It’s hard to overstate what difference curb appeal can make on your home. After all, the way your home appears often serves as the first impression to your neighbors, friends, and family. To showcase your pride of ownership, your front yard and backyard should always be ready for enjoyment. Green Thumb is passionate about ensuring that your home is always primed to create lasting memories with your friends and family.
At its core, the term “curb appeal” refers to the way your home appears when viewed from the street. It is a combination of all the eye-catching design elements used to make your home’s exterior look its best. Homeowners often do their best to add curb appeal so that they may enjoy the aesthetics of their home when they pull into their driveway at the end of each day. However, it becomes even more important when thinking of putting the property on the market.
The phrase our mothers told us, “what’s on the inside matters more than what’s on the outside,” doesn’t hold true in real estate.
Homes with exteriors that do not look well-tended will likely limit the number of potential buyers who’ll want to look inside. These homes lack curb appeal and will more than likely sit on the market longer and sell for a lower price than similar homes with more attractive exteriors.
When you are putting a property on the market, taking the time to ensure that the home has good curb appeal has two distinct purposes. First and foremost, it often serves as a potential buyer’s first impression of the property. Essentially, if they like what they see on the home’s exterior, they are more likely to walk through the front door, making the home one step closer to receiving an offer.
Furthermore, boosting curb appeal can also impact how much the buyer decides to offer on the home. In fact, a new study from The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics found that good curb appeal can raise a property’s value by up to 7%. A home’s first impression is critical; if it looks unattractive or unkempt, people will simply bypass it.
A little landscaping and cleaning can go a long way toward putting a house on a buyer’s must-see list. In our Curb Appeal Matters consultation, our experts offer their thoughts on how to get your exterior looking its best, while also informing you on how to best convince sellers that the time and money are worthwhile their investment.
Assuming a house is not a top-to-bottom fixer-upper that is being marketed as such, almost every home can use a little exterior sprucing before hitting the market. Here are the top tasks expert real estate brokers want to see a seller invest in before booking a photographer and listing a home:
Book a landscaper to make the yard as neat and attractive as possible. For example, there may be overgrowth covering the front door - you’ll want to make sure that you can see the front door when you drive in.
Power washing and landscaping can do a lot to increase curb appeal, but sometimes more significant exterior fixes are needed. Despite initial costs, research shows that the return on investment for many of these jobs is relatively high.
Depending on the season and geographic location, landscapers can also plant annuals to add a pop of color. Adding fresh mulch can also give a yard definition and provide a nice contrast for the flowering plants or annuals.
A well-kept yard can give buyers the impression that the inside of the house is just as good as the outside.
Sellers should ensure the doorway is sparkling clean, and we recommend welcoming buyers with a new welcome mat and a pot of flowers, as this is where potential buyers will be waiting while their agent unlocks the home’s door. The condition of the front door should always be a priority.
If the door is better off being replaced, here’s an argument to make to the seller for buying a new one: The 2015 Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report, produced by Remodeling magazine in cooperation with the National Association of REALTORS®, found that replacing the door returned a national average of 101.8 percent. In other words, it more than pays for itself.
Every home can benefit from a good power wash, and a landscaper can likely handle that task. Be sure to check the exterior of the house, the garage, the driveway, and walkways for any necessary cleaning or paint repairs.
Sometimes sellers don’t understand the power of good curb appeal. They might think that their homes’ other great attributes will overcome a less than attractive exterior and still get buyers through the door. However, that is not the case. In a competitive buyer’s market, where there is higher than normal inventory, it may take two to three times as long to sell a house. Buyers can compare the price per square foot to other homes in the neighborhood that have upgraded both the inside and the outside.
Keep your sellers focused on the current competition. You can typically convince a seller of the importance of investing in curb appeal by showing them pictures of homes currently on the market compared to a picture of their own home’s current curb appeal.
Focus on the return on investment. Typically, if a seller spends money on curb appeal (based on needed things to be done), and the realtor invests in a video tour and professional photographs, the seller may get up to an extra 7% more in value, or the house may even sell faster (with asking price) with less time on the market, depending on the house, price, and location.
Listing agents can further help sellers address curb appeal by giving them a list of landscapers, handymen, and painters that they know are reliable and reasonably priced. Realtors will have their sellers use their company-approved vendor list and recommend an approved landscaper that they know will get a quality job done.
The first impression sets the stage for how a potential buyer views the house as a whole; if the outside looks pristine, buyers will know that the house has been taken care of. Potentials buyers then feel like that pristine quality applies to the rest of the home.
The outside appearance of a property affects the degree to which it appeals to a potential buyer. Painting the exterior, painting or replacing doors, and landscaping the grounds are all key to improving a property’s curb appeal. The photos below show a property before and after enhancements were made to improve the property’s exterior appearance.
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