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Cape Town - First impressions matter, but making your house look prettier from the street can pose great challenges to a seller who lives in a flat or a sectional title development.
Home owners putting their properties on the market will hear the term “kerb appeal” over and over again, but creating it is a little more challenging if you live in a flat or a townhouse complex.
Kerb appeal is quite simply defined as “the visual attractiveness of a house as seen from the street”, but it’s a very important factor in the psychology of marketing a residential property.
Creating basic kerb appeal for a house is quite easy; you can give the front of the house, wall and gate a fresh lick of paint, mow verges, plant flowers, weed paths and tidy up anything unsightly such as discarded gardening tools, hoses, old bicycles and empty wine bottles.
In a flat or a townhouse complex, though, those options are severely limited by body corporate rules and the inability of a lone tenant to redecorate an entire lobby or paint a whole block.
This means sectional title owners need to be slightly more creative, says Sue Peto, sectional title specialist at Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty.
Doing a few small things can not only give your property an edge above the competition, but also bump up the value, she says.
“For example, start where the buyers will and give your front door a fresh coat of paint. If it doesn’t go against body corporate rules, a vibrant colour is guaranteed to draw the eye in and an expensive, shiny door knob should be the first quality finish the buyer comes across,” Peto says.
Greenery is another easy way to make people feel like they’re getting more bang for their buck.
“It’s worth investing in some top end plant containers and putting them at the door. The bonus is you get to take them with you to create an impressive entrance for your next home, but while you’re selling they’re a good psychological tool to denote luxury.”
A designer unit number will also add to the sense of opulence.
Peto said in a sectional title property, sellers should treat their entrance areas as part of their kerb appeal makeover.
“Sellers need to ensure that entrance halls are attractively lit and smelling good, as well as completely decluttered of any jackets, shoes or umbrellas.
“It’s also worthwhile to hang a piece of art and install a couple of warm downlighters to highlight the piece, or to simply cast a warm glow on a beautiful flower arrangement.”
When making these changes sellers should always bear in mind the overall appearance and theme of their home, says Claude McKirby, director of Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty in Cape Town’s southern suburbs.
McKirby says sellers should ensure that the entrance area "flows towards one cohesive aesthetic that a buyer can easily latch on to".
This will make them feel like they understand the home and how they would feel living in it - and therefore buy it, he says.
“(There are houses which) benefit from the saying location, location, location but every house can be improved with a little presentation, presentation, presentation,” said McKirby.
- Fin24
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Home owners putting their properties on the market will hear the term “kerb appeal” over and over again, but creating it is a little more challenging if you live in a flat or a townhouse complex.
Kerb appeal is quite simply defined as “the visual attractiveness of a house as seen from the street”, but it’s a very important factor in the psychology of marketing a residential property.
Creating basic kerb appeal for a house is quite easy; you can give the front of the house, wall and gate a fresh lick of paint, mow verges, plant flowers, weed paths and tidy up anything unsightly such as discarded gardening tools, hoses, old bicycles and empty wine bottles.
In a flat or a townhouse complex, though, those options are severely limited by body corporate rules and the inability of a lone tenant to redecorate an entire lobby or paint a whole block.
This means sectional title owners need to be slightly more creative, says Sue Peto, sectional title specialist at Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty.
Doing a few small things can not only give your property an edge above the competition, but also bump up the value, she says.
“For example, start where the buyers will and give your front door a fresh coat of paint. If it doesn’t go against body corporate rules, a vibrant colour is guaranteed to draw the eye in and an expensive, shiny door knob should be the first quality finish the buyer comes across,” Peto says.
Greenery is another easy way to make people feel like they’re getting more bang for their buck.
“It’s worth investing in some top end plant containers and putting them at the door. The bonus is you get to take them with you to create an impressive entrance for your next home, but while you’re selling they’re a good psychological tool to denote luxury.”
A designer unit number will also add to the sense of opulence.
Peto said in a sectional title property, sellers should treat their entrance areas as part of their kerb appeal makeover.
“Sellers need to ensure that entrance halls are attractively lit and smelling good, as well as completely decluttered of any jackets, shoes or umbrellas.
“It’s also worthwhile to hang a piece of art and install a couple of warm downlighters to highlight the piece, or to simply cast a warm glow on a beautiful flower arrangement.”
When making these changes sellers should always bear in mind the overall appearance and theme of their home, says Claude McKirby, director of Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty in Cape Town’s southern suburbs.
McKirby says sellers should ensure that the entrance area "flows towards one cohesive aesthetic that a buyer can easily latch on to".
This will make them feel like they understand the home and how they would feel living in it - and therefore buy it, he says.
“(There are houses which) benefit from the saying location, location, location but every house can be improved with a little presentation, presentation, presentation,” said McKirby.
- Fin24
Add your voice to our Property Issue:
* Write a guest post
* Share a personal story
* Ask the experts
