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Homeowners should plant colorful flowers along walkway leading to door, prune existing trees, shrubs and bushes, and add fresh mulch. Clean out dead plants and weeds from flower beds and refresh with colorful plants and annuals. Taller plants at corners of your house will help anchor it with landscape. Shorter plants near your home's entry bring attention to your front door. However, this could have a negative impact if front door is in need of repair (another reason to rethink exterior improvements noted previously). Last but most definitely not least and probably most important, ensure your lawn is trimmed and green. If you have a lawn in need of attention, you may want to consult a landscaper for advice before trying to repair on your own.
Overall Appeal
Some further touches that will go along way to increasing appeal of your home from curbside are:
Outdoor lighting - Exterior lighting in your garden, walkway or entrance area add a warmth and welcome feeling that will make a viewer want to see more.
Indoor lighting - While your house is on market, leave lamps on in 1 or 2 front rooms. It brings home to life and, again, provides same warmth and welcome feeling as exterior lighting. Exterior lighting alone will not provide appearance of a well loved, lived in home, like combination of exterior and interior lighting can.
Furniture - As long as chairs are well kept and not cluttered looking within space, two chairs on a front porch provides a tremendous visual appeal from street. Buyers view exterior as an extension of home and will want to view more. The best advice for creating great curb appeal, is to take a walk through your favourite neighbourhood. Analyze what works really well and what doesn't. Then determine why and incorporate those items to fit your own exterior. Most of all enjoy outdoors and don't get too overwhelmed by work at hand. © February, 2004 - Xstream Realty Incorporated
Amie Walton is the president and founder of Xstream Realty, a Virtual Agent for managing private real estate sales over the internet. As an Accredited Staging Professional, Amie also operates Xstream Staginga Home Staging business located in Nova Scotia, Canada.