Landscaping To Create Curb Appeal

To take on one of the best home improvement projects for adding value dollar for dollar - step outside!  Various studies show that landscaping your home can increase its value by 7 to 15 percent, and a well-planned and executed landscape can boost the resale price of a home by 7 percent. The key, just as with interior improvements, is to focus on the strategic outdoor areas that will most impact potential buyers.  

Curb Appeal - Growing the Green Stuff ($$$)

The most strategic area of your home for sale is what buyer’s see first.  What kind of impression does your home make on potential buyers as they approach from the street?  Is there anything that says “Welcome” besides the mat at the front door?  As potential buyers approach, the streetscape and front entry provide the first impression, good or bad, of what is to come inside your home.  If they don’t like what they see, you may have already lost the sale.  In a competitive real estate market, your home’s curb appeal is the best front line offense to win a sale. 

Creating a welcoming landscape need not be a difficult or expensive endeavor.  Take a walk or drive through your neighborhood and look for homes that have strong curb appeal.  Chances are that the owners of the smartest-looking homes have implemented many of these suggestions:

• Make it neat!  Tidy up first before you consider any additions to your landscape - keep your lawn cut and green, trim along the driveway and street, shape and cut back overgrown trees and shrubs.  Plantings should accentuate your home’s architecture and soften the foundation line - not block the view of the house from the street.
•  The eye should naturally be drawn to your front door.  If it’s not, consider painting the door a bright color and framing it with some potted planters.
• If your home’s only entry is up the driveway and past the garage, consider adding a beautiful winding path to lead buyers from the street to your door.  Use a decorative material like pavers or flagstone.  Then to further define the entranceway, frame the path on both sides with planting beds.
• Create depth in your landscape from the street to the front entry, with the foreground consisting of low flowering beds, the middle ground made up of shrubs and trees, and the background being the porch area leading to your door.  Layering will add interest that builds as the eye travels through your landscape to your door.
• Make sure any new plantings compliment your home’s architecture, style and paint scheme.
• Add a fresh layer of mulch to all planting beds to finish off your exterior improvements.
• Don’t forget to dress the front porch or entry.  Make sure you have an inviting place for potential buyers to sit and admire the landscape.  Even a small space has room for a chair or bench and a round table or stool to place a drink on.  An outdoor accessory or two is fine, but keep it simple and uncluttered.
• See other home staging tips on preparing the exterior of your home for sale.

Now pour yourself a tall lemonade, sit back on the front porch and enjoy the fruits of your labor.  Your resale home with curb appeal will look stunning in its marketing photos, and it will attract more drive-by house hunters and Buyer’s Agents who are eager to show your beautiful home to their clients.  

Now that the front of your home is dressed for success, check back for home improvement suggestions on creating outdoor living spaces.

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