Curb Appeal…the rest of the story

You have no doubt heard of the importance of curb appeal and location in real estate. Buyers often drive by homes prior to scheduling a showing, to assess both location and curb appeal. While that has a lot of value because it can give you a real feel for what is around a property and how you feel about the neighborhood, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

The photo above is of our back yard in my town home complex. It’s right outside our back door but you would never know it was there by simply driving by. We almost didn’t go into a house we owned in Duluth because it was on a busy street and we knew we didn’t want to live on a busy street. Our Realtor took us anyway, and it was the house we bought. The living space was oriented to the back, and we had a creek running through our glorious back yard there as well…we didn’t even notice the busy street except for the convenience of always having the snow cleared from our street first in the neighborhood.

I had a similar experience this weekend. Last week a client told me about a property she had seen at an open house that had unassuming curb appeal and was across the street from a school on a somewhat busy street. She said she was surprised when she went in…it was the home of the builder of the development and had a huge lot…its views were all to the back and it felt like a private nature retreat. Because she told me about it I stopped there with another client this weekend. It wasn’t the right fit for either client…but because of interior space, not location or curb appeal. It actually had too much space for my clients…it was bigger than expected from the curb, both inside and out.

It happens over and over again that people are surprised either way when they get inside a property…don’t eliminate a property solely based on outside appearances…if it is in the right general location/neighborhood for you be sure to get inside for the rest of the story.