1. Paint the house.
Hands down, the most commonly offered curb appeal advice from our real estate
pros and appraisers is to give the exterior of your home a good paint job.
Just make sure you stay within the range of accepted colors for your neighborhood!
2. Have the house washed.
Before you make the investment in a paint job, though, take a good look at the
house. If it's got mildew or general grunge, just washing the house
could make a world of difference.
Use pressure washing and have it done by a professional.
Pressure washing makes the house look bright and clean in addition to getting
rid of unsightly things like cobwebs that detract from the home's cleanliness when seen up close.
The cost to have a professional cleaning should be a few hundred dollars - a
fraction of the cost of having the house painted.
3. Trim the shrubs and green up the yard.
Trim the shrubs, or even cut down overgrown bushes and replacing them with leafy
plants and annuals mulched with beautiful reddish-brown bark.
You also don't want bare spots. Fertilize the yard, throw out some
grass seed, and if need be, add some sod.
4. Add a splash of color.
It could be a flower bed of annuals by the mailbox, a paint job for the front
door, or a brightly colored bench. Get a cute
little bench at Home Depot and spray paint it bright red
or blue and set it in the yard or on the front porch.
5. Add a fancy mailbox and house numbers.
An upscale mail box and architectural house numbers or an address plaque can
give your house a distinctive look that stands out from everyone else on the
block.
6. Repair or clean the roof.
You can pay for roof repairs now, or pay for them later in a lower appraisal;
appraisers will mark down the value by the cost of the repair.
Stains and plant matter, such as moss, can be handled with cleaning. It's a job
that can often be done in a day for a few hundred dollars, and makes the roof
look like new. It's not a DIY project; call a professional with the right tools
to clean it without damaging it.
7. Fix the fence.
I see lots of damaged fences that just give a terrible first impression.
Replace missing boards, clean and restain a wooden fence.
8. Perform routine exterior maintenance and cleaning.
Nothing sets off subconscious alarms like hanging gutters,
missing bricks from the front steps, or lawn tools rusting in the bushes.
Have rotting or pest-damaged exterior trim repaired and repainted.
