Curb Appeal This Spring
What if I said you could add 20% to the value of your home?
You wouldn’t pass up a higher selling price, especially when you need to sell quickly, right?
How do you boost your home’s value when you’re in a time crunch? It can be as simple as sprucing up the home’s exterior to improve curb appeal.
Ninety-five percent of home buyers use the internet for home searches. Sixty-seven percent of those buyers walk through homes they see online. Forty-one percent drive by to look at the house and neighborhood.
Ugly landscaping in online photos can cut down on your potential buyer pool by scaring off those prospects before they ever drive by your house. You can sell your home as-is, but the sale may take longer or leave you with less money.
Speed up the selling process and put more cash in your pocket with a spring to-do list to boost curb appeal.
Keep reading to find out which landscaping projects increase curb appeal the most with my spring curb appeal tips.
1) Step Into the Buyer’s Shoes
It’s easy to overlook loose gutters or overgrown trees when you live in the home. Buyers notice even the smallest things about your landscaping. Some buyers can’t get past poor curb appeal to even make it inside the home.
Look at your home with a more critical eye to choose the most important curb appeal projects. Check from different angles at different times of day to find things you miss the first time.
If you can’t separate yourself from your home, call in a neighbor or friend to point out issues. Someone who has no emotional attachment—or financial obligation—can pick out the trouble spots easier.
2) Follow the Architectural Style
Think of your home’s architectural style as its personality. You don’t wear the same clothes or act the same way as someone with a different personality. Why force the same curb appeal ideas onto all houses?
Pick colors, hardware, lighting, and other design elements that fit your home’s architectural style. A mismatched look can hurt your house curb appeal.
3) Start With Cleaning and Repairs
Buyers notice dirty siding, scattered leaves, and broken hardscape features. Signs of disrepair make the house look outdated. Potential buyers may worry that the house has other issues.
Dirty or broken items add up to more work for the new owners. Roll up your sleeves to tackle the work for them.
A pressure washer refreshes hardscape features without a lot of elbow grease. Use it for removing dirt from siding, freshening your deck, and removing stains from your driveway.
Other cleaning and repair tasks include:
- Edging your lawn
- Trimming shrubs and trees
- Weeding planting beds
- Adding fresh mulch
- Removing cobwebs
- Cleaning yard waste
- Cleaning gutters
- Deep cleaning water features
- Repairing irrigation systems
- Replacing broken parts or features
- Putting away bikes, yard tools, and other clutter
4) Focus on the Details
Improving the details on your home’s exterior shows thought and care. Buyers pick out those little details in online pictures and when they walk through the house.
Replace small or boring house numbers with large, updated numbers. Swap out the mailbox for an updated model. Install new hardware on doors and railings to make them secure and attractive.
5) Go Bold With Color
Color attracts attention and makes your home interesting. You don’t have to repaint your entire home to add color.
For the price of a can of paint, you may increase your selling price by more than $6,000 when you repaint your front door black or charcoal gray. Painting the trim is another opportunity for color on a budget.
Add color with pots, flowers, and decorative touches for a paint-free option.
6) Draw Attention to the Entrance
A polished front entrance encourages potential buyers to see what’s behind the door. Fresh paint, potted plants, lights, and wreaths draw attention to the entrance.
A clear path leading to the front door also encourages buyers to enter. People want to follow a curving paver path lined with pathway lights to see what’s at the end. Plants along sidewalks or near your stoop have the same effect.
Too many decorations make it seem cluttered and cramped, so be selective. Putting too much of your personality can turn off some buyers who have a different idea of what looks good.
7) Plant Some Curb Appeal
Selling your home in the spring puts you in prime planting season. Add a few plants to your garden beds for a pop or color and texture.
Annual flowers grow for one year—perfect for your plans for a quick sale. They usually cost less, have showy flowers, and bloom all season.
For a no-dig way to increase curb appeal, install flower boxes or add pots of flowers in strategic spots.
8) Check Out the Roof
Did you look up when you checked for curb appeal? The large surface stands out on your home, so buyers notice issues. Clean the roof to remove dirt, debris, and moss.
If you have missing or damaged shingles, check with a roofing company to see if you replace the affected area. You may need a complete re-roof, or you can offer the buyer a credit toward reroofing the home.
9) Spruce Up Outdoor Living Spaces
Spring makes buyers think about spending time outdoors, so outdoor living spaces add value to your home. Clean up your deck or patio to make it look fresh and new.
Built-in features give buyers a permanent place to entertain. An outdoor kitchen, grilling area, benches, fire pit, and lighting make the space more functional.
10) Lighten Up Your Landscape
Landscape lighting highlights landscape and architectural features. It may even keep the home safer by reducing crime rates by 39%.
Solar lights are inexpensive with simple installation without an electrician. Place the lights along paths and in planting beds to highlight those areas.
Clean existing light fixtures to make them look fresh. If they’re outdated, replace them with fixtures that use the same installation method to save time.
Sell Your Home Quickly
Are you inspired to improve your curb appeal before your spring home sale? A few simple landscaping projects can get more traffic through your home and increase your sale price.
Would you rather keep your hands clean?
Contact us to learn about options for getting a cash offer on your property. You can sell quickly without doing any landscaping projects.