Your home is your most important investment, but it’s also a source of pride. If you’re attempting to sell it, prospective buyers should feel that same pride when they imagine owning it.
While there are a lot of ways to determine how much return you can expect to see from different kinds of improvements inside your home, the curb appeal will get more buyers looking, and create emotional attachments that lead to more offers. The good news is, a few small changes can make significant improvements without breaking the bank.
1 – Keep Your Lawn Thick, Green, and Neat
One of the biggest mistakes many homeowners make is not caring for their lawn. They make the mistake of thinking that the lawn isn’t really a “feature” of the house. Beautiful green grass, however, delivers the impression of a happy, healthy environment.
When you allow you lawn to become overgrown, unkempt or brown, it can make your home look uninviting, and also point to work that has to be done. No home buyer should be encouraged to think about work they’ll have to do when they move in.
Keep your lawn weed-free, mowed, edged and watered. If you can’t get to it every week, the low cost of a lawn crew is well-justified. Aeration, fertilizing, and even over-seeding to help thicken your lawn are simple, and quick fixes to help the grass look good. At the very least, use a greening treatment that can help your lawn’s color in just a couple of days.
2 – Add Low Maintenance Plants
While flower beds full of annuals and trellises of overgrown vines might appeal to your gardening sensibilities, once again, many buyers see a busy garden and think “high maintenance.” Instead of plants that take work throughout the season, consider flowering bushes, perennial flowers and other plants that provide easy color, texture and structure. A few dwarf evergreens and arborvitae can make an huge impact along a fence, a wall or to create a visual border along a sidewalk or property boundary.
If you’re going to plant any trees, don’t bother with spindly two year old saplings. Spend a little extra for larger, more mature trees that have a full canopy, and are already taller than 8 or 10 feet.
3 – Freshen Up Your Hardscaping
Plants are one thing, but the surrounding “palette” can be just as important. Your mulch, for example, may not need to be replaced, just raked over to expose fresh color. Landscaping gravel and even larger rocks provide interest and color even when plants are out of season.
Keep an eye out on Craigslist for free stone and gravel that other homeowners want to remove. To limit weeds from a large area of mulch or gravel, a roll of weed barrier underneath cuts down your upkeep dramatically. Of course, a gallon of Roundup is amazingly effective at keeping your hardscape areas weed free.
Walkways and driveways are equally as important, if not more so. Use a specially formulated patching plaster for the type of surface that needs repair, but don’t leave the patches unfinished! A sealed crack is still thought of as a crack when it’s highly visible. Use a subtle stain to even out the color of the entire paved area. Certainly don’t paint it – paint on sidewalks looks cheap and dirty quickly.
4 – Clean and Fix Your Gutters and Other Water Exit Paths
This is a task that people tend to put off for years, but it’s very inexpensive to do. It is especially important because a house that is perceived to have “water issues” is a non-starter to many buyers. Repairing and even replacing your rain gutters will help to give your home a finished look. It’s also a preventive maintenance task that can save you (and a buyer – large amount of money later.
Clogged or broken rain gutters and runouts cause water to find another way to escape. These water backups will eventually begin to seep through your roof, or close to the foundation, causing expensive damage to your home. Buyers are trained to look at gutters as they do their own amateur home inspection. Plus, new or even painted gutters create a clean line around the house that can draw attention from other imperfections.
Make sure there are no “negative slope” areas next to your home where water can’t escape away from the foundation. A little work with a shovel to give water a drainage path, and covering the area with mulch or gravel demonstrates important proactive maintenance.
5 – Put the Clutter Away
You might love your lawn and seasonal decorations, but marketing your home isn’t about what you love. Neat and clean is always more appealing to the broadest group of buyers. Your collection of garden gnomes and woodland creatures should go into hibernation.
Got kids? Swing sets are nice, trampolines are not. Trampolines just don’t look good, they are a large visual barrier, and they happen to cause a lot of injuries. If you have one, pack it up or sell it. The same goes for excessive toys in the yard. If your yard looks like it doubles as a daycare, even buyers with kids can be put off by the messiness.
Don’t forget about the garden tools, too. Lining up your shovels and rakes under and overhang is not enough. Remember, you don’t want visitors thinking about the work they’ll have to do. If you can’t fit all the outside stuff in your garage or basement, consider purchasing a small pre-made shed or renting a nearby storage unit for the things you don’t need for most of the year.
6 – Tend to the Finishing Touches
You’ve learned to live with your home’s appearance over the years, and it can be hard to see the wear and tear, but prospective buyers have special senses to spot them. There are many additional high-impact fixes that you can accomplish quickly, easily and cheaply to appeal to those critical eyes. Any or all of these choices can make a big difference in no time:
· Wash windows and siding
· Sweep up debris and rake leaves
· Trim trees of dead or unattractive branches
· Fix and paint shutters and window trim
· Replace locks and doorknobs with gleaming new ones
· Consider replacing or painting unattractive doors
· Be sure railings are strong and secure, removing rust with steel wool
· Remove peeling paint and add a fresh coat to trim
· Make sure your mailbox and house number look neat and new
Remember, you don’t have to engineer a massive remodel project or take on everything at once to improve the curb appeal of your home. Start with the most essential maintenance tasks, and then pick of an item here and there, as time and money permit. It’s amazing what the right choices can do for your home’s marketability.
About the author: Kiersten Gurry is an expert on home decor and works for FirstImpressionSecurityDoors.com The company boasts an impressive variety of steel doors and composite wood gates options for homeowners and apartment buildings in the area.
Credits: Photo courtesy of Brian Gautreau.