Marketing
What is curb appeal?
Curb appeal is how attractive a property looks from the street on first sight — the impression that forms before a buyer has entered, and which colours everything they see afterwards.
It matters disproportionately because it is the first evidence a buyer gets about how the property has been maintained. A neglected exterior primes them to look for problems inside; a cared-for one primes the opposite.
The improvements with the best return are usually unglamorous and cheap: cleaning, landscaping, painting the front door, repairing gutters, clearing bins and cars from view.
In practice the first impression is now digital. The lead photograph is the real curb, and a poor one costs viewings that the physical exterior never gets the chance to win back.
Related terms
Virtual staging is digitally adding furniture and decor to photographs of an empty property, so buyers can judge scale and use without the cost of physically furnishing it.
A property description is the written copy accompanying a listing, summarising its features, condition and appeal to persuade a buyer to arrange a viewing.
Days on market counts how long a listing has been actively for sale since it was published. It is used both as a market-health indicator and, by buyers, as a signal of negotiating room.
A listing presentation is the meeting where an agent pitches to represent a seller, covering proposed pricing, marketing plan, process and fee, in competition with other agents doing the same.