While staging the interior of your home to make it appeal to potential buyers as much as possible, making sure that the exterior of your property has plenty of ‘curb appeal’ is just as important. This is especially true if you are selling your Waterloo Region home during the summer months.
The outside of your home is the first ‘real’ impression a buyer will get of it, no matter how many pictures they might have seen of it in an online listing, and therefore will greatly affect their overall first impressions.
No one however wants to spend a fortune improving a place that they intend to sell up and move on from soon. However, in addition to the basics – repainting chipped and worn paint, weeding and general small repairs – there are some things you can do that will significantly increase your home’s curb appeal and should cost no more than $100 per project and just a few hours of your time.
Paint Your Front Door
A good quality can of exterior paint should cost you, at most, $30 and can then be used to refresh and revitalize your front door, window trim and, if you have them, shutters, and doing so really will make a positive difference to your home’s curb appeal that will have an impact right away.
Don’t be afraid to choose a bold colour. As long as it complements the rest of the exterior there is nothing wrong with using a splash of ‘bold’ to help your property stand out from the others on the street.
Add New House Numbers
Investing in a new set of house numbers is more than just a visual improvement. Many people do like to go ‘neighbourhood cruising’ to check out properties that are listed for sale before they make a formal appointment to view them. This means that they will be relying on being able to see the house number to identify your property, so they should be easily visible from the street and attractive to boot.
One word of warning though. If you currently display one of those ‘family’ name plaques, or have given your home a name indicated by a sign take those down. You make like the idea of the ‘Brown House’ being prominently displayed but potential buyers need to be able to visualize the place as their own and branding it in this way will not help them do that.
Invest in New Lighting
Any buyer will want to see that a property can be well lit in the dark and the right light fixtures can add instant curb appeal as well. To save money either opt for new lighting that can be utilized with your current outdoor wiring or opt for solar lighting. Solar lighting technology has improved by leaps and bounds over the last several years, both in terms of function and design, and so are an option well worth looking into.
Install a Flower Box or Two
Not everyone is blessed with a home that has a big, expertly landscaped front lawn. That does not mean that you cannot get a little help from Mother Nature in order to beautify the exterior of your home. Simple window boxes are relatively inexpensive to purchase, and usually easy to install. Fill them full of some colorful blooms from the local garden centre (and then tend them well) and they will have a real impact on both the curb appeal and visibility of your property.