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This is the third post in my series of home selling tips which are aimed to be short in length and cover items which are many times overlooked by sellers and or agents. See list of prior seller tips with links at bottom of this post. The front door and porch should not be ignored or forgotten about by sellers.
I have seen on several occasions homes for sale in Katy and the surrounding areas where the front door was a mess and or the whole front porch and entryway appeared to be in poor condition. Many times just a simple cleanup would have made a huge difference in the appearance. A potential buyer walks behind their Realtor and waits while the Supra key or lockbox is attended to and the door is opened. Their eyes cannot miss a poorly maintained door and entryway area. I have seen potential buyer’s immediately have a frown on their face when confronted with this situation. I have even had some folks who tell me they did not want to go inside.
Numerous homes in this area have a door or made out of wood or metal or some other material. These doors do require regular maintenance by cleaning with a wood cleaner or other cleaner. If the appearance does not improve by cleaning then the door will require to be refinished by painting or staining with a varnish top coat. Due to the hot and humid weather here front doors take a beating and it does not take long for a quality door to have a weather beaten appearance.
Look at the door’s hardware and consider updating or cleaning if needed. Also examine the door threshold and fix is needed.
The front entryway is another area which I think sellers and their agents just forget or slip their minds how important this area is to prospective buyers. If there are windows on the sides of the door and or above the door these windows need to be washed or fixed if necessary and be easy to see through. If a porch area exists then the tile or concrete should be cleaned by power washing. Any old newspapers, advertising flyers, leaves/branches or trash should be thrown away. The doorbell should work and be tested to make sure it is operating properly.
I realize once again my comments are all common sense types but common sense is not so common anymore. Fixing the poor door and entryway problem situations most of the time are quick and inexpensive ones to correct.
