Evaluating Neighborhoods

When sellers think about curb appeal, they usually think about their own front yard and the effort required to keep the house looking good. When prospective buyers look at homes, they evaluate both the house and the neighborhood. The price that your neighbors get for their house will have an impact on the value of your home.

This knowledge makes its own case for doing your part to make the neighborhood appealing. The time to take remedial action is before you think about moving, especially if your house is the one with peeling paint, over-grown bushes, rusty bicycles, and cracked sidewalks. The value of your home will be largely determined by the recent selling prices for comparable properties, and neighborhood “eyesores” do not help to keep the values up. Even if you don’t feel that you will ever move again, you will enjoy living in a house that is a real source of pride.