Reston Real Estate: Five Tips for Boosting Your Curb Appeal

This is a sponsored post from Eve Thompson of Reston Real Estate. For a more complete picture of home sales in your neighborhood, contact her on Reston Real Estate.

Wondering when the best time to list your home is? The answer is right now. Fall is actually a great time of year to put your house on the market. It’s not really a matter of when to do it; it’s a matter of what you need to do to prepare.

First impressions matter, so making sure your home has curb appeal is really important. I’ve had many clients refuse to look inside the house simply because they didn’t like the way the outside looked. Here are five things you can do to make your home more appealing to prospective buyers.

Power Wash Your House and Decks

Over time, your house and deck can start looking grungy. Sometimes a new coat of paint or stain is called for (you should do that every six or seven years), but often a good power washing is more than enough to make your house look brand-spanking new. Your house will look so fresh, you may wonder why you’ve never done this before!

Replace Rotted Wood

Many of the homes in Reston have wood exteriors and HOA requirements forbid any other type of siding. In our moist climate, wood will sometimes rot — especially around window casings. The good news is that fixing it may not be as costly as you think. Sure it’s not as quick a fix as planting flowers, but it will drastically boost your curb appeal.

Clean the Gutters

Cleaning the gutters really doesn’t take that long. Whether you do it yourself or pay to have it done, it will help make your house look more inviting. Something about weeds growing out of gutters just looks untidy.

Do Some Landscaping

Flowers and a nice lawn — boy, do they make a house look good. This time of year there are still flowers you can plant, and it’s not expensive. Whether they’re in flower boxes, hanging baskets or berms, they provide a huge boost to your curb appeal. Planting flowers is one of the easiest, most cost-effective ways to make a big impact. Then make sure you don’t have any lawn dead spots around your trees. Plant some shade-loving flowers or plants around the shady spots (hostas do particularly well here), or just mulch. You will be amazed at how clean and appealing your yard looks with these simple changes.

Upgrade the Hardware on Your Door

Another super simple upgrade is to change the hardware on your door. Styles change over time, so make sure your door looks current. Swapping out old light fixtures and mailboxes (if you have one by your door) can also add new life to your entrance.

There are many more things you can do to boost your curb appeal, but these five things will drastically improve how your house looks to potential buyers and will make them want to come in and see more.