Don’t Neglect Exterior Home Projects To Spruce Up Your Home For The Market

Written by Posted On Thursday, 17 March 2016 08:03

Don’t Neglect Exterior Home Projects To Spruce Up Your Home For The Market

When preparing their homes for the market, many homeowners know to focus on main interior projects such as the kitchen and the master bedroom, but they forget to give exterior repairs equal attention. Yet, the outside of a home is too important to overlook. Because while kitchens and bathrooms are important in the eyes of sellers, the truth is, they’ll never get the chance to see the sparkling interior if they’re initially turned off by the outside. How can you turn your home’s first impression into a selling point instead of an afterthought? What are the best exterior home projects to invest in when you’re thinking about preparing your home for sale? Here are some ideas to consider:

1.     Clean Up the Landscaping. Put a fresh layer of mulch in the landscaping beds, plant fresh flowers, trim trees, tend to plants and so on — do whatever you have to do to clean up the exterior landscaping and make the foliage look neat. Landscaping is one of the first things people see when they pull up to a property, so it makes a big impact on curb appeal. When properly maintained and cared for, landscaping becomes an attractive accent for your home instead of a detractor from its aesthetics.

2.     Add Outdoor Lighting. According to House Logic, outdoor lighting consistently tops the list of homebuyers’ most wanted outdoor features, as 41 percent call it essential and 49 percent consider it desirable. Exterior lighting adds a cozy feel to your home at night, illuminates its surroundings to create a visual deterrent for intruders, highlights landscaping, and makes it easier for guests to walk up the front path. 

3.     Add Backyard Features. From an attractive patio to an outdoor play set, backyard features can signal more fun and functionality to buyers. Just choose carefully based on your target audience. “House hunters with young children may regard well-designed play equipment as a selling point,” writes Tim McKeough of The Seattle Times. “But if you’re contemplating spending money on new play equipment and you know you will be putting your home on the market in the near future, you would be better off focusing on backyard features that appeal to people of all ages.”

4.     Fence the Backyard. Keep pets in and intruders out with a privacy-enhancing backyard fence. Privacy fences not only make outdoor space more usable, but, when chosen correctly, they can also enhance outdoor aesthetics and increase the value of a property.

5.     Upgrade the Front Door. Exchanging the front entry door for a steel version will typically return 75 percent of its costs at selling time, according to national averages. While a new door typically costs $2,000, expect to boost your selling price by close to that amount accordingly. Likewise, consider replacing the garage door with a new model for another value-boosting upgrade.

When it comes time to put your home on the market, use the tips above to make sure the exterior is properly prepared. By investing a little time and energy now into making the outside attractive, you can make your home more desirable to buyers and are more likely to sell quickly!

 


Dean White is the owner and operator of Peerless Fence, one of the largest fence companies based out of West Chicago, Illinois. He has decades of experience in the fence industry.

 

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