Brad Winget

When house hunting, curb appeal is very important. It can only take a few minutes to make a great impression. When a potential buyer pulls up to your house, they are asking themselves, “Is this place worth getting out of the car to look at?” One major appeal is the having the home look “framed up” meaning it needs to look like a picture when people pull up. They expect to see tasteful paint colors, well-trimmed grass, and fresh flowers.

Real Estate agents have identified curb appeal as a key way to make a property more attractive to buyers. It’s hard to quantify a return on an investment, but curb appeal is the best way to get quick action and the most value out of your property.

In today’s market, if people see a property is turn-key and won’t have to spend time resodding or painting a property, you’re more likely to gain more interest. With interest in a property, you find yourself in a good situation of multiple-offer situation. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s typical for the price to go up by 3 percent per bidder, this can add up to $10,000 over the asking price quickly.

The best part to all of this is that you don’t have to spend  lot to make big changes on your home’s exterior appearance. Keep it simple to start the makeover by cutting the grass, power washing the porch and walkway and getting rid of the clutter.

Additionally, tackling these one or all four of these perk-up projects will enhance your home’s curb appeal.

HARDWARE

The house numbers, a nice wall-mounted mailbox and a pouch light can add interest to your home’s exterior. All of the hardware should match both in style and finish. You’ll also want to choose and hardware that coordinates with the style of the home.

PAINTING

For about $25 you can buy a gallon of exterior paint. That should be good enough to added new color, or freshen up your front door, shutters, and trim. Don’t be afraid of bold colors, just make sure they complement the other shades on your house and in your landscape. If the rest of the house is peeling, you may need to outlay more cash and paint the whole thing, or at least the sides the faces the street.

GO GREEN

Planting some flowers along your front walkway, or adding planters by your front door, or flower boxes on the windows to give your home a welcoming feel. You can purchase pre-planted containers from your local garden center or create your own with some of your personal favorite plants. Just make sure to keep up the routine maintenance on your plants after you plant them. Dead flowers aren’t good curb appeal.

BRING THE INDOORS OUTSIDE

Maybe the most important aspect of finding success in your investments. It is imperative to stay up to date with the laws, regulations, and trends in the business. Investors who fall behind not only risk losing money, but they also can run into legal problems if they ignore the laws in place.

When it comes to real estate, there are many ways investors can profit. From joint ventures, to wholesaling, there are many ways to gain profit. It takes being a little savvy to become successful in this very competitive arena.

To become successful in the world of real estate investment there are habits shared by the best of the best. Here are some traits you can adopt to become successful in real estate investing.

Planning

To be a top real estate investor you must approach all of your activities as a business transaction. A good business plan will let you set goals that help you strive and achieve short and long term goals. All of this knowledge will allow you as an investor to see big picture. This will help you maintain focus on the goals rather than on setbacks.

Know The Market

To be successful you must acquire an in-depth knowledge of the selected market. Keep tabs on the current trends, know the consumers spending habits, mortgage rates and the unemployment rate. This will allow you have awareness of the current conditions, and plan for the future.

Honesty

The most obvious little thing can go a long way. The most successful real estate investors maintain high ethical standards. Real estate involves directly working with people, so the reputation of the investor is likely to go a long way. A good real estate investor knows it's better to be fair rather than seeing what they can get away with.

Find a Niche

Its very important to find a niche and develop a focus in order to gain the specialized knowledge. Taking the time to learn and develop a high level of understanding will pay off as in investor. Once a market is mastered, a wise investor can move on to additional areas using the same in-depth approach.

Know The Risk

Just like investing in the stock market, there are plenty of risks involved in investing. However, one important aspect to this is real estate investors are more likely to see advertisements claiming they can make a lot of money easily and quickly. These can be deceiving. A wise investor knows the risks, not only in terms of financial deals but with the legal implications as well.

Find The Right Accountant

In real estate investing it’s taxes that comprise a huge portion of your yearly expenses. Understanding current laws can be complicated, and can take away from business you may have to make. A good investor knows to hire the right accountant for them to handle the business’s books.

Staying Educated