9 Ways to Make Your House Shine on a Budget

Are you considering selling your home and would you like to know the ways to get more money to sell your home? We're going to talk about curb appeal on a budget: ways to save you money and also get you more money in selling your house!

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These are going to be simple ways to make your outside look really good so people want to come and look at the inside!

1. Clean! Just reducing the clutter in the yard is a great idea. Power wash every service you can think of: siding, gutters, windows, sidewalks, driveways.  Keep your lawn mowed, the bushes pruned- all that kind of stuff just to look so it looks really nice on the outside. Make it really neat
2. Work with your door. Since you've already power washed it so it's nice and clean, you also want to give it some energy efficiency as well as. Give it some weather stripping/caulking or put a sweep at the bottom of the door to keeps bugs out, cold air or hot air (depending on the season). This helps with energy efficiency saving you on utilities. It'll make the house more comfortable. Another thing you can do for the door is to paint in a bold color. We do want to kind of keep the whole house on the outside in like a two to three color scheme so either if your house is just a neutral color then you can go really bold on the door (blues and teal and red are real popular front door colors).
3. Clean the windows. A really good and easy cheap way to clean the windows is with vinegar and water; if it's really grimly you might add a little bit of soap. You can also remove and replace the caulking to make sure that it is energy efficient and save you and your buyers money. If you really want to make it really energy efficient and have not only curb appeal, go ahead and  replace the windows with dual pane windows. They have the extra layer of insulation. Obviously, that's going to cost a little more but you would get a good return on your investment.
4. Another way that you can create curb appeal on a budget is plants. If you don't have any plants it might be too soon/too late in the season to plant something. You should consider putting pots of flowers on the walkway and doorway coming into the house or even at the end of the driveway to get some curb appeal. Rock gardens are really good for people like me with a black thumb. If you do have things that are already planted or can get some bushes started those are great to have on your property. If you really want to plant a tree the best thing, as far as energy efficiency, is to put on your north or northwest side is evergreen trees so the house is protected from the cold weather. On the south and southwest side, its better put leafy trees so in the summer it'll protect you from the sun rays and keeps the house cool and when the leaves fall then it'll be warmer and let more sun in and keep the house warmer.
5. Another simple thing you can do to get curb appeal on a budget is to update your mailbox. You can go really fancy by putting bricks around the top and at the base of it, or go for a more economical version. Just make sure it has the address on there to make it easy to find and follow the post office rules about how high it needs to be and how far back from the road.
6. Another simple way is to do your display numbers. Put some pots out with the different numbers on it. There's signs that you can get that are reflective so you can see it any time in the day or night on the house as well as at the end of the driveway. Both are good places to make a nice display of your house number and coordinate your colors with your house so it all flows together.
7. A seating area is an easy way to get curb appeal on a budget. Do this in the front yard so people can see it from the road as they drive by. A couple chairs and a small table or a bench or even a swing, or a picnic table. This gives buyers the opportunity to picture themselves sitting outside and enjoying the weather and view. If your home is neutral colors, go with bold colors on the furniture to give a contrast or stay in the theme that you already have.
8. Make sure everything is in good repair. If you have some trim or shutters on your home, take care of them. The soffit and fascia, that's the boards right below your roof line and above the siding, is a place that people will notice and a lot of peeling paint happens there. If the water is not coming off the roof correctly, these boards will get damaged and need repaired or replaced. To fix them, first clean really well (see #1 clean). If there is some bad spots either replace any boards or just sand them down. If there are smaller spots, you can fill with caulking or wood fill. Lastly, prime and paint--make sure to coordinate colors and the temperatures are right (not too hot or not too humid) so that the paint will stick. The home would look really nice and clean and fresh.
9. Shine everything up! You've already cleaned everything but now get down to the details, like the fixtures: make sure the light fixtures are clean inside and out door handles, even hinges, are shiny.  If you have a garage door, you can get the little magnets to look like it has hinges or a fancy handle or even pretend windows. Put solar lights along the driveway or walkway to make it really shine and stand out.

Now that we've talked about curb appeal on a budget, you might be ready to sell. Check out our other blog posts to answer other questions like fees a seller pays when selling the house to make sure that you're prepared.