Making a great first impression is essential when selling your home – those first few seconds when the buyer sets eyes on your property create a lens through which they judge their entire experience.
Stories are common of buyers who don’t even stop their car when they see a dilapidated property, or one that has obviously not been maintained. And when you’re spending cold, hard cash on a marketing campaign, you need to keep every prospective buyer interested.
One feature of the home that’s fundamental to creating an alluring first impression is the porch. It’s an underrated asset, and sellers should see their porch as a welcoming gateway to the rest of the home.
Dismissing it as an irrelevancy compared with the rest of the property is a serious mistake. An entryway that’s dirty, or cluttered with shoes or bicycles, is an immediate turn-off.
There are a few tips and tricks to creating a porch that offers a warm welcome.
If you’re preparing to sell your home, or considering the possibility, here are six ideas for using your porch to lure buyers across the threshold and towards a purchase.
Less is more – It’s easy to get carried away with dressing your porch, especially if your agent has given you a lecture on making a first impression! However, do not clutter the porch as buyers love the idea of space.
Easy maintenance – A porch that features a dark colour, such as a brown or burgundy, will ease the burden of keeping it clean. White porches show all the dirt, grime and marks of family life.
Furniture – Invest in hard-wearing materials for seats and tables. If you love the wooden look, you can’t go past teak. For those on a tighter budget, quality plastic wicker is long-lasting. Check out the quality of the metal used for the structure. Marine-grade is often seen as the optimal quality.
Dressing up – In fall and winter, use cushions with earthy tones, such as ochre, browns and oranges, to capture the beauty of this time of year. These rich colours will add an extra dimension.
Bright lights – A porch always benefits from good lighting. It’s a great safety feature, of course, but it also offers a strong allure in late winter afternoons and early summer evenings – a popular time for buyer walkthroughs.
Splash of colour – Plants will soften the lines of your home, so long as you use planters and deploy them judiciously. If you plant some winter colour, such as witch-hazel and hellebores, you’ll brighten your home during your sales campaign. Play around with how you might group your planters to enhance the visual impact.