Curb appeal plays a significant role in getting your
home ready to sell. Among Realtors ®, 94% have
suggested that sellers improve their curb appeal
before listing a home for sale. First impressions
are very important to make—it’s in our psychology.
Although you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, it’s
what buyers do when they first pull up to a property.
Making a good first impression could be the difference
between a quick sale or coming to the realization that
you need a price reduction.
Ninety-nine percent of Realtors believe that curb
appeal is important to attracting buyers. You could
say that universally it has a large impact on whether
or not your home will sell. But what sort of outdoor
features are the most important to a prospective
buyer? Not all improvements are treated equally.
Here are the top 13 exterior improvements you can
make as ranked by Realtors.
1. Standard lawn care service
2. Landscaping maintenance
3. Overall landscape upgrade
4. Tree care
5. New wood deck
6. New patio
7. Landscape lighting
8. Fire feature
9. Irrigation system installation
10. Statement landscape
11. Outdoor kitchen
12. New pool
13. Water feature
Standard lawn care service was ranked as the
number one project that appeals to buyers. Realtors ®
estimate that lawn care would recover 267% of the
cost estimated by landscaping professionals. For
example, if you theoretically spent $375 on lawn
care services before selling, you would actually see a
return of $1,000. Although lawn care is part of being
a homeowner, maybe leave it to the pros when it
comes time to sell your home. This especially applies
to investment properties too! Home buyers need to
visualize themselves living in the home and the yard is
the first thing they see.
Not every project you embark on will return the full
value of the renovation when you go to sell your home.
It is important for agents and clients to understand
the difference between the cost of the improvement
against the value actually added.
On the other end of the spectrum we have a new
pool or water feature. For example, the average cost
to install an inground pool at $57,500 would only
recover about $25,000. That’s only a 43% value
recovered from that project that you thought was
an improvement. Think of it as driving a new car
off the lot at the dealership—you lose value almost
immediately. We believe you recover even less of that
cost in regions where you can’t use a pool year round,
such as Michigan.
Not every exterior addition is completed with the
intention to add value when it comes time to sell.
Some exterior features are added simply for the
enjoyment of having the feature in your home. If we go
back to our pool example, 92% of people who took on
the project said they had a greater desire to be home
since they installed their new pool. You may love some
of these extra exterior features of your home more
once you add them. Just don’t expect the next owner
to pay the price for every addition.
This information was taken from a study conducted
by the National Association of Realtors
® from March
to April 2018.