As we near into the middle of March, you can’t help but desire all the warmth (hopefully) and sun that’s going to be coming with Spring. If you’re like most you start getting excited for yard projects such as planting beautiful flowers, and making your house pop a little after being so gloomy in all the rainy months! Whether or not you are planning on selling your home in the Spring selling season, I’m here to offer these few tips that will help you prepare your home’s exterior to look it’s best for the days to come of sunshine and happiness!
Let’s start with your lawn.
There are a few steps you should be taking to get your lawn looking back to it’s full potential after all the neglect through fall/winter. First you should do a deep raking. I know what you’re thinking, “Rake my lawn? I raked all of my leaves back when they all fell”. True, but this raking is a little bit different than just raking your leaves up. A deep raking will remove any debris that has accumulated to encourage better air flow preventing disease and insect infestation, and allowing new blades of grass to grow easily. You’ll want to apply a pre-emergent crabgrass control early in Spring. It’s VERY important to make sure this is down before your soil temperature reaches 55-60 degrees, otherwise the weed seeds will have begun to germinate and the pre-emergent will no longer be effective. Crabgrass is VERY hard to get rid of once it has germinated. You’ll also want to go through and re-seed any areas/patches of grass that have been damaged, such as high traffic areas. Fertilizing in the Spring is also important. After the winter months have come and wreaked havoc on your lawn, a good fertilization will jump start your lawn. It provides a nutrient build up that will give it the strength to withstand the heat stress and drought through the summer months. If you are needing to both re-seed areas of your lawn and use a pre-emergent, it is important to note that the pre-emergent will leave no room for pretty much anything to germinate. Even new grass seed. Turf specialists recommend that if the weather permits, hold off on crab grass control until the latest point possible. Perform your turf repair as early as possible to allow the seeds time to germinate and become somewhat established prior to the pre-emergent.
Now, we move onto your front entrance.
It’s pretty obvious that your front entrance is a large focal point of your house. Think about sprucing it up a bit by re-arranging any patio furniture you plan to put out. If you don’t have any and space allows, a hanging porch swing adds a subtle and nice touch to any porch. When it comes to your front door you can enhance it’s appeal by painting it a rich hue, adding a knocker, updating hardware, and hanging a seasonal decor piece. It’s also important to make sure your house numbers are clear and easy to read from out front. Make sure they are not blocked by trees or porch railings. And lastly, give your siding a fresh wash. Use a power washer to clear off dirt and cobwebs. If you have a window attachment you can get your porch windows looking shiny and clean!
Everyone loves looking at pretty flowers.
At least I think they do? Flowers are a GREAT way to add instant curb appeal, just go to any local store or garden enter and start picking out flowers with a fragrance you love. Even though you can’t see it, fragrance can have a big impact on people as they are walking up to your house. Group pots of flowers on the porch. They’re beautiful and as easy as can be to add. Cluster three pots in various sizes on your front porch or stairs, and fill them with blooming spring flowers! Walk around and look at your trees, shrubs, bushes, flower beds. What can you do to add appeal? Trim bushes down to create a better visual of your home and add flowers around the flower beds to make things POP. You’ll also want to mulch your flower beds with a natural mulch to help the soil retain moisture and give the beds a finished look.
The rest can be fairly quick and simple.
Stand across the street and look at what stands out to you that needs some TLC. Maybe your garage door needs a fresh coat of paint, or a good power wash. Do you store your garbage cans out front? Try finding an easy to reach place for them rather than right out front, or even better buy/build a nice storage space that camouflages the dreary garbage holders. Pinterest has lots of great ideas there! Take a look at your roof. Do you see any mold? If you do, you’ll want to take care of that now before it gets worse and becomes an even bigger job or ends up damaging your roof. Plus, IF you are doing all of this to sell your home then mold on your roof will come up on an inspection report. Better to just take care of it now than wait! While all the leaves are off the trees, now is a great time to have them trimmed back as well before everything starts blooming.
Do all of this, or even SOME of this, and your house will be in great shape for the sunny weather and heat! And don’t forget, if there is anything I can do to help with your Real Estate needs this Spring contact me today!