The Beauty of an Ugly House

Making Sure That "Ugly is Only Skin Deep"

No matter the price bracket -- OK, maybe not at $5 million-plus locally -- virtually every home represents a list of trade-off's for prospective Buyers.

Better location, smaller size. More square feet, worse condition. Great condition, not as good location.

And so on.

So, of the various attributes on most Buyer's lists, which is one of the best to be flexible on?

My personal candidate is curb appeal.

Buyer Trade-off's

Home Buyers naturally flock to homes that have curb appeal -- and tend to avoid ones that don't.

The resulting discount spells opportunity for Buyers who otherwise couldn't afford a particular neighborhood, or are willing to trade curb appeal for, say, extensive updates.

The only trick is just to make sure that, to paraphrase that famous line, "ugly is only skin deep."