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Put on a Good Front
Eight (inexpensive) ways to boost your home’s curb appeal.
By Brian Knavish
Take a drive up any
street . . . some homes
just seem to have that
indefinable “it”, while
others are, at best,
ordinary.
Want your house to stand out?
The standard things you can do to
jazz up the appearance of your house
– like installing new
windows, hiring a
professional landscaper or
painting the exterior – can
cost thousands of dollars.
But, as local real estate
professionals point out,
there are some simple,
inexpensive projects that
can dramatically boost your
home’s curbside appeal.
"When you put
up your home
for sale, you
have to be
confident of
who’s knocking
on your door.
We screen
applicants,
pre-qualify
them. In fact,
realtors do
172 separate
activities on
behalf of a
buyer or seller
before the
process gets
to the closing
stage."
- Karen Marshall, Keller Williams
Judy Barrett, a real
estate agent with Howard
Hanna, sees first-hand the
effect a sloppy appearance
can have on a home’s
value. When she’s showing
homes to potential buyers,
they often get turned off
from a house – even
opting for a “lesser”
home – because of an
untidy appearance.
“You want your home to have
a cleanly appearance,” she says,
“little things really mean a lot when
people are forming impressions of
your home.”
Here are eight simple, inexpensive
projects any homeowner can do to
spiff up the appearance.
1. Cut Out the Clutter
According to Barrett, the first
task is eliminating all clutter.
Generally, when people think of
clutter, they imagine a home’s
interior, but decluttering the
outside is just as important.
“If a house is piled up with
clutter, inside or outside, people get
overwhelmed by it, and the house
loses appeal. It becomes hard to even
sell,” she says. “Sometimes, when you
walk up the sidewalk, you’ll see stuff
out in the back yard just kind of piled
up. You don’t want anything like that.”
In addition to getting rid of the
junk, decluttering means displaying
only a modest amount of porch
furniture, keeping the garage door
closed and eliminating yard
ornaments.
Sorry, that means no pink
flamingos or gnomes.
2. Even a Closed Door Should be Welcoming
Your front door is, obviously, the
entranceway to your home. It is
perhaps the single most viewed part
of a house. Anyone visiting – or even
driving past – can see it.
So, take the time to make sure
it’s presentable. Simple tasks like
keeping the door and windows clean,
polishing the handle, and putting
on a fresh coat of paint can have a
dramatic impact. Another relatively
inexpensive project is replacing the
door fixtures.
“When I’m showing a house,
one of my pet peeves is to
have to put a key into the
door and jiggle it,” says
Barrett. “It doesn’t cost
much to replace the locks.”
3. Shed Some Light
One of the best ways to make
your home stand out is to
illuminate it. Simply making
sure all exterior light bulbs
are functioning is a great first
step. “Burned out exterior
lights can be a detriment,”
says Melissa Campbell, an
agent with Northwood Realty.
“Just changing the bulbs
can make a big difference.”
Investing in new exterior
lights (including porch
lights, walkway lights and
lampposts) can give your
home’s exterior a fresh new look
without burning up the checkbook.
And, for the really adventurous,
illuminating a home with an external
flood light can make your house the
house on the block. Of course,
before you draw attention to your
house with a spotlight, make sure
the house is spotlight-worthy.
4. Deck out the Deck
A nice deck or snazzy wood porch
should be an asset, but if it’s rickety,
dirty or faded, that deck can actually
become a negative. One of best
things you can do to make your house shine is power-wash and/or
re-stain the deck.
You can rent a power washer at
most home improvement stores –
like Home Depot or Lowe’s – for
$100 to $200. Simply attach your
external water supply and power
blast away years of dirt and grime.
“The small investment of
renting a power washer can make
a huge difference in the appeal of
your home,” says Campbell.
5. Spic and Span
Painting the entire house or
purchasing new siding might be
a bit too costly, but cleaning the
exterior isn’t. “That’s part of
keeping that cleanly appearance,”
says Barrett. “Cleaning the siding
is important.”
The same pressure washer
you’re renting to clean the deck
can be used to blast away the
grime off your aluminum siding.
Just make sure you read the
instruction manual. If you blast
with too narrow a beam, you can
actually damage your home’s
exterior.
6. Spruce up the Landscape
You don’t have to hire a
professional landscaper to give the
greenery a handsome look. Just
keep the lawn mowed, hedges
trimmed, and plant a few flowers.
“I’m not saying go out and spent
lots and lots of money, but keep
the shrubbery trimmed,” says
Barrett. “Grass that’s too high or
shrubs that are out of control can
really keep people from noticing
the house.”
Another inexpensive but
crucial landscaping project is
planting new grass seed where
needed . . . those nasty brown dirt
patches are dirtying your home’s
appearance. Check with the
professionals at a lawn and garden
store to make sure you are
purchasing the correct type of
seed; generally, planting grass late
in the summer or the early part of
autumn is best.
7. Walk this Way, Please
Remember that when guests are
heading toward your front door,
they’ll be using the walkway.
Again, it seems obvious, but too
many homes lose a portion of their
appeal because of missing bricks,
cracked concrete, crumbling steps
or weeds busting through the
cracks.
“Seeing sidewalk stones out of
place or steps that are chipped
and falling apart will turn people
off,” says Campbell. “People see
those things before they even
get into your house, and first
impressions mean a lot.”
The same concept applies to
the driveway.
8. Clean those Gutters
It’s not a glamorous job, but
cleaning out your home’s gutters
is essential. When gutters get
clogged, backups occur and the
walls behind the gutters can get
stained.
"There are two keys to
selling a home today,
price and condition.
There is an instance
that proves just how
strong the market is.
In February, I listed a
2-year-old home for
$500,000 plus on a
Thursday. It sold on
Sunday. What buyers
are able to gain
with the decrease in
interest rates is that
they are now able to
buy up and get more
home for their money."
- Mary Lou Hagman, Howard Hanna
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