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 the house and the neighborhood. If you need to move, the price that
your neighbors get for their house could 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 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.
