In the back of the minds of many homeowners are questions about the value of their house. Most hope that this major investment will grow in worth over the time that they live there.

In fact, there are many things that you can do as a homeowner to aid that happening. One of them is adding curb appeal to your home. Let’s look at our proven tips for adding instant curb appeal, including curb appeal on a budget and some unique ideas to add creative curb appeal.

What is curb appeal exactly?

Let’s first clarify what we mean when we talk about curb appeal. This term simply refers to how appealing or attractive a home looks when someone sees it from the street. It is somewhat subjective, although the suggestions on this list are pretty reliable across the board.

Curb appeal is very important if you plan on listing your home for sale anytime in the near future, but even if not, it creates an inviting and welcoming atmosphere for your family and friends. What’s more, a lot of the items on this list entail routine maintenance that you should be doing anyway to keep your home’s value high and avoid more costly repairs. Let’s jump into our tips for instant curb appeal!

How-to create instant curb appeal.

Need Some Quick Curb Appeal Projects Before a House Sale? Ideas sure to dazzle on a budget…

Instant Curb Appeal Steps –

Maintain The Lawn While Launching Declutter Project

A. Lawn ambitions…
One of the simplest things you can do for front yard curb appeal is to keep your lawn looking green and trimmed. Furthermore, it’s when you remove excess clutter that it really comes together for staging. For many of us, selling our home or not, this first step is simply tidy homeownership. We recommend enlisting help from the significant other, kids, or neighborhood teen for these task lists. Limit physical involvement as it will free you up for the mental involvement required since the organization here is everything. The organization of the lawn ambitions, Real Estate agents, movers, online data, and hard files come with good home management skills. Plus, the kids are always eager to fund projects of their own, and your partner should be as invested as you are, so those should be easy home sales. After this article, and reaching out to us to start the vetting, your Littleton home sale will be easy too. Now, regular mowing is said to be the most important part of the lawn’s care since it both looks nice and helps keep the grass fertilized for perpetual consistency. There are many lawn care and/or landscaping companies across Littleton that provide these services. Unfortunately, unless you live in an exclusive community like Sterling Ranch, you probably need better options. With the cost of hiring the larger services for one season, you can probably buy everything you need to do it yourself. If not, check with us. We are partnered with a network of resourceful businesses. For now, try Augusta. They provide quality even with quantity. If you have smaller and more specialized needs, reach out for more options.

B. Now the clutter…
We preach the 50% rule. This means looking at every flat surface in and around the house and taking at least half of the items away from view. You may even find renting a storage unit helps ALOT. We shopped Smart Stop Self Storage at C-470 and South Santa Fe Drive as the best storage facility nearby. We measured the options for both quality and value. Coordinating declutter trips while running daily errands can now be performed while organizing everything else. This step is best launched 2 months before listing a home for sale. You will be organizing, not only to find Littleton Real Estate agent possibilities, but movers, online data files, hard files, and sell home fast info next to your keys, the best sell home fast info you’ve found. This goes for kitchen and bathroom counters, desktops, bookshelves, and dressers. Decluttered inside and out. Maybe you do use that blender/toaster/coffeemaker/radio every day, but for now, keep it out of sight and get it out only when you need it. This is the first priority to anyone attempting to sell a home. Why? Do you ask? Simple, it doesn’t cost anything and it always yields a huge return. On Linkedin, we found a Design Expert named Naomi Findlay who did an article called “The Latest Home Staging Statistics that Show the Return on Investment”
She states the following and we’ve added link resources for each.

Speaking of returns, staging’s ROI is, on average, about 586 percent, resulting in a price increase of $1,780. Pretty impressive! Let’s compare that the return on investment of other common selling tactics:
– Lighten and brighten the home’s interior: ROI of 572 percent
– Improve front and back landscaping: ROI of 473 percent
-Painting the home’s interior: ROI of 250 percent
-Kitchen updates: ROI of 237 percent
– Bathroom updates: ROI of 172 percent

We will be continuing this discussion in our upcoming article on How Much Home Staging Costs and who it’s right for? We discuss… Why staged homes sell for more. This being an average of 17 percent over non-staged counterparts. This according to Realtors; a 2015 study from the National Association of Realtors found that 52 percent of realtors believe that buyers offer more for staged homes. Other studies indicate the same. Staged homes sell in less time and for more money. We unanimously believe that’s because staged houses help buyers visualize them as actual homes.
Flower Power

Don’t underestimate the power that planting a few lovely flowers can do, particularly along a walkway or against the house. It’s even easier and more budget-friendly to do some flower container gardening. This should again be along the property’s drive and entry areas. A sweet flower bed, containers of flowering shrubs, or flower clusters in pots, are all great ways to add curb appeal when on a budget. Most home stores, as well as nurseries and garden centers, hold good flower sales in the spring. O’Toole’s Garden center (Littleton) is a great place to start. While you’re over there, don’t forget to go a bit north for some beautiful local Bonsais. Bonsais make for subtle plant decorations that prevent distraction from the overall design of any staged living space. Be sure to plant some perennials on the property. They will bloom year after year (with proper care) and replace annuals throughout the season as needed in preparation for the big sale.

Pictures here of other great ideas from HGTV
Squeaky Clean

Just like everything else, the outside of your house picks up dirt and grime over time. For an instant, inexpensive facelift, wash it off.
As with almost all of the suggestions on this list, you can hire professionals to power wash your home, and typically you can find someone to do it at a reasonable price like Home Tech Handyman Ltd. Or you can rent a power washer from a local hardware store and do it yourself for a much smaller cost.
If you decide to DIY, we recommend reading up on the chore a little bit and maybe watching a couple of YouTube videos to educate yourself. There is a risk (albeit small) that you could damage your windows or sealant, so at least consult someone with experience.
Finally, think of this as not only adding front yard curb appeal but also maintaining the quality of your home. Over time, that dirt and grime can lead to mold and other damaging materials. Nip it in the bud now.
Maintain Your Driveway

Ever hit a pothole while driving? Since your driveway is made of similar materials as roads, the same thing happens. Particularly in regions with cold winters, driveways need to have cracks patched and be resealed. We recommend either Sika or Red Devil concrete repair products. They both have “Advanced Self–Leveling” concrete sealants and concrete crack repair injection systems for driveway cracks.

It’s an inexpensive way to add curb appeal, on a budget, and do some important maintenance. Most normal-sized driveways will cost under $500 when done by professionals. What’s more, over time those small cracks and imperfections get bigger and bigger and will cost a lot more money to fix.

CONCRETE CRACK REPAIR DIY BY BOB VILLA
Add a Pop of Color

Include some creative curb appeal by painting your front door a bright color. It’s eye-catching, and you can coordinate your landscaping or buy pretty patio furniture to match. Be sure the color you choose goes well with the rest of the colors on your home.

If painting your door makes you a little nervous, consider adding a “statement piece” to the front of your home. A bright bench or compass hanging over the garage door works well, and you can always remove it if you decide you don’t like it later. Bonus for the bench, this will really help the 55+ community and older adults downsizing since this provides a convenient location for setting down items while locking or unlocking the door. This is according to both AARP’s Home Fit Guide and CAPS (Certified Age-in-Place) Professionals.
Upgrade Fixtures

If you’ve ever replaced the drawer and cabinet pulls in your kitchen or purchase a new lighting fixture in your bathroom, then you already know the dramatic improvement that small changes can make. The same applies to the outside of your home to add curb appeal.

The easiest way to do this is to get new, stylish lighting fixtures. An even less expensive way to add curb appeal to your budget is to paint the ones you already have. Be mindful of the material and the type of paint required. The Best Spray Paint for Metal Surfaces. In addition, replacing doorknobs, lawn accessories, or other small accents can make a big difference at very little cost.
Clean Windows

Maintaining your windows is not only a good way to add curb appeal, but it’s also a pretty important piece of routine maintenance. What’s more, this will improve not only curb appeal, but also the look and feel of the interior of your home. Bonus: enjoy the view of the foothills.

You can hire professionals to come and wash them, but it’s much easier to do this one yourself. Soap and water (and maybe a ladder) are all you need. Ladder rentals from ARAPAHOE RENTALS may be required.
Keep Trees and Bushes Safe and Neat

Overgrown bushes and trees look unkempt and wild and can cover up other attractive features of your home. Get a pair of hedge-clippers and get rid of stray branches.

In addition, proper tree maintenance is part of good homeownership. You can use hedge clippers or a small chainsaw to trim back overgrown branches. Pay attention to the health of the trees on your property, too. A dead or dying tree will not only detract from curb appeal, it can fall and threaten your home itself.

BLACK AND DECKER TRIM TOOLS