How to Boost Your Curb Appeal

by Rossi Real Estate Services LLC 08/08/2021

Before you ever place your home on the market, start working on curb appeal. What’s curb appeal? It’s the first thing that makes people want to take a second look when they drive by. If they’re house shopping or just dreaming for the future, a home with curb appeal will bring them back once it has a “For Sale” sign in the yard.

Where Do You Start?

Fix the small stuff: The crooked shutter, sagging fence, loose bricks in the walkway or cracks in the stucco trigger the subconscious to wonder what else is wrong. Start your curb appeal efforts by making sure the basics are in top shape.
Water the lawn and keep it mowed. Trim the edges too. Rake up leaves and branches, and bag them for removal. Even if your landscaping is simple, if it’s well-kept it catches the eye.
Weed the flowerbeds and along the fences. Prune the overgrown bushes and trees too. Sweep away spider webs and debris from corners and gutters.
Wash down the exterior surfaces of the house and wash the windows, so they sparkle.

Now that you’ve completed the basics, move on to the more intricate — and costly — items. These include painting the front door a bold, brilliant hue, and while you’re at it, paint the house trim. Even if you can’t paint the entire house, freshening the door and window trim gives your house the “cared for” feeling that buyers want.

Change out the bulbs in the carriage lights and keep them brightly lit. Do the same with the porch lights. As the seasons change, homebuyers may be seeing your home in the early evening, so illuminate pathways with solar lights or place lights at the base of trees, bushes or architectural details of your home.

If your gutters sag, call out a service technician and get them realigned or repaired. Do the same with the downspouts. If they are dented or smashed on the ends, replace them, so they don’t detract from your home.

If you have time to replant your flower beds, add seasonal blooming flowers or colorful foliage to attract the eye. Even if you can’t replant your beds, set out pots of colorful flowers in the front of your home.

If the front of your home has a long driveway or walkway, consider concrete acid stain to give it a beautiful, new surface. And, if the door at the end of that driveway is dented, droopy or bulges, get it replaced. The R.O.I. is worth it.

Curb Appeal

Selling Prep

About the Author

Rossi Real Estate Services LLC

Rossi Real Estate Services LLC is a boutique real estate brokerage firm that provides close personal attention to buyers and sellers in the Capital Region and surrounding areas. “Typical” is not a word that clients use to describe Rossi Real Estate's approach to home buying and selling. Building upon years of experience, Rossi Real Estate employs creative marketing approaches, combined with a vast network, to quickly sell homes. By creating home floor plans, professional photography, and online marketing videos, Rossi Real Estate is able to depict home layouts and professional marketing to potential buyers before stepping foot in your home; this saves the seller valuable time by attracting only those buyers who have greater interest in the home. Additionally, by employing targeted online marketing, Rossi Real Estate targets buyers searching for homes just like yours.

Joe Rossi, the Principal Broker at Rossi Real Estate, builds upon over 12 years real estate experience in every transaction. Joe zealously advocates for his clients by combining his diverse background in law, finance, complex negotiation, and management, with compassion and exemplary communication skills creates. He explains transaction details and guides his clients through every step of the buying and selling experience. Furthermore, Joe listens to his clients’ wants and needs. In a recent transaction, the buyer profusely thanked Joe, stating he was, “[T]he only one in the transaction that was capable of communicating with the sellers in a way that ensured we were able to close on our dream home”.

Our real estate practice includes leading professionals, all of which are NYS Licensed Real Estate Sales Associates: Joseph R. Rossi, Ryan Hart, & Dustin Cogswell. Their experience includes work at a fortune 100 company, military operations, and technical recruiting.

If you're looking for a real estate broker who goes above and beyond the industry, who genuinely cares about their clients, and who will drive results, contact Rossi Real Estate Services LLC today.

The Stuff our attorneys make us include...

In accordance with Real Property Law §442-H, Rossi Real Estate Services LLC implemented a Standardized Operating Procedure governing client engagement. As such, prior to any engagement, Broker:

1. Requires a buyer to produce identification if the identity of the buyer is not readily known through a personal relationship with the broker or licensed sales person;

2. Requires an exclusive agency agreement (i.e. exclusive broker agreement) prior to engagement with any buyer;

3. Does not require pre-approval for a mortgage loan; however, a pre-qualification letter for a mortgage loan or, for cash buyers, proof of funds is required.

Although Broker may not require certain information, a seller of real estate may require this information prior to showing the property and/or as part of any purchase offer.