If you’re trying to sell your home, you’ll probably hear about curb appeal from your real estate agent.
But first, what Is curb appeal? Curb appeal is a home’s attractiveness to a prospective buyer who is looking at it from the curb of its street. Originally, it was a term used by realtors trying to sell or evaluate a piece of property, but now it’s pretty much used by everyone to describe how the front of any house, driveway, and yard looks to passers-by.
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How Much Does Curb Appeal Affect Your Home Value?
It may seem trivial but curb appeal can in fact impact your home’s value quite a bit when it’s on the market.
According to a 2005 study by Michigan State University and the University of Delaware, a home with good landscaping and effort put into curb appeal has an increased perceived home value of 5-11 %. Intrestingly that same study found that little to no landscaping could reduce a home’s perceived value [Source.]
More recently, in a 2019 survey by HomeLight , 94% of top agents said that great curb appeal equals money in your bank account at closing. Even better, just regular lawn care like mowing, applying fertilizer, and weed control alone can recover an estimated 267% of the cost of upkeep at the time of sale. [Source.]
How Can You Make the Front of Your House Look Better?
There are a lot of simple fixes you can do to make the outside of your house look great, and increase your curb appeal. Even small things can make a huge difference in your home’s appearance, making it look fresh and pretty to prospective buyers.
If you’re trying to sell your home, these quick and cheap outdoor home improvement projects could be the thing that pushes that buyer to make a bid:
1. Paint Your Front Door.
A fresh coat of paint (or stain), whether it be in the same neutral color or a fun new shade, will instantly make your house look nicer. Cracking and peeling or faded paint is an eyesore.
2. Pull Your Weeds!
Nothing detracts from a home’s beauty like unruly landscaping. As annoying as it may be, spend a day pulling out those weeds and spraying your yard to keep them from coming back. You’ll feel so accomplished afterward when you see how drastically it improves your yard. Also, be sure to keep on top of mowing your lawn. Grass can quickly grow out of control and really diminish your curb appeal.
3. Plant Stuff!
Head to the nursery and pick up a few plants. Some bushes and shrubs to fill up space and some flowers for pops of color. You don’t need to be a landscaping expert to spruce up your yard with some pretty plants. You can even string up a hanging basket by your front door for an easy improvement project.
4. Spread Fresh Mulch.
I love mulch. I think that when paired with flowering plants in particular it looks amazing. Pick up a couple of bags from your local home improvement store and spread them in between your plants. The rich color will bring out the color in your flowers, and it hides the not-so-pretty rocks and dirt below.
5. Pick Out New House Numbers.
Simply changing out the metal numbers you have on your house for fresh new ones can have a big impact on your home’s appearance. There are so many posh ones that you can buy (I’m in love with these stand-out ones I found on Amazon), and they’re a lot of DIY’s as well!
6. Change Your Doorknob/Handle Hardware.
There are lots of really cool door handles and knobs out there [this one would look amazing with those numbers]. Door knobs, especially ones that you use frequently like your front door handles, tend to fade and get discolored. Change them out to freshen up your door.
7. Powerwash Your Front Porch and Driveway.
Spraying down your steps and porch or any areas of concrete that are looking dirty seems simple enough, but it can actually make a big impact. It also doesn’t hurt to give your fence and/or sidewalk a nice spray as well if you have one in front of your home.
If you don’t have a good pressure washer, there are some inexpensive nozzle attachments (like this one) for your garden hose that can help give you enough pressure to do a decent job.
Those are all super simple and relatively inexpensive ideas to boost your curb appeal. Each one should take you no more than an hour and cost you very little. Given how much more you can get from your home sale by having more-interested buyers, these are really small investments that could pay off big!
thewriteDuffy
At home, April is a mom, wife, and DIY darling. Among other home projects, she helped her husband Dan renovate their 1986 bungalow and is currently designing and decorating the 2023 custom home they are building themselves. Professionally, April is a writer, author, and online marketer with 15 years of experience writing for newspapers and magazines, building online authority websites, and publishing books.
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