First-Time Home Seller Checklist (part 1)

Take Down The Naked Painting And Wash The Siding!

Most sellers think the big wins come from granite and gadgets. We think the real wins happen earlier, when a buyer walks in and instantly feels two things: this home is cared for, and moving in will be easy. We share a first-time home seller to-do list built for real life, from what to put away to what to fix so you do not lose a great offer over a totally preventable issue.

We get specific about personal items and privacy, including how modern real estate photography can keep family photos off the internet while still letting your home feel warm during private showings. Then we dig into the work that changes everything fast: decluttering so buyers can actually see the space, upgrading lighting so rooms feel open instead of dim, and handling pet odors or pet damage the right way before that first weekend of showings.

We also bring in the legal angle with a quick, clear explanation of property disclosure requirements and why some cities require truth in housing style inspections. To finish, we cover paint, deep cleaning that signals pride of ownership, why a home inspection before selling can create buyer confidence, and curb appeal fixes that make the front elevation shine.

If you want to sell your house fast, maximize your home sale price, and reduce stress, hit play, share this with a friend who is planning a move, and subscribe so you do not miss part two. If you found it helpful, leave us a review and tell us which to-do item you are starting with.

You can always find U. S. Home Talk and connect with the hosts and the community at their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/U.S.HomeTalk/ or at our website, USHomeTalk.com

Transcript

Welcome And Cast Introductions

Jason Walgrave 0:17

And welcome back, folks. This is U.S. Home Talk. And it is Wednesday at noon Central Standard Time. We do appreciate you tuning in. Jason Walgrave here with Walgrave Real Estate Group and the Minnesota Real Estate team at Remax Advantage Plus. We've also got the great Marcus Walgrave with Heg Realtors out of the Toufall South Dakota real estate market, the great state of South Dakota. And we have the there's no equal to this next guy. No equal. Mortgage Michael Overson with Luminate Bank. Woo! Coming at you. And then of course we have our incredible, amazing producer, Evan Little. Evan is not only the man, the myth, the legend that makes us happen every week, but he is our insurance uh guru. He knows all things insurance uh with Paragon. And so uh folks, we appreciate you tuning in today. Got a big show planned. Um it's gonna be a two-part uh topic, and so it's gonna take two shows to do. Marcus reminded me before the show that sometimes I'm long-winded and I need to shorten it up. So we'll see what we can do about that today. Um make it make two shows out of it. That's great advice, Mark. Make two shows out of it. Make two shows out of it. Um spot on.

Mike Ouverson 1:39

Only a brother can make that comment of like, look, dude, you gotta shut up and you gotta you gotta shorten these things up, right? That's a that comes from me. The message is different, right? But when it comes from your brother, right, it's like, okay, no, it's from my own brother. It must be true. I gotta, I gotta do it.

Ways To Reach The Team

Jason Walgrave 1:56

I mean, Overson, you're basically the fifth brother in the Walgreen clan. So I mean, true. You you could also pass that. Uh um, what do we call that? Um constructive criticism. Is that what that's called?

Mike Ouverson 2:08

Yeah, very tactful with it.

First-Time Home Seller Roadmap

Personal Items And Photo Privacy

Jason Walgrave 2:10

We we all enjoy that. We enjoy that. Bring it. Uh, folks, best way to get a hold of us is our website anytime, 24 hours a day, ushometalk.com. You can connect with uh Marcus, Mike, myself, Evan, all of our fantastic U.S. Home Talk partners. We have a real estate line set up. You can text in your questions or call this number anytime to connect with uh any of us here on the show. 612-234-7585. Uh we love um comments, questions, uh all things real estate. Uh shoot it, shoot those over and we'll get them answered right away. That number is also um uh the 24-hour real estate hotline number. So you can call it anytime uh outside of the show and connect with all of us. And then uh Facebook and YouTube, however you are connecting with us, um, you can ask questions in the comment section. We'll get those answered as well. I think a lot of folks are are streaming us uh on the streaming platforms um outside of the noon time on Wednesdays. Uh, we do appreciate however it is that and whenever it is that you do uh tune in. And uh, you know, if you've got show ideas, uh we send them over. You've got um partnership ideas. If you look at our UShometalk.com website and and there's a a service, uh company that you need that we don't have, let us know what you're looking for. We'll go out and we'll uh we'll interview them, we'll vet them, and uh we'll make them a part of uh US Home Talk to make sure that all of your needs, all of your real estate needs are uh taken care of. So today's topic, first time home seller. You bought a home, maybe it was two, three, five, ten, fifteen years ago. Uh now now you're a first-time home seller. Uh whole number of things that we got to do to uh get your house prepared uh to sell uh to sell for the first time. And um, you know, we always we we want to meet with people really as soon as possible. So even if you're thinking about selling uh next fall or next spring, or you're thinking about selling two or three years from now, um we want to meet with you right now and let's talk about what we can do to prepare your home, uh to uh show it in the best possible light and and to get as many buyers through the door. It's all about exposure. Marcus and I are our marketing plans, that's what we um that's what we're experts in, is exposing your home to the most potential buyers, which in turn will sell it for the highest amount in the quickest time. So today we're gonna be talking about uh today and next week, we're gonna be talking about as a first-time home seller, uh, what that to-do list is. So let's get cracking. Um remove personal items. So so that this one is um there's some controversy uh on this one, specifically around uh family photos. Uh you'll you know, you'll watch a lot of shows on TV or um you know a lot of agents will say, take them all down. Everything personal, all the pictures, everything. Um, I I don't I don't give that advice. I think that uh personal photos um are fine. Um if it if there's an extraordinary amount, meaning you've got kindergarten through twelfth grade on every step going up the stairs or down the stairs, that that's a little too much. But little much. A little much. But but I've also I I think personal items are fine. Um if there's if there's too many uh of those, uh specifically stuff, right? If you've got too much stuff, uh you got to put it away, whether it goes in the closet or the garage or even better, a pot or storage unit. Um if you can clean out those personal items, it allows buyers to imagine that home being theirs. Uh, if you got too much stuff, too many personal items, they're distracted, and it's it's harder for them to imagine that.

Marcus Walgrave 6:02

Yeah, I I think Jason Wright, um more of a privacy topic that was talked about. And I think that that's a great part about like today and today's modern technology we have from our real estate photographers. They have the software. They can say, hey, if you want me to put a Hallmark family on that picture frame, I can. Or if you you know don't worry about turning on the fireplace, it's July, we get it, it's hot out. We'll just put some flames on there for you. And so that's where like you can leave up some of the family photos. Only the people who are scheduling private showings are going to see those photos, but then the online presence can be filtered with you know, maybe some AI family photos and and kind of protect you that way.

Jason Walgrave 6:46

So that that's a great point, Marcus. I've had clients over the years where you know we do the photos. We always uh we have professional photos, nothing but high definition. Um, you know, the best real estate photographers in town. That's who we use. And so when we get those, we send that package over to our sellers uh and we say go through them, you know, let me know if if uh there's something you don't like or you know you want uh specifically. And then sometimes sellers will say, you know, I love the great room photo. Um let's take that fan. I don't want my personal pictures of me and my kids or my spouse or my family. I don't want those online, like you just said, Marcus. Um that it's fine when private shortings are occurring, but they just don't want it for the internet world. And you know, there's some weirdos out there, right? They don't want them to see that. So we can do that. We could change those, we can blur them out. Um, right now we're doing, you know, we're doing a little modification on yards uh on the grass because this is this is not a good time to highlight your your yard in in most cases. Um, but it the yards are gonna look fantastic in two weeks once they've been watered and you know, weed and feed and all that good stuff. So we can um we can do stuff to to really uh present the property in the way that it should be, uh, in a in a way that it will be, say, in two weeks, if you're talking about exterior stuff. And so um we can make those changes.

Mike Ouverson 8:07

And and for the folks listening too, so we're we're based out of Minneapolis, and then uh that's where me and Jason are at, right? The Minneapolis metro area. Marcus is in Sioux Falls, South Dakota area. So we're in the northern Midwest there. We don't have the green grass. If you're in if you're in more southern states where you've gotten some, you know, more sunlight and stuff like that, you're probably sitting just fine on the exterior stuff. But if we make any comments of how our grass is brown, that's because we're up here where it literally got to 34 degrees last night and we had frost warning still, and it's May.

Marcus Walgrave 8:36

So hey, hey, you guys speak for yourself. I've I've been mowing already. Yeah.

Mike Ouverson 8:41

I mean, we've had a mowed. It's had a mowed.

Jason Walgrave 8:44

I'm not I'm gonna I'm gonna admit this. I I've mowed the front yard four times already. So the the the rest of the yard's only been mowed once, but you know, I'm kind of like the lines and you know, and so so going back to the the personal stuff here.

Mike Ouverson 8:59

So question, right? You how about unique personal items? A unique personal item, okay? Um I'm thinking of the family or the or maybe it's the husband and wife couple. It's like, what's that? What's the what's the like the painting where it's just the naked dude, he's just got a leaf covering this junk, and he's like, is it David or something that painted David? Right? What happens if like a married couple like reenacted that and they had like the mural of them doing that up on the wall? Does that need to come down, or do you leave that up there?

Marcus Walgrave 9:27

No, that that needs that first photo on the listing.

Mike Ouverson 9:31

First photo on the listing.

Declutter So Buyers Can Focus

Jason Walgrave 9:33

I would recommend taking that one down. I have some art included. Some stuff that I've seen that I've recommended to remove. Um, stripper poles. Um, we've had a number of stripper poles, dancer poles, and that's Napolates pole. It's an exercise pole. Exercise poll, yes, absolutely. I think I've had like three of those over the years. One one seller, she's like, I mean, she just like, well, that you know, it's you know, it's an exercise pole, and you know, she was very adamant about keeping it up, um, which which she did, and and it was uh entertaining some of the some of the cool comments and questions that I got. Um, but but I also had one uh in the master bedroom, and it was a it was a huge. I mean, how how wide's a master bed? Gotta be six four feet or seven feet wide or something. At least six, yeah. This this thing was probably six by six, and it was it was a paint, it was a naked painting of her, you know, and and it was and that was um she was pretty proud of it, and and it was a nice painting and everything. And I'm just like, hey, uh we probably should we probably should take this one down. So so yeah, uh unique stuff. The other one, Mike, that comes to mind is is uh a house that I sold a few years ago. Uh the guy was a uh avid hunter. I mean he was into it. And so um I go into the it's a rambler, go into the basement, and it was like it was like I was at Shields, you know, that display at Shields with oh yeah all the I'm not Ace bear, wolf. I mean, the the whole there must have been 30 plus um stuffed, you know, whatever they call those animals. The room of death, their mounts, yeah, the mounts, the mounts, yeah, the mounts, the trophies, and I'm like, Whew, I mean it was cool, right? I mean, I I don't I don't hunt personally. I have a lot of people that I know hunt and and you know nothing wrong with hunting, but this guy was into it and I said, Hey, I I I think it's just it's it's too much. And and so I didn't he I didn't tell him to take everything down, but he did, you know, about about 80% of it. He he put into storage. So and then it was you know it's gotta go anyways, you're selling it's it's gotta go, but this was I'm not kidding. It was like I was at Shields, and and uh um so yeah, Mike, if it if it's super unique, um you know, and and we definitely appreciate a lot of cool things like that, right? But what's the goal? Goal to sell your house, you know, and so you gotta keep in mind, you know, folks that are coming in, um, you know, those personal items can be very, very distracting, and that's not what we want. First time home sellers, that's what we're talking about today, folks. And we're talking about to-dos, our our to-do list. It's a pretty big one, it's gonna take two full shows. So this week and next week, we're gonna be talking about uh first time home sellers to-dos. Next on our list. Um, kind of, you know, kind of the similar uh clear the clutter. Uh I think the longest stay for a seller that I've worked with, they were in their home for 56 years. They had been in that house for 56 years. That's impressive. It I it was impressive. I mean, it was, you know, the kids and the grandkids and the great grandkids. I mean, there was beautiful stories about everything that had gone on in that house. Um, but so much clutter, you know, and you know, knickknacks in every corner and way too many things on the wall and the counters and you know, and and just stuff, right? Um the clutter is is probably one of the mu the most common recommendations uh that that we give that Marcus and I give is to uh eliminate the clutter. You know, I mean you just it goes back to the personal items, right? And there's too many of those, it's distracting. Um buyers can't they can't imagine that being their house with with too much clutter, right? Uh photos aren't good.

Marcus Walgrave 13:30

Or like you said, they just get distracted, right? I mean they they if they're seeing your house, there's a good chance they're gonna see uh maybe a couple more after that. You know, they're they may be on a uh a four or five, six house tour uh event and like they're on schedule, you know, they got 30, 45 minutes to spend at your home. You know, if they get distracted for 15, 20 minutes, you know, enjoying all of the the the knickknacks and things like you have out there, and then they don't even realize they missed the powder bath that was right in the foyer or the front door that was like what they wanted. They're like, oh well, it didn't have that bathroom. It's like oh, I actually did. You you just kind of were a little distracted. So I mean you gotta let them focus on the home. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Lighting Upgrades That Change Feel

Jason Walgrave 14:08

Folks talking about first-time home sellers to do the to-do list. Uh, next on our list we got here, uh upgrade the lighting. And that this one's this one's important, even if it's just the light bulbs. Um, I can't tell you how many homes that that we go into and there's different bulbs. You got LED bulbs, and you got the old bulbs, and you got you know, and and it's it's distracting again, right? And so at at minimum, uh I you gotta make sure all the bulbs are the same or at least all the same in the in the in the same room. Um updating lighting can really change the whole feel. Uh you know, I'm talking about under cabinet lighting in the kitchen, you know, and and or or upper cabinet lighting. I mean, there's you know, there's so many cool uh lighting technologies that that have come in the last decade, whether it's the you know smart lights, you know, you control with your phone and different colors and uh of course dimmers and and and all that, but lighting can the the lighting can change the the comp the feel of the house completely, right? Um whether you're talking about um front elevation lighting, you got up lighting. Um more light is generally better than than less. Um, but at minimum we want to make sure all those bulbs are are the same type, same style.

Mike Ouverson 15:31

Yeah. Why do casinos have flashing, blinking lights all over the place, right? Right. People like them, it attracts people, it looks good to them, right? That's what they do it. So yeah, so you don't I mean go going into a dark house that just seems dim and dark and stuff like that, right? It's just that feel thing, it's kind of like the smells thing, right? It's like kind of one of those off kind of like not mainstream things, but kind of off things that actually make a big impact. Um, and so yeah, lighting uh I mean the the house that we moved in that we lived in before this house was the same way. It was dark, it was an 86 build, sectioned off. Every room was sectioned off, and like one room had like one light in it. And it's like it was super dark, right? Uh a live with a dining room had like one light in it, super dark. One of the living rooms had to it was super dark in there. Um, and so that's the that's like the literally the first thing we did was change like swap out the light in the thing, and it seemed like a completely different house.

Pet Odors And Damage Fixes

Jason Walgrave 16:25

It does, and and if you go back, you know, there's a lot probably 70s, you know, 50s, 60s, 70s. Um, a lot of those homes didn't even have lights in the bedrooms. They have the switch, you know, that you'd plug your lamp into or whatever, but there's not even overhead lighting. You can, I mean, they've got the lighting technology now, they've got you know, you think of the old can lights, you know, those were kind of those are more invasive and took more. Now they got these ones that just pop up in there that are LED, um, a lot more affordable. Electricians can come in and change the whole feel of a room. So uh upgrade the lighting is a big one. Folks talking about first-time home sellers, the to-do list. Uh, we're gonna go uh after this next one, we're gonna jump into our good friend Jeff O'Brien uh with the legal minute, but let's um let's do this one first. This one's important, so important. Fix pet issues. Okay, guys, look, um, I love dogs. I got I love dogs. I like cats, I love dogs. Um and and and pets are important. I think they're they're important for you know folks and families, and um, and so I'm a big fan of all that. Pets can only hurt the sale of your home. Um and and it really has to do a lot with with the you know some of the smells, right? And so I've been into homes where with buyers where the house is perfect, but it smelled like cat or or it smelled like dog or it smelled like something else, you know, some other animal bird. That is a deal killer for many, many, many buyers, right? And and so I'm not we're not suggesting you know get rid of you know rover um or anything like that. But but it's but you have to if there are any pet issues, they gotta be addressed. Um we had a seller that uh they got uh their house just went on the market last week. Uh they got a new puppy, um, and the puppy likes to chew. Um and so the puppy's chewing corners on the carpet and you know, chewing, you know, and so so we we sent out our carpet guy and he made the carpet repairs. He's able to patch some stuff, um, some stretch some stuff, and and so but you know, that to a buyer, not appealing. You know, they even though it's a relatively easy fix, I think the the scent or the smell stuff is a bigger deal. Um, some people are allergic to cats, you know, or they're allergic to dogs and stuff. And so if you got any pet issues, you gotta take care of those.

Mike Ouverson 18:49

And I was gonna say with the pet issue thing too, it can be probably a lot of work in some cases, I would imagine, to address those certain issues, right? But you want to get it done right the first time. Ideally, right, you would have one day of showings, right? Maybe you have five, six, you know, buyers coming through and it sells on that first day, and then you can be done, right? Otherwise, if you go through that first weekend of showings and you did all this work on the pet stuff, right? But you did it, you got about 75% of it done. You don't get an offer with that first round of showings. More than likely, the next weekend, when the next weekend comes around, you're gonna have to do stuff again because you gotta you gotta revacue them, you're gonna have to redo this and redo that, right? And so it's like just do it right the first time. Hopefully, the first round of showings you get on the first weekend of your live, you get an offer and then you can be done, right? You can be done with that part of it.

Legal Minute On Seller Disclosures

Jason Walgrave 19:36

Mike, that that's a huge point. You gotta do it right the first time. Because if it's not presented in the best possible light, it can be. Um, what if that buyer that was gonna buy your house is now gone because of that one thing? Because they, you know, they smell dog or they smell cat, everything else is perfect. And so you you know, you have an opportunity, every single person that comes to tour your house, um, to you know, that comes with a showing or even an open house, that that's an opportunity, right? And and you don't want to lose out on that for something that you could have done uh by just preparing and and going through a to-do list here. Uh let's do a legal minute. We'll come back and uh do a few more.

Jeff O'Brien 20:16

This is Jeff O'Brien, attorney with Hush Blackwell with the U.S. Home Talk Legal Minute. Have you ever wondered why you have to fill out a property disclosure statement when you sell your home? Of course, it is because the law requires you to do so. Subject to certain exceptions, municipal law requires a seller of residential real property to complete a written disclosure form to prospective buyers before signing a purchase agreement to sell the home. The seller must disclose all material facts of which the seller is aware of, that it could adversely and significantly affect an ordinary buyer's use and enjoyment of the property, or any intended use of the property of which the seller is aware. The disclosure must be made in fifty based upon the facts of the seller's knowledge at the time of the disclosure. In addition, some cities have truth and housing requirements, which require a seller to have an inspection of the property by an authorized inspector prior to listing the property for sale. The inspection results must be made available to prospective buyers in the same manner as the disclosure statement. In order to find out what cities have these truth and housing obligations, contact your city offices or ask your realtor. This is Jeff O'Brien, attorney with Hush Blackwell with a U.S. Home Talk legal med.

Paint Updates And Fresh Smell

Jason Walgrave 21:13

Thank you, Jeff. Appreciate that always. Bring such good stuff to the show. I like how he ended that with ask your realtor. Good job, Jeff. Good job. Talking about first-time home sellers, the to-do list. This is a uh a two-part uh topic. Uh this week and next week, we'll be talking about that. Let's go um back to our list here. Uh, update paint. Um, folks, it is um, I mean, I'm not a painter, right? I I think that you know a lot of I just I'm not Mike. I'm I know you're surprised. Oh I know you're surprised, but um, but I can tell you that paint and and not necessarily the entire house or the whole thing, there are rooms sometimes that need to be painted. Um, and whether it's it's super. You know, bold colors, or you know, or you got a whole bunch of kids like we do, and they just bang the heck out of the wall. Um, you know, simple paint uh can really make a big difference and change the whole presentation of the home.

Mike Ouverson 22:16

And and you get that new paint smell. Which we talked about smells and how they can kill a deal. Um, what's your thought on new paint smells? Um to me, it can only help you, I would imagine.

Jason Walgrave 22:28

I like new paint smells. I like new carpet smells, I like new paint smells.

Marcus Walgrave 22:31

Yep, those are the two that are and and it just kind of lets uh a buyer know, like first impressions, right? They go in there like, okay, yep, I don't have to do a lot of painting, but I can smell it. Or you know, this is carpet's been replaced, I can smell it, and it has that it's going through their head and they're checking things off that they are not going to have to do when they buy and move in. Yeah, so it gets them excited, and and and you you you pick up that smell as soon as that door swings open.

Deep Cleaning That Signals Care

Jason Walgrave 22:55

Yep, it's good. All right, folks, talking about first-time home sellers, the to-do list. What else we got here? Oh, this one is we talk about this often too. You got to do a deep clean, a thorough, thorough cleaning. Um, we generally recommend uh just hire a company. Come in and do a deep clean. We got a couple different excuse me, partners that we use that specialize in pre-listing cleaning, and and it's everything from the uh the ceiling fans to the vents to the um you know, Mike and Jen. This is their very particular on this one, the dust on top of the on top of the trim. Make sure we get that dust off. That's my wife right there. Yep, right. So we look, we we don't see things in our house because we're exactly she's got the white glove on and she's like running her finger line. Mike was okay. But it it again sends that message that you cared for the house. And and if your house is clean and it and and you had it deep clean and you had the windows done, a buyer's gonna come in and they'll go, Yeah, they took care of this house. It's this clean, you know, they probably took care of the you know, the roof and and the furnace and the AC, and and so it it again it presents better. Um a thorough deep clean, very, very important.

Mike Ouverson 24:14

Probably the most important thing.

Marcus Walgrave 24:16

I guess it's gonna be one of the most important things.

Mike Ouverson 24:18

I agree with you, Mike. I mean, if you look at that list, right, and it's like look, if you had to do one thing on this list, if you could only do one thing on this list that we're talking about, right? Which one would you say seller? That's the that's the then that's the one. If you can only do one thing on this list, that's the one that has to be done.

Jason Walgrave 24:34

Yeah, it's gonna be deep clean. Deep clean followed by declutter. Yeah, you know, and and it's like those those two things are an absolute must on every single on every single house I list.

Marcus Walgrave 24:45

And those two things, right? I mean, with the exception of time, you're talking about a very minimal cost. You know, you can go to the big box store and you can get your cleaning supplies if you don't already have it, spend a little bit of money, and then and then if you have clutter, you know, hopefully a lot of it is just junk and it can get thrown away or you know, boxed up, and it's just time. You gotta just put your time in, you know, get the elbow grease out, and um that'll make a world of difference.

Pre-Listing Inspection For Confidence

Jason Walgrave 25:12

Yeah, and and deep cleaning can include um an exterior wash, too, you know, an exterior power wash. It depends on you know where you live. And um, some homes you don't notice it that much, but plenty of homes that we've been to, and I'm just looking up and I'm like, dang, that'd have been really nice if they would have power washed them, you know, the siding and the you know, and and the eaves and and the soffits and fascia because it, you know, and again, it it's a time thing. Um if you don't have the time, I mean there certainly are plenty of services out there where they'll come and they'll they'll they'll do all that. It's it's important, it's really beneficial to sellers when they do that. Uh, folks talking about uh first-time home sellers, the to-do list. We're gonna do a couple more here and then uh we'll finish up uh uh during next week's show. Next on our list, um this one is is interesting. I'm seeing more and more of it. Uh my opinion on this has changed uh in that I did not think this was a great idea in uh go back five, ten years ago and before. Um I my opinion has changed. I think it's a good idea. Get a home inspection.

Marcus Walgrave 26:17

Oh, yeah.

Jason Walgrave 26:18

Get a home inspection before you list your house. Now, what does that do? Um, number one thing it does is it lets you know if there's any major issues on uh with the house and minor issues with the house that you can then address. And so we we've had sellers that have done this in the past. Um, I love it. We have a full home inspection come in, you get that report, they're looking through it. Most of the items had no idea because they're small items, and I didn't even know about that. But then they go and they send a handyman in, they fix everything, and then they have that inspection report updated with all the repairs, right? And now we have an inspection report that we can include with the marketing material. What does that do? Gives buyers peace of mind, it also gives them an opportunity to make an offer not contingent on the inspection because you just did an inspection, right? And so and you saved them money, and you're a lot of buyers were gonna plan on spending that money anyway.

Marcus Walgrave 27:11

So yeah, they they're getting excited.

Curb Appeal That Sells

Jason Walgrave 27:13

They're getting excited. It's like, holy smokes, these guys had an inspection, you know, and and and they you know, and there were some things that came up and they went and fixed them all. Again, it may it puts you in a position where buyers can make a really, really solid offer. Uh curb appeal. Uh got to update the curb appeal. But when I when I I'm laughing because you know, there's most developments now, uh the city has come in and said, okay, we've got requirements. You know, you gotta put, you know, whatever, a couple trees or you know, your bushes or whatever. And and so a lot of times new construction uh landscaping, uh it's real neat and it's real clean because it's all new, right? Um, but maybe if your home is 10 or 15 years old, maybe that that uh that bush in the front uh is is is no longer a bush. It is it is like a tree that that covers that covers 25 or 30 percent of your front elevation. Um look at that, you know, look at that. Because it you may want to, and and I know this won't make some people happy, you may want to just take that bad boy out and then start over with a nice little one. Um because front elevation and curb appeal is often overlooked. And and you gotta keep in mind that is the first thing that people see when they pull up to your house is is the is the front elevation, the curb appeal. So little things, you know, mulch, you know, trimming up some trees, maybe uh changing out some bushes, um, all those things can be can be super helpful.

Marcus Walgrave 28:44

You guys would agree. You gotta take care of the big bush that's in the front of the house. You can't just let that thing rock. No, you know, because the thing is, is like if it's got that big, it's most likely rubbing on the siding. That the moisture between the plant and the house do you doesn't ever dry out, so the siding's kind of getting beat up a little bit. And and you talk about those trees, I mean, at the very least, you know, maybe knock down some of the lower branches. You know, I mean, how many times have you had a tree in there in that front bedroom, or maybe it's a front room that's an office, and and it had a nice view of the neighborhood, and then now it's just all bush. It's just all tree.

Jason Walgrave 29:26

Don't don't let the big bush distract from the beauty of your front elevation. You know what I mean? Agreed. Agreed.

Mike Ouverson 29:32

Great advice.

Wrap-Up And How To Get Help

Jason Walgrave 29:33

Folks, we've been talking about uh first-time home sellers, the to-do list. Um, we appreciate you tuning in this week. We're gonna come back next week and finish up uh these recommendations. Be sure to check out our website, ushometalk.com. Uh, our real estate hotline number, always available 24-7 is 612-234-7585. Call, text, anytime. Uh, we'll get your questions answered. Hope you guys have a great week.