Getting your house exterior open home ready
Appearances play a huge part in first impressions, especially when it comes to viewing open homes. When preparing your house for an open home, it’s easy to forget what first impressions your home gives off, and to many potential home buyers this can be a make or break. To help, we’ve compiled our 5 top tips that will ensure the exterior of your house is ‘open-home’ ready.
1. Decks
Take a look at the condition of your deck. Is it looking in good shape for a potential buyer? Decks can easily suffer from overgrown moss and lichen, which will cause the surface of the deck to become unappealing. An easy solution is to water blast it or get a hard bristled broom and brush it down. Either will be ideal for slippery fungus and growth and will quickly remove it from your deck. If you want to go a step further, you could also add a new coat of stain or paint to ensure that it can endure the different conditions that will be thrown its way.
2. Roof
Make sure your roof is clean and tidy with no debris, to make it look presentable for your open home. You could also do further work like ensuring your roof is clear from sprouting plants, or replacing loose roof claddings for some long term maintenance that will appeal to potential buyers.
3. Exterior walls
The exterior of your home endures many seasons and likely will have gradually have built up a collection of who knows what on it. It’s the first part of the house a potential buyer will see, so taking care of it is important. Book a professional house washer or do it yourself and get your house looking brand new. If you can reach the main spots, get a soft bristled broom to brush it off. Checking the foundations, soffits and the fascia for discolouration, flaking, cracking or rotting is important too as this protects the integrity of your home.
4. Windows
During the colder months it’s natural to have some mould and mildew built up behind curtains. Making sure your windows and window sills are clean and clear is key when having an open home. By combining a good glass detergent and a soft cloth will easily eliminate anything unsightly.
5. Gardens
By making sure your lawn is neat, mowed, with a well-kept, weeded and trimmed garden, potential buyers will see a different garden that you probably never saw. It makes a huge difference aesthetically and greatly improves your chances of selling.
Taking the time to clean the exterior of your home will not only improve first impressions, but add value to your home in the long term. By keeping on top of your household maintenance you’ll ensure you don’t have too much work to do, come time to sell your home.
Poll: Have you ever had a scary flight?
A plane flying from Christchurch to Wellington on Sunday had smoke billowing out of the engine and upon landing, passengers had to open the emergency exit and jump out. Have you had any scary flying experiences?
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56.7% Yes!
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43.3% No, it's always been smooth flying
ALEXANDER ROAD SPEED LIMIT
Alexander Road in Trentham-Wallaceville of which 50% separates a golf course from a military encampment enclosure and the rest has mostly high fenced off industrial and residential areas on both sides, should have a 70km speed restriction.
Only a short time ago the road had a 80km restriction and was reduced to a pedestrian 50km much to the frustration of many. It has never been an accident prone stretch of road.
The several round-abouts ensure speed is reduced to 30-40km when these things occur.
I recently stayed a few days in Feilding - often given the title of the best town in NZ - and one of the lengthy main streets has a 70km speed restriction despite a predominance of unfenced residential properties on both sides.
LIVE Q&A: Financial well-being with Cat Rikihana
Today (Wednesday) we're having another Neighbourly Q&A session. This time with Cat Rikihana who is a financial mentor, educator and financial capability practitioner at Financial Freedom Trust in the Manawatū.
Cat Rikihana (Ngai Tahu) like many financial mentors around Aotearoa, works with individuals, groups and whānau to successfully navigate financial stress and hardship. Mentors work alongside whānau to increase confidence and skills in personal money management and advocate with and for clients. Cat enjoys delivering online and face-to-face workshops which provide opportunities to normalise money conversations and encourages people to make time to consider their financial well-being.
Cat is also an independent financial well-being coach, educator and indigenous life coach at Restore Wellness Network. She is a published writer and currently in the process of writing her first non-fiction book: 'A financial self-care guide for women in Aotearoa.'
She'd love to answer any questions you may have around your budgeting and spending habits, strategies for saving, retirement planning and debt. (Don't be shy, but be mindful about what you disclose!)
↓ Share your questions now and Cat will reply to your comment below ↓
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