TWEMM Your Yard for Curb Appeal

TWEMM your yard for the best curb appeal.

After location, curb appeal is the most important determining factor for buyers. Even if you've got a brand new roof, freshly painted trim and high-end windows, poorly managed landscape is a huge turnoff!

Fortunately, improvement in landscape is one place where you almost always get your money back. In fact, in many cases you can do most of the work yourself. Here's an acronym that I recommend to my sellers: TWEMM:

Trim: Trim shrubs away from the foundation, tree limbs away from the roof, and any other shrub or hedge that requires shaping.
Weed: Weed all beds, gardens, foundations, driveways, paths, patios, etc.
Edge: A clean, defined edge between your lawn and any planting beds is good for the beds and very easy on the eye.
Mow: Keep your lawn neatly mowed. Use a weed whacker to tidy up the edges of the lawn and around fenceposts, mailboxes, etc.
Mulch: Mulch your beds with the darkest mulch or compost you can find. A nice touch before a showing is to hose down the mulch to make it look darker; it sets off the color in the plantings. Many transfer stations have free mulch and compost for the taking.