If you're about to sell your house, there are a bunch of ways you can add value to your house by making small investments, but not as much into your house, but rather the homes around you.Obviously you'll need to paint, mow, and otherwise polish your shiny house to get your place up to speed, but if the neighbors don't look good, it doesn't matter how nice your place looks, you'll never sell it if your guy to the one side has dead cars in the yard. No matter, you can still fix it, add a ton of value to you, them and everybody will end up happy.
- If you have a neighbor (or five) with unkempt yards, offer to trim their lawns at no cost. They'll say yes I'm certain, since it's free, and the whole street will look better, and for a mere $100 or so.
- If you "almost" have a view, offer to trim your neighbors' trees. Explain that the trees may fall on their houses, or that there have dead & dangerous limbs. If they still say no, offer them $500 per tree, plus free removal. You'll get a fresh, new view, which will enhance your property's value through the roof, overnight.
- If the neighbor has a dead car in the yard, offer to help them "donate" the car to charity. If they won't do it, offer to help them prep it for sale. If they still won't take your help, offer them $500 per carcass to buy the damn things out from under them, so you can donate, sell or throw them away.
- Buy just $20 or $50 in short-lived flowers, and offer to plant them in all the street-wide yards. Do them in your own yard, those of your neighbors, and honestly everywhere within eye-shot.
The biggest factor is to insure that your just-before-sale listing agent is an experienced real estate agent. Don't count on the recommendation from a friend. Make sure your agent has sold a ton of properties, over a period of more than five-years, and especially in your area. I've tried to list houses for sale with people I liked who were nice enough, didn't have any experience in my area, and didn't have much experience in the neighborhood, though had been in the professional environment for a long time. It's enough to make me cry, and I say it because I lost maybe $30,000 on this exactly lackluster deal, but I'll let bygones be bygones if you just make sure you avoid my mistakes… I'll give you the realtors name to avoid, if you ask, but not publicly. He's a good enough guy, but no agent for listing properties in the place I had wished to have sold them, and it cost me two fortunes.
