Our Top 10 Ways to Enhance Curb Appeal

First things first, get up from your computer, go outside, walk across the street, turn around and look at the front of your house. What would you think if you were looking at your house for the very first time? And trust us; your house is not perfect. Well, it might be the perfect for you, but remember we’re trying to make it the perfect home for someone who’s never laid eyes on it before. While, to you, your house is the best looking house in a 500 miles radius, to Helen Homebuyer, every little thing counts.

1. Make sure the street number is visible. On the mailbox and on the house. The last thing you want is for potential buyers to have trouble finding your home. Of course, the powder blue Beacham & Company sign will help, but you want them to be in a good mood when they arrive and last time we checked, driving up and down a street looking for a house is a sure fire way to turn a good mood, bad.
2. How does your mailbox look? Does it look like it was put in when your grandparents were in diapers? Buy a new one or spruce up the old one. Is it still leaning to one side from that time your 15 year old hit it learning to back out of the driveway? It might be a good memory for you, but to prospective homeowners, it’s far from endearing.
3. Make sure all of the outside lights are clean, matching, and in working order. Bugs like lights. Sometimes, so much that they fly inside of them and never come out. You might not have noticed this, but Bob the Buyer will. Clean all of the lights that are visible from the street and turn them on at night. Potential buyers can drive by your house at any time of day, including night time.
4. Dress up the Drive Way. Powerwashing can be a fun! If you don’t think so, get someone else to do it. Powerwashing is the bare minimum. It also helps to line the drive with bricks or stones. If you really want to go all out, you can reconstruct it completely to make an even bigger difference.
5. Plant Flowers and Greenery. Would you rather watch a movie in black and white or color? That’s what we thought. Adding pots full of colorful flowers, planting some green bushes, mowing the lawn, and pruning the plants you already have can make a huge difference. Also trim any branches that are close to the roof or the house. No one likes to live in a concrete jungle, but they’re not trying to move into the actual jungle either.
6. Replace and clean out the gutters. We’re talking to all those husbands out there that have been telling their wives they were going to do this for the past three months. It’s time to do it! Falling leaves are nice. In the fall. Not when they’re still wedged in the gutter two seasons later.
7. Paint! Paint! Paint! Like we said in our post,How to Prepare for Potential Buyers, “Never underestimate the power of a fresh coat of paint.” You think you’d notice if the paint job on the outside of your home was dingy. Yeah, just like you noticed when the person who shares an office with you lost 10 lbs. When something changes gradually, we don’t notice, but we promise you will when the shutters and outside trim are freshly painted.  
8. Clean the all of the windows. Inside and out!
9. Add something festive to the front door like a wreath or a flag. You want your home to look livable. You want future homeowners to be able to see your house as a place that they could live. We don’t mean put an above ground pool or a swing set in the front yard. But sometimes, a little ornament can make a house into a home.
10. The Front Door. As usual, we’ve saved the best for last!!! The best being the most important. The front door is probably the first thing your prospective buyers are going to identify with. Do something to make it look like a door they want to open. Paint it a color that pops. Make sure to try it out on a poster board and tape it to the door to see how it looks before painting the whole thing. Replace all of the fixtures. If you replace the knobs, locks, etc., it will give a whole new meaning to the phrase shiny and new. Think about how much better a dress can look when you add a necklace.

So that’s our advice on curb appeal and take it from a group of realtors who’ve seen it all. Remember curb appeal starts when the street stops. The side walk in front of your house counts, too. Think of it like wearing a tuxedo with flip flops. People will notice if there’s a neon orange cone on the side walk in front of your house or if the paint on the fire hydrant is peeling. Start at the mailbox and stop at the front door.

1. email hidden; JavaScript is required to send us an email or call us at (404) 261.6300  and find out about Morningside, Buckhead, Collier Hills, Midtown, Druid Hills, Virginia Highlands, Brookwood Hills, and Ansley Park real estate to see some of the great properties we offer.

Check out our other Atlanta real estate blog posts on other Atlanta homes we have for sale and things going on in Atlanta.

Click here to Like is on Facebook.

Click here to follow us on Twitter. 

Click here to follow us on Pinterest.

Happy Hunting!

 
Article by: Lindley Knight