Don’t leave money on the table and settle for lower offers when selling because your curb appeal is lacking. Knowing how your home’s curb appeal can negatively influence its value will help motivate you to make it cleaner, sleeker, cozier, and more inviting to prospective buyers.
domestic-construction.com gathered the following information and tips on how to raise your home’s value by increasing its curb appeal.
What is Curb Appeal
Curb appeal is your residential or commercial property’s exterior attractiveness, as viewed from the street. The term was introduced and exhaustively used in the United States during the housing boom and persists as an indicator of the initial allure or appeal of a property to prospective buyers.
An elevated curb appeal helps sell a home more quickly, and for significantly more money because of the initial positive impact it has on buyers. Consider the following home upgrades and modifications that can substantially elevate your home’s curb appeal:
1. Plant Ornamental Trees
Trees add dimensional levels and splashes of color to your yard’s design with little maintenance required. Small trees are straightforward to trim and you could choose a boxwood shrub or Juniper tree to sculpt into a head-turning topiary.
2. Flourishing Greenery
Beautiful front yards don’t necessarily need meticulously designed flower gardens. Shrubs, grasses, trees, and ornamentals can create a welcoming space like walking into a forest. Occasional watering and seasonal pruning are what these landscapes need to thrive.
Tip: Seasonally refresh any mulch or gravel you use around your trees and garden
3. Flower Appeal
Flower beds add splashes of color and flowing texture to your landscaping. Plant companion flower beds around trees and other features for a simple and striking finish. Extensive flower beds with flowing edges and shapes create depth.
Tip: Start a container garden on your porch for a beautiful and mobile garden feature.
4. Install Landscape Lighting
Landscape lighting can illuminate the best features of your yard while adding shape, depth, and dimension. Line your walkways for decor and safety, and hang string lights on your patio for late-night entertaining and dining.
Installing walkway, perimeter, and garden lighting highlights your front yard’s features and makes your home more welcoming or inviting. Light up a specimen tree, your front porch, or a nicely pruned row of shrubs. Angle a spotlight toward the canopy of a sprawling tree to add depth to your lighting design.
Tip: Choose solar lights to eliminate any electrical wiring and significantly save on your utility bills.
5. Replace Gutters and Downspouts
Dented or peeling gutters and downspouts make a horrible impression on would-be buyers. Perk up the appearance of your home while guaranteeing the diversion of rainwater from your roofing system with updated gutters and downspouts.
6. Repair or Replace Your Roofing System
The home’s roof is typically one of the deciding factors when closing its sale. Buyers tend to shy away from homes in need of significant or expensive roof repairs. A leaking roofing system is often responsible for causing costly structural damages requiring extensive repairs. A new or repaired roof looks good and increases the home’s curb appeal, and adds a firm sense of security to your home.
Note: Your roofing system’s integrity carries considerable weight when your home is evaluated for its true market value.
Tip: The value of an existing or new roofing system is considered “hard equity” and can be added to the home’s overall value.
7. Repaint Your Home
One of the fastest and easiest ways to clean up a home’s appearance is to give it a fresh, vibrant coat of paint. Painting affords you the opportunity to:
- Change the home’s color scheme
- Highlight interesting exterior features
- Clean up its exterior
- Find and fix exterior damages or irregularities
- Modernize the home’s appearance
Note: Small structural defects are often only found when preparing to repaint.
Tip: Repainting your home can have one of the most significant impacts on its curb appeal.
8. Install a Fence
The classic picket fence always makes a house feel like a home. Install partial or complete fencing to outline your yard and add some “old-school” charm to your home. A smaller fence is excellent for defining flower beds or the lawn’s edges.
9. Porch and Patio Cleanliness
Power-wash your porch and patio, and don’t forget to remove debris from between wood boards. Add a protective weather sealant if your deck is due for a new coating and retouch as necessary or repaint the whole patio for a refreshed appearance.
10. Refresh or Replace Your Outdoor Furniture
Any outdoor furniture that’s old, faded, and in need of repair should be thrown out or updated. A coat of spray paint on porch benches or outdoor seating can quickly give it new life.
11. Replace Your Mailbox
If you have a mailbox bordering the street, replace it when it starts looking old. A new mailbox and a post price are insignificant when leveraged against the potential gains. When you install a new mailbox, make sure you follow regulations set forth by the United States Post Office.
Curb Appeal
In this article, you discovered information and tips on increasing your home’s curb appeal sub sequentially raising its overall market value.
Knowing how a cleaner, sharper, and brighter curb appeal can influence your home’s value should motivate you to constantly seek landscape and home improvements.
Ignoring your home’s visual appearance will lead to a shabby, unattractive look with low curb appeal and a significant decrease in its market value.
Sources:
gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/design/outdoor-living/curb-appeal.html
newswire.caes.uga.edu/story/5761/curb-appeal.html
sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/media/sfylifasufledu/pinellas/lawn-and-garden/Curb-Appeal.pdf
