When passersby see your home, you want it to make a great first impression. That's the idea behind curb appeal. It's the quality that allows your home to catch the attention of potential home buyers.

Whether you're putting your residence on the market or you simply want to make your home more attractive, our REALTORS® understand curb appeal is critical. Here are five recommendations to give your home's curb appeal a boost. 

1. Maintenance and repair
   When you've been living in your home for a long time, it's easy to overlook simple maintenance issues. Unfortunately, strangers don't miss a thing. It's important to see your home's maintenance and repair issues with curb appeal in mind.
   
   - Paint - Consider repainting your home if it's been nearly a decade.
   - Wood trim - Replace or repair shutters, handrails, and other deteriorating wood trim.
   - Roof - If your roof looks worn, have a roofer determine if it should be repaired or replaced.
   - Gutters - Clean out debris and repair or replace deteriorating gutters.
   - Windows - Repair or replace windows for increased energy efficiency and attractiveness.
   
   
2. Upgrade your landscaping
   Landscaping for curb appeal begins with a well-manicured and finely edged lawn. You should remove fallen leaves and dead plants. Also, trim overgrown trees and shrubbery so they don't hide your home's best features. Once you complete the basics, it's easier to choose from a range of attractive design options.
   
   - Enhance the front of your home with a bold bed of leafy or colorful flowering plants.
   - Add a flowering or leafy green border along the edges of your entry walkway.
   - Extend "landscaping" to your porch or portico with a container garden, hanging baskets, or window boxes.
   
   
3. Beautify with coordinated entryway accents
   Color coordinated accessories make a bold attractive statement. Use a multi-color palette or a single hue.
   
   - Door - If your door is structurally sound, you can enhance it with bold, beautiful paint. Consider color-coordinating shutters and other trim.
   - Hardware - Upgrade your entryway with color-coordinated metal accents. Replace door knob, knockers, wall sconces, and overhead porch lighting fixtures with brass, copper, stainless, or black-painted metal versions.
   - House numbers - Display your address with unique house numbers in metals that match your entryway accents.
   - Wreath - Wreaths aren't just for Christmas. Find (or create) a front door wreath in a color or material that fits your style.
   
   
4. Attract with illumination
   When darkness falls, illumination keeps your home visible and beautiful. Light adds dramatic visual appeal, enhances security, and deters criminals. Easily installed solar powered units don't require wiring. Motion detector lights respond to movement.
   
   - Walkway lights - Lights along the edge of your sidewalk and driveway add visibility and make after-dark walking safer.
   - Security lights - Add light to dark areas and areas hidden by shrubs.
   - Stylish porch lights - Porch and rear lights illuminate and showcase your property after dark.
   
   
5. Add seasonal details
   Seasonal outdoor decor makes your home stand out from the rest. The decor you add should acknowledge the passage of the seasons with color and texture.
   
   - Container gardens - Enhance your porch, steps, and walkway with pots of live mums, marigolds, pansies and other seasonal blooms. Add colorful pumpkins and gourds for fall accents.
   - Flower beds - Fill your front flower beds with blooms or greenery of the season.
   - Flags - The U.S. flag is relevant year round and particularly during months with patriotic holidays such as Independence Day, Flag Day, and Memorial Day.

We Can Help

Contact Wright-Patt Realty when you need assistance from a professional real estate agent. We offer advice on buying and selling your home, city events, businesses, and other important community information.