If you’ve checked out the real estate market recently, then you’ll know the market is ripe for homeowners to sell. To make the most of this opportunity, however, you’ll want to make sure you improve your home’s curb appeal to attract potential buyers.
According to real estate expert John Gomes of Douglas Elliman Real Estate’s Eklund Gomes team, “Curb appeal is quite important, as it sets the tone. For sellers, it’s time to start thinking about a fresh coat of paint on the front door. Let’s just say that a new mailbox and some beautiful green shrubs go a long way.”
HGTV star and Magnolia Home co-founder Joanna Gaines also notes the importance of maintaining a house’s exterior:
“To me, curb appeal is the first impression of a house — that beautiful exhale moment of feeling, ‘I’m home.’ And I really do care about the first impression. Think of ‘Fixer Upper’: One of my favorite things was that the dramatic reveal at the end of each episode was focused solely on the home’s exterior. It was such a ‘ta-da’ moment. We didn’t do that for the kitchen or the primary bedroom.”
Award-winning architect Patrick Ahearn shares a similar sentiment. “Curb appeal is a warm sense of welcome a house gives from the street — and it’s not dependent on just one element in particular,” he explains. “It’s a combination of good architecture, design details and landscape. It’s the feeling that comes from layers of information working in harmony together.”
These experts, among others, generally agree that curb appeal should be a high priority for sellers, if not the highest priority, regardless of where they’re selling.
Michaela Keszler, the number-one agent for Douglas Elliman in the Hamptons, says, “Curb appeal is important in every price range and in every market. The home’s exterior is going to be the first impression a potential buyer gets from the home and how they feel towards it. The exterior should be inviting and should make a potential buyer excited about entering the house.”
The other co-founder of Magnolia Home, Chip Gaines, agrees. “If I can’t get a realtor out of the car to come look at the house, well, then it doesn’t matter how great Jo’s interior looks,” he admits. “You can never go wrong when you invest [in] the exterior because it’s always going to add value to your home.”
There are many ways to boost a home’s curb appeal, but these generally round out the most valuable and practical methods:
1. Incorporate Siding
As Chip and Joanna Gaines explain, adding and/or improving the siding on your home should be the first step in improving its curb appeal.
“Exterior siding is not one of the places that we encourage clients to find a discount product or a lower quality option,” Chip states. “It’s a long-term investment when compared to, say, painting, but with that you’ll have to maintain, redo or modify it every three to five years, which, believe me, is going to cost more in the long run.”
2. Add Plants and Landscaping
James DeSantis, co-author of Take It Outside: A Guide to Designing Beautiful Spaces Just Beyond Your Door and founder/owner of Manscapers NY & LA, discusses how “plants and landscaping are the most typical solution to curb appeal dilemmas. For example, I own a house on a busy through street in the country in upstate New York, and instead of installing a solid wood fence to help with traffic, I densely planted tall shrubs (arborvitae) to create a sound and light barrier.”
Although DeSantis details how greenery can be useful in places with high traffic, it still has plenty of curb value to add to homes in quieter regions.
“If you don’t have to create privacy, you should still be thinking about creating a more dynamic planting scheme — installing tall trees, meandering shrubs and pops of color throughout, which will go a long way in accentuating the home and creating a landscape that truly gives curb appeal a new meaning,” DeSantis adds.
3. Improve Exterior Elements
Architect Ahearn comments on the need for a uniform presentation, noting, “On traditional homes, we consider exterior elements that together can have a very big impact — like covering the foundation in brick or stone, upgrading all windows to be appropriate to the character of the house, adding copper gutters, operable shutters with proper holdbacks and window boxes.”
“Lighting and landscaping are also incredibly important and can’t be overlooked,” he adds. “It’s not just one of these pieces; it’s a situation where the whole of these all together is far greater than the sum of the parts.”
4. Ideas Safe for a Budget
While the above advice is great for those able to make the investment, not everyone can do so. For anyone more focused on their budget, as real estate agent Keszler recommends, start by cleaning gutters and windows.
Ahearn suggests that he “would recommend trimming or shaping any plant material that may be in front of the home. A glossy front door with neatly polished hardware helps the cause, as does lighting the front door with a fixture that fits the theme of the home and painting exterior doors, shutters and window boxes a uniform color.”
