Ways to Improve Curb Appeal
Curb appeal can make or break a sale in today’s market. Here are six landscaping tricks that wow buyers:
1. Add splashes of color. With every changing season, a landscape should provide a new display of colors, textures, and fragrances. It's best to use one or two and repeat them. Use one backdrop that blooms in spring, summer and fall; in front plant a contrasting punch of a colorful plant that will flower at the same time. As an accent, add a tree that provides changing leaf colors in the fall and interesting branches come winter.
2. Size trees and shrubs to scale. They should be planted so that they don’t block windows, doors, and other architectural features on the home’s facade. A large two-story house can handle a big oak tree but a one-story rambler is better paired with a flowering crabapple or little leaf Linden. Too many trees cast too much shadow and cause potential buyers to worry about maintenance and costs.
3. Maintain a perfect lawn. A velvety green lawn demonstrates tender loving care, so be sure your lawn doesn't have brown spots. Some rocks, drought-tolerant plants, and ornamental grasses will generate more kudos in dryest areas.
4. Light up the outside. Good illumination allows buyers to see a home at night and adds drama. Use low-voltage lamps to highlight branches of specimen trees, a front door, walk, and corners of the house. But less is better. The yard shouldn’t resemble an airport runway.
5. Let them hear the water. The sound of water appeals to buyers, and you shouldn’t just reserve this for your backyard. A small fountain accented with rocks provides a pleasant gurgling sound, blocks street noise, and is affordable.
6. Use decorative architectural elements. Replace the mailbox with a newer one and put some nice plantings at its base to dress it up. Colors should complement the landscape and home. Just don’t overdo it: Too much can seem like kitschy lawn ornaments.
Here are some other low-cost ways to increase your home’s curb appeal.
- Clean up beds by weeding and pruning shrubs. Add mulch for a high-end look.
- Invest in pots. A couple of attractive ceramic (or ceramic look-alike) pots filled with attractive plants can really make an entrance look classier.
- Install landscape lighting on the path to the front door.