1. Beware of grand gestures: Exterior improvements should be in keeping with the scale and proportion of your house and fit in with the neighborhood. So as lovely as a formal colonnade might look on the front of your boxy Colonial Revival, it may seem over the top when viewed in context with the simple saltbox next door.
2. Don't stand out like a sore thumb: When picking paint colors, it's best to match the intensity of your neighbors' shades. If pale blues are the norm, try a creamy yellow. Contrast that with a more saturated accent color for shutters and doors, and a lighter one for windows and trim. If you bought from a production builder and your house is white or cream consider a color that compliments your brick and mortor color. You will draw more attention to your hose instead of looking like like your neighbor house.
3. Be a tree hugger: If an old maple is obscuring the front of your home, don't cut it down. Hire an arborist to trim it instead. Eighty-three percent of Realtors say that mature trees enhance the value of a home.
4. Plant for all seasons: Your landscape should be eye-catching year-round, even in the dead of winter. So choose a mix of plants to provide four seasons of interest-spring and summer flowers, bright fall foliage, and colorful berries or showy bark in winter. If you live in hotter climates just go to your local garden center and pick something with some color that can withstand a short freeze. $30 to $60 can go al long ways in making your home look brighter.
5. You can have too much of a good thing: Over-improving your facade can mean recouping less of the cost when it comes time to sell. Gauge how much to spend on renovations by checking Realestate.yahoo.com/Homevalues to see what gussied-up homes are going for in your community, and stay under their bar.
6. Do sweat the small stuff: New house numbers, a special light fixture, and potted plants are inexpensive and go a long way toward dressing up an entry. Replace those old tired brass light fixtures that came on your house when you bought it.
If most people would spend just a few hundred dollars on warming up thier homes both inside and out, they would see a difference of thousands or dollars in their offers. And most importantly it would SELL FAST. IF your home looks average on the inside and average on the outside you coould be adding months to the selling process. IF your agent cant give you suggestions on how to make the home sell fast you might have picked the wrong agent. I always preview the houses surrounding my listings because I want to give my clients the best possible information on how to make their house dissappear FAST and look better than the competition.
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