Summer and early fall are great times to spruce up your curb appeal. First impressions are so important and the front exterior of your home is where it all starts. If you have no plans to sell your house, improving the front exterior will still make you feel great. Perhaps it will give you reason to spend more time in the front yard or the front porch. Or simply make you feel great about finally finishing a project that may have been on the back burner.

However, if you are planning to sell your house now or in the future, enhancing your curb appeal is one of the best ways to boost your return. If done well, the money you invest here will almost 100% be returned to you, you will make your house more attractive to buyers and in a slower market, more sellable in general. So, if you plan to sell your house in late fall or winter,  get these projects done now. Once temperatures start dropping, some of these improvements won’t be feasible to complete. Outside of the very basic upgrades, such as replacing the rusted mail box with a new modern one, fixing the broken front door handle or painting the front steps, there are meaningful exterior updates that every home owner should consider doing before selling their home.

Check out our blog 4 Reasons To Sell Your Home In The Fall

Let’s dive into 4 improvements with big returns:

1) Repair and repaint the front porch

If you live in a typical old Toronto home, your front porch is probably 100+ years old. If you can see significant slanting, requiring major repair you aren’t prepared to do before you sell, leave everything. Otherwise, repair any significant slanting, old boards or wood rot. Fully repainting the porch, railings, stairs and ceilings will completely transform the entryway and offer a great first impression. Painting is such a simple undertaking, but the results speak volumes. One of the biggest home prep mistakes we see home sellers make is leave the exterior painting until last and often not doing it at all due to unexpected cold temperatures or timeline constraints.

Design Tip: When repainting the porch, choose darker tones of grey, navy or black to add an instant modern element to your home. Leave the porch floor and ceiling more neutral, such as lacquered wood or cedar. If possible, add some pot lights in the ceiling for an extra added bonus.

2) Replace old windows and the front door

If there’s a little extra money for further updates, consider replacing old windows and front door. If this project is simply for your enjoyment and you have no plans to sell your house, new windows and doors will not only look great, but will also improve your heating and cooling efficiency. If you are selling and have the time and money to invest into such updates, remember, that buyers will always pay top dollar for a turn-key home. This investment will make your house more sellable and you will recover your costs and then some. Plus, a new modern front door will make a huge impact on a buyer’s first impression.

Design Tip: Choose a bright colour for your front door, such as mustard yellow, red or bright blue. This will help your home stand out amongst your neighbours. Replace the mailbox and mailbox number. Choose something trendy and in line with the style of your home. Also, choose numbers that are easily visible from the street.

Read these additional seller resources to help you maximize your sale:

• Top 5 Staging Tips To Help Sell A Home For More Money
• Key Steps To Selling A Home In Toronto
• How To Successfully Price And Sell Your Home

3) Repair or paint old siding and damaged brick

There’s nothing more unattractive than old, cracking siding or brick that looks like it’s about to disintegrate. If you’re siding is in decent shape and replacing it is too expensive, paint it and call it a day. However, if the rest of the house is in great shape, and you plan to sell your house, then it’s an investment worth making. First impressions are everything (even in our hot seller’s market), and old exteriors might scare buyers away.

Same goes for old damaged brick that can be fixed by brick pointing. Repointing is the process of removing damaged mortar joints and then renewing them. When mortar joints are damages, water has a chance to seep inside and in real estate, any water related issues could be deal breakers for buyers.

Design Tip: Painting siding can be a great way to revive the exterior by using trendy dark tones of charcoal or black.

4) Revive your garden and walkway

How’s your lawn looking, how are the plants doing? Is your walkway ancient and in need of repair? One of the easiest, and most fun home improvement plans is updating the gardens.  This is a great opportunity to add colour and vibrance through flowers, bushes and hanging baskets.  Who doesn’t love a good haul from the garden centre? Here you can really get creative.  Depending on what you plant, you could be sowing a garden full of blooms for generations to come.

Design Tip: Plan and plant a garden that will bloom all year if possible.  Opt for early spring bulbs such as tulips, grape hyacinths and daffodils for those much needed pops of colour in late April and early May.  Plant a few lilies and hostas and by early summer you will have a gorgeous garden full of vibrant blooms.  Hostas are a great little garden helper.  They spread out beautifully and send up tall stalks of purple or white flowers.  Irresistible!

For more quick and easy home improvement ideas, check out 5 Quick and Cheap Upgrades That Will Add Major Value To Your Home Sale

5) Install Modern Exterior Lighting

Exterior lighting is almost always forgotten about or moved to the bottom of the list. Guilty!! However, if you bring this up with any home designer or architect, they will definitely tell you that exterior lighting is incredibly valuable in enhancing the curb appeal, especially during the winter gloomy months when nightfall comes so early. These improvements don’t have to break the bank and if you are moving chances are investing thousands of dollars on exterior mood lighting won’t make sense.

Design Tip: So what can you do that’s quick, easy and inexpensive? Start with the porch light and search for black metal exterior pendent deals on Wayfair or even Amazon. Next, select simple LED garden lighting to line the walkway and accent the gardens. During the warmer months, cluster decorative lanterns on the dining table or front porch.

Do you have questions about improving your home before selling it? Reach out to us at 416.909.1602 or email hello@getnested.ca and we’d be happy to provide guidance!

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