Many people may not realize the importance of curb appeal, but with so many houses on the market, it is more important than ever. As your Realtor pulls up with the potential buyer, they make their first impression within 30 seconds, just like when meeting a new person for their first time.

What the exterior of your home looks like will leave a lasting impression on potential buyers. You have to look at your home objectively as a potential home buyer would look at your home.

Learn what to do to create desire in the potential home buyer the minute they look at your home for sale, whether you are the owner or the Realtor. A Realtor should learn these methods as well so they can pass this on to their clients so they can sell their home quickly.

The list to create curb appeal and desire in the heart of the home buyer

1. Stand in the street or across the road. What do you see? What is your first impression?
2. What are the features that stood out the most that you liked?
3. What stood out that you disliked?
4. Can you improve the appearance of the yard? Are there weeds? Are there toys all over the yard? Are there dead bushes, flowers, or leaves that need to be removed?
5. Is the sidewalk or path to the front door clean? Is the path uneven and unattractive? Are there ways you can improve the path?
6. Take photos of the exterior of your home. Look closely at the photos and try to see what potential home buyers will notice. Can you make improvements?
7. Remember to look at home at different hours of the day, such as morning, noon, and evening. Some buyers may drive past in the evening to see what the neighborhood is like after dark. What can you do to improve the evening appeal of your home? The answer is quite simple. Brighten up the paths, the front door, and even use lighting around the yard to enhance the landscaping.
8. Okay, not every potential buyer will only look at the front door. Potential buyers will walk all the way around the house. The backyard needs to look just as tidy and neat as the front lawn. A cluttered backyard will give the impression that the home was cluttered and only cleaned up to sell.

Things to do to create desire and curb appeal:

• Ensure the exterior has no mold or mildew on the house, driveway, or path.
• Put away all outside toys or ensure they are neatly stored.
• Put away all garden tools, hoses, etc…
• clean the gutters.
• clean the windows inside and out.
• wash the siding.
• clean the deck or patio.
• clean all paths to the home.
• clean the driveway.
• edge the paths.
• rid the yard of weeds.
• keep the lawn mowed.
• rake the leaves as needed.
• trim tree limbs.
• plant flowers.
• repaint the front door.
• replace the old mailbox.
• replace the house numbers or repaint the numbers.
• add a nice doormat.

In today’s competitive market it is more important than ever for your home to make a good first impression.

However, some analysts are saying that the median price is a very inaccurate measure of value. Many say that this is true because there is a huge variation between homes.

Andrew Pugh of SellFastLV.com says that while median home prices are up, the volume of Las Vegas homes being sold have dropped off. According to Pugh the stats are set up to fail.

Pugh says, "If only three houses sell in October for $321,000, $320,000 and $55,000 will the (Review Journal) report that home values are rising since the new median $320,000? Perhaps using price per square foot or another measure that gives price in relative terms would be more meaningful".

Pugh also claims that homes that sold as new last year were being sold as resales. This leads one to believe that if the new home median is roughly 10-15 percent higher than the resale median, you could expect the resale prices to increase even if the existing home prices remained the same.

Now it appears as though the Las Vegas real estate market is shifting to a buyer’s market. Seller’s now know that in order to sell their homes they need to price them reasonably. Smart seller’s are having no problems selling their Vegas homes.

They say the media has scared consumers into believing that there is a housing bubble ready to burst any day now. The truth of the matter is that Las Vegas home owners need to price their properties properly based on comparable sales.

If local homes are price properly that will give home buyers an opportunity to receive fair lending and will result in the seller’s home not sitting on the market for a long period of time.

SalesTraq, a local real estate statistics firm showed that almost 3,000 homes sold in Las Vegas in April of 2004. That number has jumped over 300 percent since then with over 17,000 Las Vegas homes selling in the month of April, 2006.

The numbers are staggering and analysts say it’s not over yet. Most expect that this will be another record breaking year for the Las Vegas real estate market.

This past summer saw the condos market expand. There was a surplus that far surpassed the demand for condos in the Vegas area.

There was also a surplus of new Las Vegas homes constructed. Now with the market shifting to a buyers market analysts are unsure if more homes will sell or if the consumers will wait until seller’s lower thier very steep prices.

Lereah said that in March Las Vegas property price appreciation went down almost 7% from this time last year.

He says that this shows that seller’s are bringing their prices down on their Las Vegas homes.

President of the Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors, Tom Sullivan, slower markets are expected nationwide. Sullivan reports that all indicators are pointing to fewer homes being sold locally as well as nationwide homes.

The decline will affect the nation’s GDP, 20% of which is new housing he says. He also says that as interest rates rise new home orders will be canceled. Will Las Vegas take a hit? Will we see more new home orders canceled? Stay tuned.