How Do You Rate your Home’s Curb Appeal?

Curb appeal has become synonymous with real estate. Bad curb appeal reduces a home’s market value.

There are other factors that come into play when one maintains good curb appeal. Reasons may range from simply having pride in your home, or that you enjoy of gardening.

If you think your home’s curb appeal needs a bit of improvement, there are some easy-to-do upgrades that may range from a simple landscape project to replacing outdated fixtures.

Analyse your home’s curb appeal. When you look in from the street is there an area that needs attention? Include everything including the front door, lawn and driveway. Then ask yourself, if you could achieve the desired results, or will the project require a professional.

Improving curb appeal may not require a fix-up. Maybe it’s a simple addition, such as lighting, edging the driveway, or adding some attractive containers.

Solar lights are fairly inexpensive and easy to install along sidewalks and paths. The lights provide a pleasant welcome to your home.

If you have a consistent problem area on the lawn, maybe the simplest solution is to turn the area into a flower garden. Planting flowers is one of the easiest, most cost-effective ways to make a big impact on your curb appeal. Look at planting perennials to give you a bit less work.

Trees can be both a positive and a negative feature to curb appeal. Large trees will take water and nutrients from the soil, killing the surrounding grass. Apply mulch around the tree base to cover the dead spots. This will also help your trees retain moisture for the roots.

If trees, branches and shrubs obscure your home’s features, then some pruning may be all that is needed. If it requires you to leave the ground while using a chainsaw, call a professional.

Take that first step and analyse your home’s curb appeal. Does it meet your standards? If not, improving the look is maybe easier than you think.

For an earlier blog on curb appeal, see an article written by Gelderman Landscape Services president Nathan Helder, which appeared in the Summer 2013 issue of Condo News.