How to Improve Your Curb Appeal

A wide shot from the street of a home with great curb appeal. It is a single-family home in a suburban neighborhood with porch columns, white trim, and grey siding. The flower beds are full of well-landscaped shrubs and rose bushes.

When it comes time to sell your home, first impressions are crucial. Improving your curb appeal helps to make the most of a buyer’s first glance and sets the stage for their interest in purchasing your home. Working with your agent to identify projects that boost your curb appeal will go a long way towards selling your home quickly and for the best price.

What’s your home worth?

Before you hit the market, it’s helpful to get a home value estimate. Nothing can replace the professional knowledge and local expertise of a real estate agent, but automated valuation models (AVMs) can be a helpful first step in determining home value. Windermere’s Home Worth Calculator evaluates your property and the surrounding market to give you an idea of how much it’s worth. Try it here: WHAT WILL MY HOME SELL FOR?

How to Improve Your Curb Appeal

As you prepare to sell your home, you’ll likely have a list of remodeling projects on your to-do list. Accordingly, it’s easy to get focused on your home’s interior and forget about the exterior. Turn your attention to the great outdoors with simple projects like these.

Landscaping

Lawn: A healthy, well-tended lawn goes a long way towards improving your curb appeal. Clean up all weeds, leaves, and debris, and consistently water your lawn to give it that fresh green look. If you live in an arid climate, consider grass alternatives like artificial turf for the best lawn aesthetic. A well-tended yard will make your home look even more impressive when you start hosting open houses.
Plant Colorfully: Adding colorful variety to your front yard will grab buyers’ attention. Align smaller plants like ground cover and flowers neatly within your flower beds, aiming for symmetry when possible. Use larger plants and trees to frame in your entryway or walkup. If your front yard doesn’t have flower beds, try adding hanging planters or window boxes. Because you’ll be competing against nearby listings, it’s landscaping projects like these that can make all the difference in your listing photos.
Lighting: Landscape lighting boosts your curb appeal during nighttime, accentuates your shrubbery, and adds a welcoming touch for potential buyers, lighting the way to your door.

A wide shot from the street of a home with great curb appeal. It is a single-family home in a suburban neighborhood with brown siding, large windows, stone masonry, and thick green grass in the front yard.

Image Source: Getty Images – Image Credit: PC Photography

Porch Curb Appeal Tips

Your front porch sets the stage for all your home has to offer. Improvements here will play a significant role in how comfortable potential buyers feel about the property and how inspired they are to explore the inside of the house.

Door: Your front door is an opportunity to make a tasteful statement. Look at bold color choices that are within or slightly stretch your home’s exterior color palette. Take time to prepare the surface for a fresh coat of paint to make the color pop as much as possible and try stylish doorknob options that accentuate the aesthetic to give your door some added flair.
House Numbers: New and stylish house numbers are an easy, eye-catching addition to how your home is perceived by buyers. Look for styles that match with your exterior color palette and any exterior lighting fixtures.
Go for Comfort: Incorporating classic front porch elements like a porch swing, sitting bench, and other outdoor furniture gives a welcoming aura to your home’s entry and creates a sense of comfort for prospective buyers.
Shutters: Windows are the gateway to the inside of your home. Shutters of delicate fabric will bring elegance to your front porch, while wooden shutters deliver a grounded, cozy vibe.

Other Curb Appeal Projects

Miscellaneous projects like these should be on your home selling checklist, too. Though they may not offer the return potential of other home projects, they help to solidify how buyers will feel after visiting your home or seeing it online.

Quick Maintenance: Small chores and minor fixes like cleaning gutters, repairing chipped paint, and cleaning windows are important for buyers with a detailed eye.
Staining: Instead of completely replacing your fence or garage door, look into applying a fresh stain. This brings a refreshed look and is much cheaper than a full renovation or replacement. But if these features need to be replaced, doing so could help to boost home value. Replacing a garage door, for example, is consistently near the top of the highest ROI home remodeling projects for sellers.
Power Wash: Power washing your walkways and driveways makes a significant difference in curb appeal. If buying a power washer is outside your budget, explore rental options from hardware stores in your area.

Get a step-by-step breakdown of how to prepare your home for sale, including a checklist, selling resources and more here: SELLERS ESSENTIALS – Your guide to selling