If you’re gearing up to sell your property or upsize your family home, then chances are you’ve been considering the best ways to enhance the curbside appeal of your property. Curbside appeal, or how your home looks to those looking in on the street, can have a major influence on whether or not prospective buyers are keen to make an offer on your property. After all, making a strong first impression is a superb method of enticing buyers.
And contrary to popular belief, there are actually ways that you can boost your home’s curbside appeal without spending excessively in the process. In fact, there are some low-budget, simple ways you can enhance your home’s curbside appeal whilst still ensuring that you can maximise the profits from your sale.
Lucky for you, this helpful article will share six cost-effective ways to boost your home’s curbside appeal, so continue reading to learn how you can spruce up your place.
1. Freshen up your fencing
One excellent and budget-friendly way you can make your home look warm, inviting, and cosy is by investing in PVC fencing. Unlike timber, PVC fencing boasts exceptional weather resistance, having been crafted using the thermoplastic PVC (or polyvinyl chloride). Being a thermoset material, PVC is naturally resistant to mould, rust, and other forms of decay that may plague traditional fencing materials like wood and untreated steel.
PVC is also cheap to produce, whilst still maintaining a high strength-to-weight ratio and a long lifespan. These are precisely the qualities you need in residential fencing, especially for homes in arid areas or in areas that experience similarly adverse weather conditions. And arguably best of all – you can also paint PVC fences in your preferred colour, thanks to their smooth and uniform texture. This is precisely why many homeowners across the globe are swapping out their outdated timber fences for these more modern and versatile fencing materials.
2. Add a fresh lick of paint
While we’re still speaking of painting, you’d be amazed at the impression a fresh lick of paint can make to your home’s curbside appeal. So consider painting all exterior areas to spruce them up. Weatherboard homes in particular should be sanded back and painted every five years or so.
Painting can be a mammoth job, however, so be prepared if you’re doing it yourself. Remember to sand back first, and give each area an undercoat and then two complete coats of paint. Ensure you allow time to dry before each fresh coat.
Doing this yourself compared to hiring a painter is a great way to save money, ensuring that you can stick to a tight budget for making your home seem gorgeous.
3. Tidy up your front yard
As we briefly mentioned, first impressions last when you have guests or people walk past your home. But the brickwork or paint job on your home’s exterior facade isn’t the only factor that contributes to your curbside appeal. Your front yard deserves just as much TLC, which is why no home maintenance schedule is complete without at least a little bit of garden care.
Your front yard is the first thing that your friends and neighbours will see when walking past your home. Imagine what they will think if they are met with weeds choking everything, a wild, untamed lawn, and dead shrubbery. So in this quest to refresh your home’s tired exteriors, you better get ready to get your hands dirty in the garden. Spend a few weekends in your front yard watering, weeding, and pruning. Once you’re happy with the foundational landscaping of your front garden, you’ll want to turn your attention to its barriers, be it fences or hedges. Make sure they’re looking fresh, manicured, and uber presentable.
Once all this has been done, simply take a step back and examine how your front garden complements your home’s wider facade. If you’re happy with your work, then move onto our next suggestion!
4. Replace your mailbox
Your mailbox, while a small feature of your front yard, can make a serious impression. If it’s leaning to one side, or hanging off your fence by its hinges, or is faded, has chipped paint or is otherwise looking shabby, this can detract from your home’s curb appeal.
So if possible, we strongly recommend restoring your mailbox to its former glory with a fresh coat of paint, or simply by ensuring it’s fixed securely to your front fence. If it’s beyond repair, however, then be sure to invest in a brand new mailbox that will reflect the pride you take in your home’s appearance.
If you’re concerned about the costs of buying a brand new mailbox that you’re unlikely to use (or could even be swapped out by your home’s future owners) then we strongly consider looking for a mailbox that you may be able to purchase second hand. You can usually find some barely used mailboxes from display homes in your area, so jump on your local buy, sell, and trade websites to see what you can find.
5. Update your outdoor furniture
This tip is for home’s that have a front porch. If you have one, and you’ve got some furniture on it, such as chairs, a couch or table, then think critically about how your furniture enhances or even detracts from this wider outdoor living space.
Are your outdoor furnishings actually inviting, or do they just look tired? Is the couch sagging, faded and torn? Are your chairs in the same shape? Asking yourself these questions can help you determine whether it’s worth either updating your furniture or even just removing the bulk of your outdoor furnishings entirely so that prospective buyers can fill in the gaps with their own homewares.
6. Pressure wash your driveway
You’d be amazed at how quickly your concrete driveway can become dirty, grimy, spotted with oil stains, or otherwise grubby. It can really detract from your home’s curbside appeal. But did you know that there is a quick and easy way for you to instantly brighten your home’s driveway and other outdoor paving without needing to mix more concrete?
Through the magic that is pressure washing, you can ensure that your driveway sparkles as if it had just been laid by a master bricklayer. Pressure washing can blast away all that dirt and grime, leaving the concrete gleaming and seemingly brand new.
While you’re at it, you may even opt to pressure wash some of the brick cladding on your home too. Just be mindful of the amount of force being applied, as you don’t want your pressure washing to result in chips or cracks in your home’s facade.
A Curbside Conclusion
Freshening up your home’s curbside appeal can be a quick and easy way to boost the resale value of your home in the lead-up to placing the property on the market. With these tips and tricks up your sleeve, you should find that your home can set a great first impression, entices a greater pool of prospective buyers, and all with a minimal financial investment to boot.
