Curb Appeal: Quick Sales, Cash and Contentment

Curb appeal is a key aspect of the home sale process, and every sensible homeowner will have a cleanup before putting their house on the market. However, a full remodel and maintenance program can bring dividends, with the National Association of Landscape Gardeners reporting that curb appeal remodels bring a 33% return on investment. Consider as well the difficulty of selling your house in the current climate - Reuter's reported in January of this year that sales had dropped on December, despite construction remaining strong.

In today's market, it is more important than ever to find ways to get ahead of the competition and get yourself noted. Curb appeal is a great way to achieve this. There are various considerations to make when selling a home, but achieving great curb appeal shouldn't be a complex step. First impressions often last, so it’s crucial that you give your home an appealing exterior - from the road, right to the front door. Here’s how.

Improving Your Home's Curb Appeal 

Maintaining your green space

Imagine yourself stepping out of your car and onto the property you’re scoping out. The first thing you’ll see, and step foot on, is the front garden. The first step of curb appeal is ensuring that everything looks clean and tidy. You don’t need to have the perfect green lawn - though robot gardeners are helping lawn care, making it upkeep easier than ever. If you have patios and paving, make sure they are kept clean through pressure washing and by killing weeds. Keep bushes and shrubs in check with regular pruning and trimming, thus ensuring they don’t look messy. If you’ve got green thumbs, you can take the green appeal of your garden even further. Color combinations can catch the eye of prospective buyers. 

The facings of your house

Addressing the exterior materials of your house to make them as attractive as possible to buyers is a two step process. First off, make sure your house is clean. It’s often difficult to see if brickwork and materials have built up dirt over years, but it’s common that they will have. Power washing will address this problem, as will a lick of paint if your exteriors are painted. Secondly, if you have the time and money, consider the designs you have on the exterior. According to Forbes, softer exterior colors assist buying; it is easier to see the design and outline of a house where soft, neutral colors are used, and bright colors can be off putting to buyers.

The front door (and porch) 

The last thing a buyer will see before heading into your home is the front door. It will also be their first opportunity to get up close and personal with the home. Accordingly, it will be the key area in which first impressions are made. At the very least, clean up up your front porch to make sure there is no dust, detritus, cobwebs or otherwise. This will give a good impression of the inside of the house and the maintenance you keep. Then, consider if you would be able to update the look of your front house and porch area - much like in line with your exterior.

Curb appeal is a timeless facet of the house-selling process, the  value of which cannot be underestimated. A few simple acts of maintenance will put your house above the parapet in terms of getting sold; and with an extra bit of love, you could turn it into a lucrative sale.