint, where the wall meets the tub, is damaged or discolored, scrape it out. Use a grout saw to remove the top 1/8 inch of grout from between the tiles. Wash the shower again and re-grout.…

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Whether you are interested in purchasing foreclosures in Santa Cruz to fix and flip or live in yourself, you’ll probably have to do some work to make your new purchase shine. Here are nine of the best ways you can spend your time and money:

1. Scope out the neighborhood before renovating:  You want to keep the home within the neighborhood standards and not go overboard. Drive or walk through the neighborhood and look at the other homes, landscaping, etc.

2. Pay attention to the key rooms: Kitchen and bathroom repairs and upgrades are at the top of the list of things to fix on foreclosures in Santa Cruz. They are the rooms that buyers will look at first and you, as an owner, will use the most.

3. Upgrade mechanics:  Repair, replace, or upgrade the…

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Open houses take some work on your part in order to make them successful, but they’re worth the effort. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, almost 50 percent of buyers used open houses as a key part of their home search. Additionally, it allows you to pull large numbers of buyers inside to preview your Santa Cruz home for sale.

Here are three tips for getting tons of buyers to attend the next open house for your Santa Cruz home for sale:

1. Invite the neighbors. You might think you don't want neighbors coming to your open house. Actually, neighbors are a great way to find a buyer for your home. They might have a friend or coworker who is looking for a home, they already know everything about your neighborhood and they have a vested…

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Most buyers consider bathrooms to be one of the most important aspects of a home. If you’re thinking of selling any time soon, give your bathroom a facelift to increase your Santa Cruz home’s value and help it sell faster.

Here are seven ways to fluff up your bathroom without breaking the bank:

1. Spring for a new toilet seat. Buy a well-known brand name, and spend the extra money for a quality seat material. Polypropylene, basically a hard plastic material, is a very good choice.

2. Remove old wallpaper. Rent a steamer or use the scrape method to remove old wallpaper. Paint the walls in a neutral color.

3. Lighten it up. Install updated lighting fixtures to make the bathroom in your Santa Cruz home instantly brighter.

4. Refinish your…

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