Curb appeal, or the look and feel of a house when looking at it from the street, tells homebuyers a lot about a home before they even walk through the front door. It can be helpful to think about curb appeal as a form of marketing because it helps sell the home from the outside and sets expectations about the rest of the house. When a home has curb appeal, it adds a certain "wow" factor that encourages buyers to learn more. After all, you want homebuyers to approach your house and think, "I can't wait to look inside."
A home's curb appeal is often based on a number of factors, such as:
A roof that looks new and intact.
Clean or newly painted siding.
If applicable, a clean and freshly stained deck.
A well-kept yard including freshly mown grass, trimmed trees, and new mulch.
A pressure-washed driveway with no weeds growing through the cracks.
A new or freshly painted front door.
Even the best homes can suffer on the market because of a lack of curb appeal. Luckily, it's relatively easy to improve a home's curb appeal, and the result can have a pretty big impact on the listing as well as the sales price. If you want to improve your home's curb appeal, drive down the street and pretend you have never seen the property before. Take note of what you notice about the house, and look for areas that need improvement.