Simple Ways To Improve Kerb Appeal Before Selling

First Impressions Start At The Pavement

Buyers decide an awful lot about a house before they reach the front door. In Cheshire and Trafford, where streets are lined with handsome Victorian terraces, 1930s semis, red-brick cottages and the occasional stone-built farmhouse, a well-kept frontage quietly says that the whole property has been looked after. Whether you're selling a bay-fronted terrace in Sale or a detached family home in Bowdon, the same simple rules apply.

Estate agents will tell you that good photographs get people through the door, but kerb appeal is what gets them out of the car in the first place. If the first thing a viewer sees is a cracked path, a tired front door and a wheelie bin parked across the step, doubts creep in before they've crossed the threshold. The good news is that most of the work involved is inexpensive, can be done over a couple of weekends, and often pays for itself many times over.

Tidy The Front Garden And Clear The Path

You don't need a designer border or a landscaped driveway. What you need is neatness. A tidy frontage reads as "well maintained", and that is exactly the message you want to send.

• Mow and edge the lawn weekly while your property is on the market, and trim the edges so the line between grass and path is crisp.
• Cut back overgrown shrubs and hedges, especially anything brushing against windows, blocking light or crowding the front door.
• Weed the gaps between paving, the base of walls and the edges of the drive. A couple of hours with a hand tool and a bag of kiln-dried sand can transform block paving.
• Sweep paths and steps, and clear leaves, moss and stray gravel. In our damp north-west climate, moss returns quickly, so a quick sweep before each viewing is worth the effort.
• Store bins and recycling boxes out of sight, ideally behind a simple screen or in a side passage.

If your front garden is mostly hardstanding, resist the temptation to repave it. Clean what is there, replace a couple of broken slabs, and add two planted pots either side of the door. That small touch of greenery softens an otherwise grey space and costs very little.

Refresh Paintwork, Doors And Windows

The front door is the handshake of the house. A fresh coat of paint is arguably the cheapest and most effective improvement you can make, and it takes an afternoon. Choose something in keeping with the property: deep navy, sage green, slate grey or a classic glossy black all work beautifully on period homes, while softer off-whites suit more modern builds. If you have original stained glass or a characterful knocker and letterbox, polish them up rather than replacing them.

While the brush is out, look at the rest of the woodwork. Flaking paint on window frames, sills, fascia boards and bargeboards is one of the first things a surveyor or a sharp-eyed buyer will spot. A sand, a primer and a topcoat will sort most of it. On rendered or pebbledashed walls, patch any blown areas and touch in with a matching masonry paint rather than repainting the whole elevation.

Don't forget the gutters. Dark streaks running down brickwork are usually a sign of overflowing or leaking gutters, and they're surprisingly off-putting. Clear debris, check joints and give plastic guttering a wash with warm soapy water.

Sweat The Small Stuff

It is the little details that tip a property from "fine" to "loved", and most of them cost pennies.

• House numbers should be clearly visible from the road, day and night. A smart set of numerals, or a well-placed plaque, helps viewers find you and signals pride in the property.
• Door furniture should match and work. A stiff lock, a wobbly handle or a noisy gate all create a faint sense of neglect.
• Fences and gates deserve attention. Replace rotten posts, straighten leaning panels and treat timber with a stain in a natural tone.
• Windows should be cleaned inside and out, frames included. Sparkling glass makes rooms look larger from the street.
• Bins, bikes and children's toys should be tucked away for photographs and viewings. Clutter at the front suggests clutter within.

Lighting, Timing And Knowing When To Stop

Many viewings happen after work, particularly between October and March, so think about how your home looks in the dark. A warm white porch light on a timer, a couple of solar stake lights along the path and a clean, well-lit house number make an enormous difference on a wet Tuesday evening.

Before you spend anything, stand on the pavement opposite and look at your house as a stranger would. Then walk towards the door, slowly, noticing everything at eye level. Better still, take a photograph on your phone in the morning, at dusk and in the rain. Problems you have stopped seeing will jump out immediately.

Finally, be realistic about budgets. Painting, weeding, cleaning, new numerals and a few pots cost very little and deliver the biggest return. Replacing a driveway or rebuilding a boundary wall is expensive and rarely adds more to your sale price than it costs. Do the inexpensive work first, keep everything looking consistently neat while your home is on the market, and let the front of your house do the persuading.