Check out These Exterior Home Upgrades to Amp up Your Property Value

Whether you are trying to sell your dwelling or desire to impress your guests and neighbors, it’s not just the size of your home and its interior that matters. Your home’s curb appeal can largely affect its visual and real estate value in the neighborhood.

New research from Barclays Mortgages reveals that potential homebuyers take less than ten seconds to make a buying decision by merely looking at the home’s exterior. Further, more than 35 percent of buyers will not make it through the front door if they are unhappy with the home’s yard and the entryway.

Luckily, you do not have to spend a fortune on making your home stand out in your neighborhood. A few simple exterior home upgrades like tidying up your lawn, refurbishing your main door, and restoring your roof can help you render charm and character to your outdoors. 

Read on to learn a few interesting and inexpensive tips that can make a huge impact on your home’s value and have visitors praising you for your creativity and personal style.

1. Pay Attention to Your Courtyard

A good-looking lawn can positively impact your home’s worth, impressing all your visitors, neighbors, and passers-by. Take time to supply adequate nutrition to your lawn and reduce the weeds using effective herbicides. Add stone planters, mulch, flowering shrubs, pebbles through the garden bed, bird bath, and plenty of seating arrangements to refresh your landscape and encourage your visitors to soak in the beauty of nature.

A landscape upgrade can improve your home’s marketability, increasing its resale value by as much as 14 percent. Adding flowering plants and shrubs to your home’s landscape is an inexpensive way to boost its curb appeal. Perennials, flowering shrubs, and succulents are absolutely low-maintenance and add a bit of color to your home exterior, making it look attractive and inviting.

2. Invest in Outdoor Lighting

Outdoor lighting not only creates a magical ambiance but also puts off burglars. Invest in low-voltage outdoor lighting to boost your home’s landscape after sunset, thereby enhancing your home’s market value. Solar lighting is an inexpensive and sustainable option for homeowners who want to reduce their ecological footprint.

For a dramatic impact, illuminate the path that leads to your home, making your home exterior look inviting while ensuring your safety and security.

3. Greet Your Visitors with an Eye-Catching Main Entrance

A well-designed main entrance can make your home look warm and inviting. For a striking look, consider dressing up your walkway, tiling your doorstep, and refurbishing your main door, thereby uplifting your home’s outdoor space.

Your main door has to withstand the wind, rain, and sun, yet make a great first impression. Consider giving it a fresh coat of paint that complements your overall décor. Further, place a few plants near your entrance to render a warm and inviting appeal and boost your home’s perceived value.                                                                             

4. Upgrade the Garage Door

Don’t underestimate the amount of value a swanky new garage door will add to your home. Upgrading your garage door has a lot to do with the curb appeal and value of your home, especially when it’s in the main entrance of your house.

If your house has a garage and it’s the first thing that greets your guests, it’s worth giving it a classy and distinguished look, thereby improving the visual and monetary value of your home. A simple and inexpensive way to do this is to clean off stains and apply a fresh coat of paint on your garage door. Also, consider repairing your old garage door to fix malfunctions, if any. Alternatively, use your creativity to give your garage a complete makeover using the faux wood-grain effect which is in vogue.

5. Add a Deck

If you are an outdoor person who likes spending time barbecuing, sunbathing, or enjoying nature, it is worth installing a wooden or composite deck. A deck not only looks attractive, but it also creates the ultimate outdoor living space where you can entertain your guests. In fact, according to the Remodelling magazine, a deck that usually costs about $10 thousand adds nearly $9 thousand to the home’s resale worth.

Consider adding a barbecue, an outdoor kitchen, an outdoor pizza oven, garden furniture, and a few attractive plants to make your deck inviting and infuse life in your home exterior. Arbors, garden gates, and decorative fence panels can also be added to create a striking deck, making your home stand out in the neighborhood.

6. Refurbish the Rooftop

All homeowners realize the role of the rooftop in improving the overall beauty and value of a home. If you are considering a roof installation, choose a color, texture, and shape that lend a rich and sophisticated appeal to your home exteriors.

Roofs with a dark hue complement brightly-colored homes, creating a balanced look. On the other hand, light-colored asphalt roof shingles give a stylish appeal to the house. Talk to a rooftop service expert to choose a suitable rooftop for your dwelling.

Old and rusted gutters and downspouts show a sense of neglect, making your residential property look old and outdated. Replace these with new Copper K Style Gutters to boost your home’s curb appeal.

Don’t miss out on your chimney. When kept in fine shape, chimneys add immense character to the house and keep it safe from chimney fires. Hire a reputed chimney sweep in your neighborhood to repair and refurbish your chimney, giving your roof a fresh look.

Most chimney sweeps tailor their services according to the local climatic conditions and your home’s roof structure. For instance, a Seattle chimney sweep is aware that households in this city require special chimney cleaning services to brave the rainy weather throughout the year.

Lastly, invest in an annual pressure washing service that includes cleaning the moss, algae, and dirt on the roof, making it look as good a new.

Your home’s curb appeal is definitely a critical factor in boosting its worth. Therefore, it’s important to spend some time and effort into beautifying your outdoor area. Use the simple and inexpensive tips shared above to spruce up your home exterior and impress all those who visit you.

(Image source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7)