There’s nothing quite like a new look to spruce up your home, and though there are many ways to improve the look of a house, curb appeal remains at the top of the list.
The most common mistake homeowners make is to let bushes, trees and greenery become overgrown, Keys said.
“Keep trees trimmed away from the ridge line or roof of your home. It can be significant because the tree can wear on the shingle itself and cause additional damage. And if a roof is not insurable, then we have trouble getting loans on them. So that’s one that we tend to run into because their roof does not leak, but it’s got significant wear from a tree limb that has rubbed it,” Keys said.
There are easy fixes to improve curb appeal, and many of them can be found with a simple Google search, Keys added. Adding fresh coats of paint on or around doors, trim boards, fences and the front porch can improve curb appeal.
“Having a bright color door does kind of draw the eye’s attention to it very quickly. It used to be just red front doors that were popular, but now I’ve seen yellow and green and kind of a royal or sky blue that people are doing on their homes to kind of give them a unique look also,” she said.
“The trim boards and the things around the front porch of the house, touch those up, freshly paint those, because that’s the first thing somebody sees when they walk up on the front porch to go into the house.”
For those wanting to add color to their home’s exterior, but not wanting to paint, Keys suggests planting flowers or putting plants in front of the home.
“Maybe they don’t have flower beds or their home doesn’t have room to have a garden in the front, to have a few potted plants even for a little pop of color if their home may need that you know just to give a little appeal in the spring and summer that way,” she said.
The importance of curb appeal in both selling a house and turning it into a home cannot be underestimated.
“We’re just looking for what the eye sees on the first glance because most of our activity comes from either someone driving by the property and noticing the sign in the yard and the curb appeal of the property or online presence. And whenever somebody searches on the internet for a property, the main photo is of the exterior of the house. And if the exterior is not something of interest to the buyer, they will pass by it,” Keys said.
Ultimately, though, homeowners don’t have to conduct large scale painting or landscaping efforts to improve their curb appeal; even simple maintenance helps.
“It doesn’t matter what real price range the property is in as long as the outside is neatly kept and has some, not even significant landscaping, but even just a neatly kept edge, mowed yard, things like that. Flowerbeds cleaned out enough to kind of make it a surface where they can see themselves living,” Keys said.
