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If you plan on selling your home in the near future, it's well known that potential buyers make up their minds in the first few minutes of seeing a home. How your home presents itself from the road can actually make or break the sale.  In fact, curb appeal sells almost half of all houses. By spending a little time and money fixing up your house, you could potentially add thousands to the selling price.

Even if you don't plan on selling your home in the near future, the pride one feels from having a beautiful home is worth more than the value they've increased their home by.

There are a number of ways to enhance your home's appearance.  It helps to write down a complete inventory of what is wrong with your home's appearance, then make a list of ways in which you can fix those problems.  Try to remain objective; look at your house and yard as if you were a buyer, and determine curb appeal from that perspective. You may notice things you've spent years overlooking.  

Before you go to the expense of replacing or repairing major components of your home, try some of these tips:

• Trim the vegetation around your home, particularly those bushes that may conceal the front of the house and windows.  Try to limit the height of bushes and shrubbery to the bottom of windows.   
• Remove weeds from flowerbeds and plant some colorful annuals or ornamentals.
• Fertilize and manicure the lawn to provide a green, even look.  See the Landscape Workshop section elsewhere on this web site for more tips on maintaining a beautiful, healthy lawn.
• Pressure-wash driveway, sidewalk, fence and your home's exterior as needed.
• Clean mailbox and posts, painting if needed.

Other projects which are more intensive in scope that will add major impact to the appeal of your home:

• A fresh paint job can give a home a major face-lift.  Take the time to try different paint color schemes on the back side of your home before you finalize your color; it's amazing how different a color looks on the wall outside your home from what it does on a tiny paint swatch from the paint store.  Be sure to get color approval from the Architectural Review Committee before starting your project..
• Patch or replace sod that has browned.
• Replace rotting or warped fences.
• If the roof looks dull or is showing signs of mold, replacing the shingles can breathe new life into the house.  Be sure to get color and type of shingle approval from the Architectural Review Committee before starting your project.

Any one of these tips can make a difference of the curb appeal of your home.  Collectively, they will make a huge difference, adding to the overall appeal of Lithia Ridge.