As the saying goes, you don’t sell the steak – you sell the sizzle. When it comes to selling your home, there’s plenty to be learned from this (admittedly clichéd) phrase.
The interior is very much the ‘meat’ of your property. The number and layout of bedrooms, the quality of the bathroom, the size of the kitchen; these are the things that will ultimately help to persuade a potential buyer to make an offer.
But the exterior is the ‘sizzle’. Wow a viewer with a beautifully maintained garden, a spotless and sizeable driveway, and clean, elegant windows; they’ll already be in the buying mindset before they’ve even stepped through your front door.
Here, we’ll look specifically at how to improve your property’s kerb appeal, and how doing so will influence its potential and increase your chances of landing a sale.
What Exactly is Kerb Appeal?
But firstly, what is kerb appeal?
Simply put, kerb appeal is the attractiveness of your property when viewed from the street. Kerb appeal encompasses a variety of outdoor features of a property, including the front door, windows, the front garden and much more besides.
Kerb appeal is an important consideration for any sellers and unfortunately, it is often overlooked. First impressions count, and presenting your property in a positive light before the prospective buyer has even stepped foot inside is a great way to quickly pique the interest of a buyer. A good kerb appeal is one most effective ways of making a good first impression, and can be key to influencing the buying decision.
But don’t just take our word for it. A survey conducted by the Home Owners Alliance revealed that 68% of home buyers think kerb appeal is important.
The great news is that you don’t need to invest a lot of time or money to improve your kerb appeal. Now, let’s move on to how you can add kerb appeal to your property.
How to Improve the Kerb Appeal of Your Property
So, you might be asking yourself, how can I improve my property’s kerb appeal? Read on for our tips on how to maximise your kerb appeal to attract prospective buyers.
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Maintain Roof, Exterior Walls and Gutters
The very first thing a potential buyer would see when viewing your property would be the bigger picture of your property exterior, and first impressions are very important. That’s why it is important to ensure that the exterior of your property is well-maintained. This includes a well-maintained roof, as well as walls and gutters.
External walls suffer from peeling over time as well as weather damage, so it is important to clean them in preparation of house viewings. A new coat of paint can help to boost the visual appeal of your house, and will be especially beneficial if the current paintwork is suffering from weather damage or peeling off. If the exterior of your property is bare brick or stone, a jet wash will work very well at washing away grime and dirt.
You should address any problems with roofing or gutters too. Even if the rest of the exterior of your property looks pleasing to the eye, any issues with gutters or the roofing will decrease the kerb appeal of your property. Replace any broken or missing roof tiles, and make sure that gutters are clean and in good condition too.
These alterations will give your property a fresh look and make it stand out from other properties in the neighbourhood.
Having said that, it is always important to see the bigger picture, and consider who you are targeting in the sales of your property. If your property in general needs a lot of work, inside and out, it is fair to assume that it would appeal to developers and DIY enthusiasts who don’t want to pay the premium for a well maintained exterior, and doing these kinds of upgrades might put them off, as they would feel that they would have to overpay to purchase your property.
Although if you are looking to appeal to families and professionals, then ensuring that your property is as liveable and clean as possible is a must as these people often are looking for places that they can move in with minimum amount of hassle, hence a well-maintained exterior would increase your property’s price potential and sales potential.
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Fit a New Front Door
The front door is a focal point of your home's exterior, and one of the first things a viewer would see close up is the front door. A clean and modern front door would certainly make a positive impression whilst also giving the viewer an impression of the property being loved rather than being ignored, a front door is a bridge from the exterior to the interior, although a very small thing but having a nice front door would impact both the exterior feel as well as setting the mood for the interior of your property.
Alternatively, if you would rather not fit a new door, you could always make alterations to your existing door. Consider giving it a fresh coat of paint in a colour that complements the overall look of your house. Waterproof paint can be added to a wooden front door, and there are products available to clean and brighten plastic and uPVC doors too.
If you are thinking about a new colour for your front door, consider this
data collected by Safestyle, which revealed that properties across the UK which sell at the highest prices have the door colours of red, grey and black.
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Think About Your Doorstep and Doorbell
A very simple way of adding some kerb appeal is making the doorstep more attractive. You could do this by simply adding some plotted plants to the side of the front door, adding a hanging basket of flowers, or even just adding a new welcome mat.
Another feature to think about is the doorbell or a door knocker. Firstly, you might want to think about replacing a worn doorbell. You could even choose to install a doorbell with a video camera or intercom for an added layer of security. Alternatively, you could add a stylish door knocker to add more visual appeal.
As well as adding kerb appeal, these little extras can really help to show interested buyers that your home is well-loved and cared for.
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Tidy the Garden and Maximise its Attractiveness
Property exteriors are far more inviting when the lawn, shrubs, and other plants are manicured and look neat and tidy. Make sure that weeds have been taken care of, and that you have swept away any fallen leaves and branches.
To keep your lawn looking as healthy as possible, add some lawn feeder. This is even more important if your lawn is looking tired and yellowed.
Planting some plants and flowers is a great way to add some colour and brightness to the exterior of the property. You could place some plotted flowers on your front doorstep, and possibly add a hanging basket to welcome property viewers too.
You will be pleased to learn that a simple spot of lawn care, pruning and flower-planting could drive up the value of your property too.
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Power-wash Outdoor Areas
You can use a jet wash to blast away dirt form pathways, patios, decking and your driveway. This will significantly improve kerb appeal, and help to make your property appear more welcoming to visitors as they approach your house. Make sure that you pull away any weeds from these areas too.
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Spruce up Fences
Neglected fences can damage a property’s kerb appeal. Even if the rest of a property’s kerb appeal is appealing, tired-looking fences can have a big impact on how a buyer views a property.
Sprucing up fences with a lick of paint is not time-consuming, and will immediately make your house more appealing to buyers. It also goes without saying that any broken or damaged fences should be replaced.
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Think About Your Driveway
A driveway is a considerable selling point for any property. Make sure that the driveway is well-maintained in preparation of viewings by washing away dirt and grime with a jet wash, and remove any weeds and anything else unsightly from the driveway.
If your driveway is gravel, you can boost the kerb appeal by adding some fresh gravel. This will help to refresh the look of the driveway.
The simple fact of having a driveway will naturally draw in more buyers, but if yours is well presented too, this will further increase your property’s attractiveness.
If you don’t have a driveway and have the space and money to spend, you could even build a new driveway. Our article on
how much value a driveway adds will be helpful if you are thinking about this.
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Upgrade the Garage Door
If you have a visible garage door, consider upgrading it to a newer, more aesthetically pleasing model. Alternatively, you can paint the existing door to freshen its look.
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Wash Windows and Frames
Getting your windows washed will not only add more wow factor to the exterior of the property making it look more modern and loved, but will also allow more light inside of your property which is a factor many buyers are concerned with.
Washing your windows will also ensure you don’t get any bad surprises if a prospective buyer decides to open the window. Also, don’t forget to clean the window frames too for an added sparkle.
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Consider Your Window Display
Even after your windows and window frames have been washed, there is more you can do to maximise the attractiveness of your property from inside and out of the windows. This means thinking about the display in your windows. Add anything which could liven or brighten up the display, such as flowers, candles, vases, or even an antique of some kind.
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Think About Boundary Lines
Any buyer will be concerned with the boundaries of the property. You can help potential buyers quickly establish where your property starts and ends by making the boundaries clear and obvious.
You can do this by ensuring all hedges and shrubs along boundary lines are neatly trimmed and pruned, as well as making sure any gates and fences are in good condition.
If you have a gate to your house or in the garden, you can apply a new coat of varnish to wooden gates and re-paint metal gates. Remember to fix or replace any gates which are damaged too.
Keep in mind that worn-out gates and fences can sap the kerb appeal from a property, even if the rest of the exterior looks appealing.
All of this work will improve the kerb appeal of your property, whilst helping prospective buyers to quickly understand the boundary lines of the property.
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Consider Feature Lighting
Feature lighting can help to present your property in a more welcoming light, and pleasingly highlight the entrance to your home. The homely feeling which feature lighting brings can greatly enhance your home’s kerb appeal.
Feature lighting is an especially important kerb appeal feature to consider if you are going to have viewings in the late autumn and winter, or if viewings are going to be conducted after work when it’s getting dark.
You could choose solar-powered LED lights if you would rather not set up electrics around the front of your property. Outdoor motion sensor lights only switch on when someone approaches them, so this could be another option to make a good first impression.
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Ensure Bins Are Tidy and Hidden Away
Many of us keep our wheelie bins at the front of our house for easy access. However, unsightly wheelie bins and recycling collection can impact on the kerb appeal of your house, especially if the bins are not in their best condition.
Make sure that your bins are as tidy and clean as they can be. Remember that hot weather can cause bins to smell, so it is particularly important to keep them fresh in these conditions.
You could get in touch with the council for replacement wheelie bins if they are old and well past their best days.
Having unsightly bins in front of your property can damage kerb appeal more than you might think. You should try to put your bins in a sensible location which doesn’t draw too much attention to them. You could even potentially put them in the garage if there is space.
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Consider Outside Your Property Boundaries
Lastly, think about the pavement and road outside your property. Whilst the road and pavement beyond your home is the council’s responsibility, there is nothing stopping you from giving these areas a sweep and clean yourself.
Sweep away any leaves and if you are using a jet wash to clean the exterior of your property, you might as well give the areas directly outside of your property a good wash too.
Can I Add Value to My Property by Improving Kerb Appeal?
Yes, absolutely. Improving kerb appeal will not only increase the attractiveness of your property, but it will also add value to your property too. Think of it like this, any alteration made to a property to make it look more appealing from the outside is going to increase the chances of your property selling for more than it would have without those alterations.
Also, if a buyer can imagine themselves living in your house, they are more likely to offer a higher asking price than they would have otherwise.
A poor kerb appeal can dissuade a potential buyer before they have even stepped foot in the property. Remember, the exterior of the property is the very first thing the buyer will see. In a worst-case scenario, the buyer may not even choose to go inside the property.
You are not going to attract the same pool of potential buyers if your home doesn’t have much kerb appeal too. Potential buyers could be immediately put off just when looking through the photos of your home if the kerb appeal is poor.
This is why it is so important to ensure that you enhance the kerb appeal of your property in any way you can.
You may wish to read our article on the ways to add value to your house to find out more about increasing property value.
Here at Chancellors, as part of our selling services, we can advise you on how best to improve the kerb appeal of your home to attract more buyers and secure a higher selling price. Contact us today at one of our branches to find out more.
