If you plan to list your home for sale this summer and it is located on a busy street, then there are many things you can do to negate this drawback in potential buyers' minds. Since busy streets can pose hazards for young children and are often a noise nuisance, following these tips will help you show off the positive attributes of your property while lessening the impact of the busy street.

Tip: Use Landscaping to Your Advantage

While it goes without saying that your home's yard needs to be impeccably landscaped before listing it for sale, you may not realize there are certain ways you can use its landscaping to your advantage when trying to hide a busy street. For example, you can plant large bushes or tall hedges along the street to minimize the view of the road. This works especially well if the busy road is located behind your home.

If your home is in a historic district or you are unable to plant tall brush or hedges near the road, then make sure your landscaping really pops with colored flowers and doesn't have any flaws people will see. Once people see dead plants or overgrown weeds, then they will be more likely to pick apart the rest of the property and the busy street will become a much bigger issue than it otherwise would. While people may not want to live on a busy street, anything you can do to impress them in other aspects of your home will help you sell it more quickly, and landscaping is one of the easiest areas for inexpensive improvement.

Tip: Use Staging to Keep Buyers' Eyes Away from the Street and Focused on Your Home's Interior Space

While you can sometimes get away with not staging a home in a hot market, your house needs to be staged whether the market is smoking hot or freezing cold. Use staging to draw buyers' eyes away from the busy road and accentuate your large family room, kitchen, and master bedroom.

Tip: Keep Your Windows Closed and Covered With Blackout-Style Curtains on the Windows Facing the Busy Street

Finally, you should always keep the windows closed to reduce street noise when you are showing the house to potential buyers. If you can still hear the street indoors with the windows closed, then you should install some blackout-style curtains on each of the windows nearest to the busy street. The curtains will help to block out the view and sounds coming from the street.

For more information, contact your local real estate agent.