Residential Marketing Solutions

Increasing the Curb Appeal of Your Home

Increasing the Curb Appeal of Your Home

“If all of your remodeling is on the inside but the outside of the house is challenging, you’ll never have a chance to even show the inside.”   
– HGTV

In addition to making your home more attractive to potential buyers, increasing the curb appeal of your home increases its value and gives you something you can truly feel proud of. Your home’s exterior is the first thing you see each time you come home. It’s also the first thing your guests see before they walk through your front door. Even if you don’t plan on selling your home anytime soon, taking some time to boost your curb appeal can provide significant benefits.

Upgrade Your Landscape

One of the most effective ways to boost your home’s curb appeal is by adding some fresh greenery and flowers to your landscape. It’s also important to regularly care for your lawn as well. Having a nice landscape can have a huge impact on the overall look and feel of your home.

Even if you don’t have the money to hire a professional landscaper, you can still improve your curb appeal by adding planters and window boxes to the front of your home. However, you’ll want to be careful not to overdo it or combine plants or planters that clash or look out of place.

Choose plants that accentuate and frame key visual points like windows and entryways. If you don’t have room for a standing planter, consider adding a hanging one. Even adding a few carefully planned arrangements can add to your home’s exterior appearance.

Make Your Door Stand Out

Perhaps one of the fastest and easiest ways to boost your curb appeal, painting your front door a bold color can accentuate and enhance your home’s exterior. When selecting a color, make sure it doesn’t clash with the paint of your home. It’s a good idea to check with a paint swatch prior to painting.

Add Outdoor Lighting

A dark entryway not only looks uninviting, it creates a safety issue for your family. Adding carefully planned outdoor lighting can significantly boost your home’s curb appeal while improving the safety and security of your home. This may have an especially positive impact on your home’s value.

Spice Up Your Front Door

Adding a wreath to your front door can add elegance and make guests feel more welcome. This simple touch isn’t just for Christmas or other holidays. You can purchase wreaths year round. For the best results, select a wreath made from preserved or dried greens and florals. Avoid dating the wreath by selecting one that works all season long.

Clean It Up

Many people don’t realize the amount of dirt and grime that builds up on the exterior of their home. Using a power washer, homeowners can remove years of buildup from their siding, porch, walkway, and driveway. If you don’t own a power washer, you can rent one from most big box hardware stores.

Improving the curb appeal of your home doesn’t have to cost a lot of money or take a lot of time. Most of the steps listed above can be completed in just one weekend.

Strategic Sales and Marketing offers a variety of real estate sales and marketing services. Our team has years of experience working with the real estate industry and understands the steps required to identify and connect with potential buyers.

 

 

 

 

New Year, New House – Here’s Everything You Need to Know About 2020 Real Estate Trends

New Year, New House – Here’s Everything You Need to Know About 2020 Real Estate Trends

With 2019 in the books, both buyers and sellers are looking toward 2020. This is the time of year when real estate experts begin making predictions of upcoming real estate trends. In order to make these predictions, they must first consider the previous year and its effects on the housing market.

Last year, early forecasts predicted that mortgage lenders would struggle throughout the year amongst rising interest rates. In retrospect, 2019 was the opposite with an unexpected downward trend in interest rates.  This created a desirable environment for future home buyers; which caused an increase in home sales throughout much of the year. Refinances have also risen in 2019, as homeowners have taken the opportunity to capture lower interest rates. This has been good news for mortgage lenders, sellers, and buyers, and the real estate market has seen homes in Southern California selling in as little as three weeks of hitting the market.

Although we’ll probably see a few new housing trends emerge this year, we expect many of 2019’s trends to continue into 2020. Increased competition, home technology, and low housing inventory will most likely drive real estate trends throughout much of the year.

Increased Competition

Although low mortgage rates started to revitalize the market last summer, we aren’t expected to see the full impact until next year. Thanks to rising education and low unemployment rates, more people will have the opportunity to buy in the coming year. As more people make the decision to buy, buyers will have less housing inventory to choose from, increasing demand and competition in the housing market throughout much of 2020. Some predictions include the return of bidding wars next year. The supply and demand balance will stabilize by the end of next year, as more homeowners and builders make the decision to sell.

Reduced Recession Risk

Thanks to increased spending, recent data suggests that a U.S. recession is less likely in 2020. As it stands, the chance of a recession is roughly 1 in 4 according to Daryl Fairweather, Chief Economist at RedFin (SOURCE). In order to keep this number low, it’s important that consumers continue spending throughout the year.

Smart Home Technologies

With new technologies emerging almost every day, it’s a fair assumption that technology will continue as a top deciding factor when choosing a home in 2020. Smart technologies such as smart lighting, smart thermostats, and smart security systems use predictive analysis and AI to learn patterns and recognize potential problems. Users can easily control and monitor these devices from any location in the world from a smart phone, tablet, or computer.

Strategic Sales and Marketing offers a variety of real estate sales and marketing services. Our team has years of experience working with the real estate industry and understands the steps required to identify and connect with potential buyers. Please contact us for more information about our services.