Exterior Fix Ups That Don't Kill The Budget

Maybe your thinking of selling, maybe your planning on staying. Either way maybe you want to spruce up the exterior of your home, but you don't want to break the bank doing so. This market we are in houses are selling, but what sets your house apart in the same price range as others? Condition, yes, what else? Location, true, what else? Price, of course, what else? How about curb appeal? 


Whats the first thing people see when they pull up to your home? The outside of course. Is it bland? Does it set it's self apart from other homes? What are a few things people notice? The paint, yep, what else? Landscaping? Yep, and sometimes that's the deal killer right there. When people pull up in front of your home, what do they see? Weedy gardens? No color? A bland yard? That's not the first impression you want to give is it? Even if your not selling your home, wouldn't you like your friends to see a nice house when they come to visit? It's really not that expensive or hard to turn bland into something special. You use color friends, it's so easy.


Also, outside living areas. Many people love to enjoy the yard as well as the inside of the home, and having areas they can relax in or reflect in are important to them. Maybe it's just a little quiet get away, where it's nice to sit and read a book, or just watch the birds and butterfly's. I hear you giggle, but for many that's very important. Why risk not being able to get top dollar on your sale because you wouldn't invest in a few hours work and 100 bucks in flowers? Why miss that potential buyer because of something so simple as a row of Petunias?

If you read my post on fixing up the outside of the house, there was a couple things we did at that time that made a world of difference. One was we replaced the back fence with a nice cedar fencing, wow was that huge in the visual sense. Another thing we did was to put in a patio on the shady side of the house where there was only a walk way and a garden area that was too shady for most plants to thrive in. This was some of the best money we ever spent on our home, we love having the new outside living space to have our fire pit, an outdoor living room really. Also there's a lot more entertaining area for having friends over.


We have a huge Yucca plant as well in the corner of the yard. It's really big, and I didn't know what to do with it, they are very hard to get rid of once they are so well established. So...I learned to live with it and built a garden around it with ground cover and a red rose bush. Now it's no longer something that we feel was an eyesore and a big weed, but a part of the landscaping.

In the front yard after I finished the house, the house looked great, but there was no "splash", nothing to really draw the eye, so I put in a nice garden in front of the garage. I lined it with Petunias, which were cheap, an Arctic White Rose which blooms constantly and at times has 100's of blooms, and a couple of low maintenance shrubs. All the materials including the boarder and plants were right around 150 bucks, yeah...kinda cheap. It added not only sell ability to the house, but added a huge amount of curb appeal as well, and if your thinking of selling that's one of the most important things you can do. You only get one chance at a first impression.


Here's a series of photos of a few of the projects we did and some of the plants we put in to add that color splash. First the concrete work and the fence.

Next I put in the garden in the front of the house

The Petunias are now gone, but the shrubs are much larger and pretty much fill in the garden, the mulch really helps in weed control so the area is almost maintenance free, with an occasional trimming of the shrubs.Here's a few more colorful plants we have put in in the back yard as well to brighten it up and make it more enjoyable to use the area as a living space.

These are Geraniums, they now cover an area about 8 times what you see here, they cost me about $2.50 for the plant. A great investment in color, I have a Scarlet Red one as well in another garden area.

One of my favorites because the leaves are colorful as well as the the flowers are my Tropicana's. The multi blooms of bright oranges really stand out and the leaves are incredible.

Ahh, these are wonderful with their shiny green leaves and beautiful smelling flowers, my Gardenias.They take a long time to get big, are easy to care for and the flowers smell up the entire back yard, very nice plants!

The Coleus, these grew big and round. The colors are bright and vibrant as well. I was stunned how fast they got big and they were beautiful!

These are a type of Trumpet Vine, more of shrub with this variety, I get blooms from early spring until late fall.

A smaller rose plant that takes well to being potted

This is the rose plant I put by the Yucca tree, it blooms profusely in the spring and summer and adds that touch of color by our patio. 

Another plotted plant is this daisy, I have also planted one in another garden area and it has grown to about 2 feet high and 4 feet round and has a zillion blooms on it

Remember my Yucca? I couldn't get rid of this plant either, it kept coming back no matter how much I dug out...so i learned to live with it and it is awesome at this point. I trim it back to nothing every year and it comes back with huge green leaves and these sword type flowers for the summer. Don't ask me what it is because I have no idea, but I know at this point that I like it and I'm glad to have it as part of the landscape.

Oh, and one of my personal favorites, my Calla Lily. This dies out at the end of it's season and I cut it to the ground, and in the spring it comes back bigger every year with more of these large bright yellow flowers. This one also has great leaves. Very large dark green with these white speckles allover them.

Putting in these plants did take a little sweat equity, and time, and of course a few bucks. But do a little at a time, maybe one thing a week end for a couple of months and you'll have the curb appeal so people love your house before they ever see the inside. I hope you find these posts with the tips encouraging, and useful. And when the time comes, give me a call and give me the opportunity to be your Realtor. Thanks for dropping in, I hope you enjoyed the tips as much as I have enjoyed sharing them with you! 

The Mulberry House

One of the things I love most about being a Realtor are the homes I get the pleasure to either list or sell. I've sold little cracker boxes and modular homes as well as big huge 6 bed room homes with 6 bathrooms, I've had the pleasure to run the gambit. I mentioned in an earlier post that I love the Craftsman homes, Victorians and older homes in general. They seem to have an aura about them, something special to me anyways. Maybe it's the history, the families that went before. I can't pin point it, but the feelings are there. One of the homes I most enjoyed wasn't a listing of mine but of one of my co-workers. 


I had a couple who wanted an older home in Riverside. They really wanted a Victorian era home and had called me to go look at one. Before I left to meet them, I pulled up my buddies listing and took it with me. A good Realtor will always have a back up house to show you if the one you wanted to see wasn't what you really wanted. As I had thought, the home they picked wasn't "old" enough even though it was 100 years old, it had been modern for the time...not at all what they were looking for. I mentioned this other one, it was being restored at the time but I could get us in, and they said they wanted to see it. 


It was only a few blocks away and when they parked behind me in I could see their faces in my rear view mirror, this was the kind of house they wanted. The home was built in the late 1800's it was a true Victorian. In fact, it was a Painted Lady. If you don't know what that is, it's one of those old homes with like shingles on the sides that are painted all different colors, the outside of this home had about 15 different colors on it and it was amazing to see. Almost like we stepped back in time over 100 years.


The outside was fairly complete and was incredible, the front door however was a sheet of plywood screwed to the house. I had my screw gun with me of course, I'm ready for anything! We went in and within two feet of the front door they told me they wanted the house, and I'm telling you it WAS UNDER CONSTRUCTION! You could see who ever was doing the work was doing it right, well I could since I'm a woodworker and construction guy, and although very dirty I could see they were taking very painful steps to restore this home to it's former glory. Trust me, it deserved the attention, this Painted Lady I found out a few days later is in the painted Ladies Of America Book, it really was a true historical home.


Long story short, we made the offer and my clients got the house they always dreamed of, in total disrepair, but that didn't matter. In the contract it was to be finished and my clients would be able to pick certain things that they would like such as colors inside and that kinda thing. Because I was knowledgeable about the type of house, construction and all, they asked if I could drop in once or twice a week and make sure things were going as scheduled and as per contract for them. Remember now, I wasn't the listing agent, as it should have been them, but I said no problem and did as my clients asked. It really was a pleasure for me anyways. 


Once again, long story short, it was finally completed. Parts were bought in from other old houses of the same age to fix things like hinges, doorknobs, glass and such. It turned out beautiful and it is one of the showcase homes in Riverside, California for the Christmas tour they do every year. In fact they do a dinner where every home prepares some dish and as visitors stop in they eat and get to look through the homes. I loved doing this transaction, it was one of the most fun/frustrating deals I ever got through. It took almost 6 months to close, remember we don't get paid until Escrow closes so that was one thing, but making sure the work got done on time and properly was a small nitemare but worth every minute in the long run. Here's some photos, it's a beautiful old home, and is completely up to date pluming/electrical wise. This first set is all exterior.

Here's some interior shots, things like the era chandeliers they found and such.

Part of the contract was the landscaping, we asked for some certain roses and things, which we got as well. These folks scoured antique shops, e-bay and anywhere they could for the downstairs furniture, they wanted certain real era pieces and they found them. This home actually has the right decorating and everything when you get inside, it is truly like stepping back in time.