Curb appeal, the first impression your home conveys to prospective buyers, should create an emotional desire to own the home and enjoy the lifestyle and status it represents.

Putting the best face on your home also should give a lasting impression that motivates buyers to cross the threshold and take that first step toward closing the deal.

Experts advise, more like a home improvement or exterior staging job than a cosmetic makeover, curb appeal that sings is particularly crucial now that more and more buyers are calling the shots.

Give your house model home level curb appeal for that "new" look and feel and buyers will beat a path to your door. That's because there's nothing like moving into a home that's ready to go, free of the need for initial touch ups and free of the ghosts of owners past.

So how do you put a new face on your old home? With lots of attention to detail, in not one, but all the components that make your home stand out on the block.

New paint. There's nothing like a fresh coat of paint to begin to give your home that "newly built" look, provided you don't rush the job. Choose a contemporary color scheme that doesn't clash with the neighborhood, but sets your home apart.

Don't just slather on a new coat over the old. Remove built up layers of paint before applying a new one. If you don't need to remove existing paint, you do need to prepare the surface.

Exterior surfaces attract dirt and grime from dust and pollutants in the air and that will prevent new layers from adhering properly and cause peeling.

New landscaping. Well-manicured landscaping is the frame for your home's curb appeal. The approach should be tidy, simple, healthy landscaping that's proportional to your home. Know how your landscaping will appear once its matured. From a practical sense, the plants and trees provide shade and passive cooling as they control erosion and pollution. They also provide privacy, especially if it's a single-level home adjacent to two-story houses.

New roof. Some real estate agents advise against adding a new roof when sales are brisk, but topping off a complete curb appeal remodeling job, mandates a new roof, gutters and downspouts.

Today's roofs can add contrasting color and textures to your home's look. Affordability comes with multi-dimensional composition asphalt shingles in decorator colors. For something cheaper than the real thing, but just as unique, try simulated slate shingles to turn a bland tract home into a more appealing abode.

New paving. New sidewalks, driveways and other non-landscaped surfaces help pave the way to curb appeal. The choices are endless and inexpensive -- concrete stamped with the impressions of cobblestones, interlocking concrete paving bricks, and more.

New doors, windows. Purposeful portals should make visitors feel welcome. New double doors, new energy-efficient windows framed with shutters, sectional garage doors with half moon or other interesting windows, all add the final curb appeal touches.

Published: November 7, 2006

Sellers need to think like buyers. At least they need to do so when market conditions are normal, when there are more homes for sale than there are buyers competing for them, and when inventory is counted in months of supply rather than weeks or days. Moreover, the need for sellers to think like buyers doesn't simply apply to presentation, curb appeal, and getting rid of the clutter. It also and especially applies to pricing.

The classic way of approaching pricing is by looking at comparable sales, and by looking at activity within the area of the home in question. However, in a market with increasing inventory and somewhat sluggish sales, it becomes increasingly important to look at all the competition. Sellers and their agents need to adopt a wider perspective than just the particular area where the home is located. They need to look outside of the tract or neighborhood, and to think about the choices that a prospective buyer will have.

Suppose that you are preparing to sell your property in the Happy Homes sub-division. Four to six months ago models like yours sold in the range of $650,000 to $675,000. There haven't been any sales recently, but two similar models are on the market, both for about thirty days, in the low $700,000 range. This might lead you to think that if you put your home on for just under $700,000 you'll be very competitive, right? Not necessarily.

Suppose also that there are other developments in the city, with homes of similar age and size, where the asking prices are hovering around $650,000. In that case, your home at $695,000 might not look so good after all. The point is, in some markets you may need to look beyond your immediate neighborhood.

I know, I know, I know. Your home is special; your neighborhood is unique; the other developments lack its cachet; etc. Sometimes all or some of those things are true. Other times, they are not. More to the point, even if they are true, they may not be sufficient to move buyers up another notch or two in what they are willing or able to pay.

When sellers are discussing pricing with their prospective listing agent, a good question to ask, or for the agent to pose, is, "If you (the agent) were working with a buyer in this approximate price range, looking for a home of this approximate size, what would you show him?" Often, answering that question may help both sellers and agents to broaden their thinking and to look beyond the particular neighborhood where the home is located. Just as a buyer would.

American home sellers don't want to be like American automobile makers who for too long focused only on themselves and each other, and failed to pay attention to the foreign competition that American consumers were looking at -- and buying.