5 Smart (but Not Expensive) Ways to Showcase Your Property's Appeal

Whether you’re planning to sell, make major updates, or simply have guests coming through, it’s important to stay on top of maintaining your home.

Making home maintenance a regular part of your routine goes a long way in highlighting your property appeal — but it doesn’t have to break the bank.

Leveling Up Your Home’s Property Appeal

To take your home’s property appeal from questionable to undoubtable, it’s important to take an inside-out approach.

That is, when working to highlight the appeal of your home, make sure to apply the changes we’ve suggested both inside the home and outside of it. This ensures you have a good starting ground for future efforts you may consider. These could include professional staging, interior decorating, major renovations, or other more pricey efforts towards boosting your home’s appeal.

In the meantime, here are 5 of the best ways to kick your home’s property appeal up a notch to allow it to shine.

#1. Add a Fresh Coat of Paint

Opening up a can of paint and dusting off the roller brushes and paint trays can do wonders and help any home look brand new, helping to showcase it in its best light.

If you’ve wanted to go bold, keep in mind this is not the time to do it. Sticking with neutral colors allows prospective buyers and even appraisers to see the true state of the home, helping bump up its appeal.

If you already have bright or statement colors, consider painting over them in neutral colors. The goal of showcasing the appeal of your property is to help people imagine themselves living there. Giving them a neutral or blank canvas to start with can help.

Start inside your home, then work your way to its exterior — which will take more effort, but pay off tremendously. The exterior of your home is your chance to make a true first impression, so giving it a fresh coat of paint can help ensure it’s a positive one. Make sure to also paint any fences you may have.

#2. Give it a Good Cleaning, Inside and Out

This goes without saying, but ensuring your home looks as clean as possible goes a long way in showcasing its value and appeal.

Start by decluttering, room by room. Tuck away knick-knacks, toss anything you won’t miss, and store away valuable sentimentals. Then, move onto a deep clean, which goes beyond your day-to-day picking up:

• Wash and dry your walls. Use a magic eraser to buff out any knicks or marks soap and water couldn’t get out.
• Scrub the baseboards in each room, which collect a surprising amount of dust.
• Consider renting a steam vacuum from your local grocery store or hardware shop to give the carpets and rugs a good cleaning.
  

Then, you’ll want to move outside. Focus on the front yard first, then make your way to the backyard:

• Pick up any toys, old equipment, or other general outdoor clutter.
• Rake any leaves, pull any weeds, and trim hedges or trees.
• Power-wash the driveway, walking path, porch, and exterior walls of the home. (Pro tip: You can also rent a power-washer at your local hardware store.)
• Wash and dry the exterior windows.
• Clean out the gutters.
  

While you’ll have to invest plenty of time to knock out this level of cleaning, the cost is extremely low — the only thing you’ll need is cleaning supplies and possibly renting equipment. Rolling up your sleeves and dedicating a long weekend to getting these cleaning tasks knocked out will be worth it.

Once you’re done, your home will look brand new.

#3. Prioritize Your Repairs

You don’t necessarily have to throw all your repair budget in at once here, but you do want to prioritize the most critical, as well as most obvious, repairs. Think about it: the last thing you want is a flickering lightbulb, busted door frame, leaky faucet, or ripped-up window screen to detract from your property’s appeal.

Make a list of the easiest repairs — both inside and out of the property — you can complete within a day, then a corresponding list of any supplies needed. Set a time and date you’ll complete them — and then get them done!

Next, repeat this exercise with the more obvious repairs. These may take a bit more time, but ensure you hold yourself accountable to a specific timestamp you’ll get them completed.

Once the cosmetic repairs are complete, the appeal of your home can become even clearer. You’ll also have room in your budget to save up for any critical repairs, like for your water heater or plumbing.

#4. Spruce Up Your Yard

As you work through the outside of your property, take a look at your yard and ask yourself, What can I do better? What would make me want to stop by this home?

Start with mowing the lawn, trimming bushes, trees, and hedges, and pulling weeds. Consider planting new trees, flowers, and removing any old or broken decorations you may have out there.

These small details add up. Like we said, the exterior of your home is your chance to make a strong first impression — so invest in tidying up your yard. You don’t have to spend very much, and even the smallest updates can make a big difference.

#5. Update Exterior Details

In the spirit of continuing to make strong first impressions, you’ll want to finish off your property appeal boosting with tidying up details of your home’s exterior.

These efforts include:

• Giving the trim a fresh coat of paint (while you’re working on all the other painting we recommended in #1)
• Repairing the fence or garage door
• Polishing the front door knobs and house numbers or address sign
• Washing and polishing any exterior lighting fixtures
  

Investing your time and elbow grease goes a long way in showcasing your property’s appeal — without breaking the bank.

Are you boosting your property’s appeal to sell it? We’ve got the perfect agents to help you with a successful sale. Get connected with top agents in your local area today on RealEstateAgents.com!