Fence Projects

First Impressions Are Key

The exterior appearance of your home should allow a prospective purchaser to imply what the interior looks like.  In fact, in an era where more than 90% of buyers start their search online, the first photograph that is used in your ad (usually the exterior of the front) will often determine whether a large number will actually click further.  Among those who do click further, the first impression that photograph had on the buyer will often shade their impression of the property moving forward, regardless of the description or the other 39 photos.

Most of our clients do have nicely maintained interiors, however, or interiors that also just need a bit of sprucing up.  Yet the exterior of the home (the front especially) was not an area they spent much time in, or energy in keeping to the same standard.

Do you have dead cedar trees in parts of a privacy hedge?  Is the pathway to the entry weathered and cracked with greenish-brown discolouration?  Is the lawn overtaken by moss and weeds?  Is the paint of the home fading and flaking?  Is the entry door dated and the house numbers rusted?

If the answer to any of these questions is “yes” then prospective buyers are going to imply that the condition of everything else in the home is also poorly maintained.  If that’s accurate, then by all means, spare yourself the expense of fixing it all.  Putting lipstick on a pig isn’t going to fool anyone.  But in all likelihood, the front of your home needs a little work to bring it up to standard and keep those eyeballs engaged when scrolling through your listing.

This is where Curb Appeal can step in and raise the external attractiveness of your property so it rightfully matches that of the rest of your home.

The “Turnkey” Standard

Most buyers of single family homes have busy lives with children and careers.  Moving is an ordeal in itself.  They cannot afford the time, or the inconvenience of even medium-sized projects after they’ve moved in.  They are looking for something move-in ready.  This is the essence of what you are trying to convey to those looking at photos on your property listing, and how prospective buyers should feel when they visit in person.

Flooring and paint are of course two areas that are focused on by buyers, but you don’t need a Property Expert to tell you that renewing walls and floors will help.  You can also get good advice from any realtor that decluttering your space and doing a professional deep clean are almost mandatory as part of a pre-listing routine.  But a little bit of focus on some other areas need not cost an arm and a leg and can make a big difference.  Upgrades of light fixtures and minor kitchen renovations can significantly boost the appeal of your main living spaces.  Bathrooms have a tendency to betray your best efforts elsewhere and scream whatever decade they were built in.  But there are also other, more subtle elements which could use attention from electrical outlets and cover plates to stairway railings.

Turning your property from one that “needs work” to one where buyers feel “I see myself here already” can make a huge difference in the price you are able to obtain.  Let us show you how!

Keeping It Real

You might think that it’s necessary to have beautifully manicured garden beds with a colourful array of flowers and a lawn so perfect that it looks like someone cut it with scissors.  In fact, that could actually have the opposite of the intended effect.  Sure, there are some who love spending all their time getting hands dirty primping their gardens and being the envy of the neighbourhood.  But for most prospective buyers of your home, this kind of landscaping conveys “high maintenance” that they don’t have time for.

On the other hand, there are yards which plainly do not match with the interior of the home.  Maybe lawn maintenance wasn’t your thing and the hedges and shrubs didn’t get trimmed for a few years.  Now they seem too far gone.  Unfortunately, this eliminates a large part of your property from consideration as “usable space” and the majority of people looking for single family homes want all the space they can get.

North Shore landscaping requires some fairly distinct design and maintenance.  The amount of rain received is extremely disagreeable to many species of grass and plants.  The northern and eastern parts of the property, especially, will receive little or no sunlight to dry this moisture resulting in algae and moss taking over.  Temperature changes and pounding rain also quickly weather concrete and wooden structures unless regularly maintained.  A lot of damage can be done by simply doing nothing.

But this damage can also be undone by replacing inappropriate features with those more suitable to the elements, ensuring proper drainage and in some cases just starting over.

For yards that have been regularly maintained, less costly maintenance tasks can be completed prior to listing to ensure it adds to the attractiveness of the home.

Your Curb Appeal Property Expert knows the value of turning your backyard mud pit into an attractive usable space.  Consult with us to find out how to do it without breaking the bank.

Kitchens Are Where Life Happens

A major kitchen renovation is not for the faint of heart.  In some cases, a complete gutting of the existing kitchen and rebuilding from scratch is necessary.  The only question is whether you’re going to do it or the next owner of the home will.  But these projects are not only invasive, often requiring you to vacate the property until completion, they are extremely complicated and costly.  Consider the number of tradespeople required: carpenters, plumbers, electricians, drywallers, cabinet makers, tiling, flooring, painters, countertop and then the carpenters and painters come back to finish.

This kind of project is heavy on coordination, requires multiple permits and inspections and all of this adds to the cost.

While a brand new kitchen will absolutely be a huge selling feature that will increase the sales value of your property, it’s not likely to recover the entire cost of a major kitchen renovation.  Unless the current kitchen is totally defective and takes away from the rest of the space (which in some original North Shore home designs is sadly the case), your Curb Appeal Property Expert is most likely to recommend a series of less invasive upgrades to your existing kitchen that will come at a fraction of the cost but still serve the purpose of modernizing the centrepiece of your home.

Can modernization be achieved with new countertops, sink and flooring?  Go an extra step and replace or refinish the cabinetry doors and handles.  Brighten up the space with a new light fixture, or add some storage by building in some extra cabinets.  There’s lots that can be done on a shoestring budget.  Let us help you find your way to making the right decisions.

What Happens In The Bathroom…

Many people have quite visceral reactions to bathrooms when viewing homes.  Any amount of mold or discolouration, or even just fixtures that appear very old can be enough to send many people running for the hills.  Don’t torpedo the value of your home with a bathroom (especially the primary bathroom) that needs some basic upgrades.

Like with kitchens, to completely renovate a bathroom can involve a dizzying number of tradespeople, require permitting and inspections.  The costs grow for each level of customization you add on and the time that it requires.  Doing a bathroom renovation on the North Shore can be prohibitively expensive and the entire cost will not always be recovered upon sale.  Sometimes there’s nothing else that can be done than start from scratch.  Also, if you’ve recently invested money into a brand new kitchen for instance, leaving your primary bathroom outdated can lessen the return on that investment.  (Remember: consistency of quality is key)

But where the bathroom just requires a refresh, there’s plenty that can be done.  From overhauling the cabinetry and countertop to the sink and shower fixtures, a new toilet or updating the lighting and exhaust fan, some strategic investments can go a long way.  Perhaps all that is needed is some new caulking and paint.

Modernizing a bathroom can go a long way in removing the “yuck” factor that buyers of homes are prone to having.  Let your Curb Appeal Property Expert transform your bathroom from something you’d rather people don’t ask about to a big differentiator of your home vs. others on the market.

You Can’t Fall Off The Floor

Flooring is something very personal to each and every person.  Some people like the soft and warm feeling of carpet, while others see it as a trap for dust and dirt.  Hard flooring surfaces come in many varieties from hardwood to vinyl plank and laminates.  The colour and texture of the flooring people prefer has to be tastefully matched with the paint colour, countertops and furniture should blend in well, and there will almost always be a need for some finishing carpentry to tie in new flooring.  Flooring that is chosen should be mindful of the weather on the North Shore and resistant to use of both people and their pets.

For this reason, undertaking large reflooring projects is not often recommended solely for preparation to sell.  It’s possible that your eventual buyer wants to put their own touches on the space.

In most cases, you may want to instead choose to refinish the existing floors, replace any carpeting with something neutral and just make sure the flooring does not subtract from the home’s value.  Old carpet has a tendency to serve as a memory bank for whatever smells you may have created, so replacing that is sometimes important.

Your Property Expert will be happy to help you decide on what flooring care (if any) is needed to help you obtain the highest selling price possible for your home.

Paint Are The Clothes Of Your Home

Painting is one of the first things people think about when preparing their home for sale, and for good reason.  During the course of professional painting, most nicks and scrapes, holes and visible wear-and-tear can be eliminated, turning your well-lived in abode into a blank canvas for someone else to make their own mark.

On the exterior of the home, painting can also reduce the signs of weathering and renew the overall appearance.  It’s also a key sealant and protector of the building materials against the forces of nature.  North Shore homes withstand wind, hail, snow and plenty of rain.  They are then baked by high temperatures in the hot summer months.  The natural reaction of paint under these conditions is to crack, flake and peel.

Repainting the inside and exterior of your home is not only great for hiding imperfections, but it’s also an opportunity to remove your own personal preferences of colour and change them to something more neutral that will not offend the senses of any prospective purchasers.  Maybe you found it cute to be “the orange house” or your inner eccentricity drove you toward painting every room a different colour.  But when selling your home, you want the purchaser to see themselves living in their new surroundings, not somebody else’s.

Curb Appeal works with some of the best painting companies on the North Shore who will quickly and efficiently rejuvenate your home and make sure it stands out from the crowd.

An Outdoor Living Space

For some people, a patio or a deck is just that thing built onto the back or front of a house.  But for most North Vancouver residents, these are vital outdoor living spaces where a majority of the daylight hours will be spent for at least 1/3 of the year.  Much of the year is not easily spent outdoors unless doing an activity, so when the weather turns North Shore patios and decks are where it’s all happening.

But what turns a back deck into a bona fide “living space”?  Sure, outdoor furniture helps.  But the outdoor area should flow naturally from your indoor living spaces like your kitchen and/or your living room.  The area should be large enough to have multiple sitting areas for hosting of guests, offer some privacy from neighbours and ideally also have some way of covering part of the space to protect from the sun and rain.  Going a step further sees gas, plumbing and electrical installed to turn the BBQ into a full-fledged secondary kitchen, with fire tables, heaters and lighting to extend use of the space into the cooler evenings.

In some situations, spending big on these spaces can provide a positive return on investment.  But not all buyers are going to appreciate the usefulness of this space. Let Curb Appeal advise you on what extent your budget for improvements should be spent on an outdoor living space.

Tall Fences Make Good Neighbours

Fences are often necessary for privacy, but also for protecting the property from invading shrubbery, people or animals.  Fences between North Shore homes can be susceptible to the same weathering consequences as other parts of the property and need to be updated or replaced periodically.

A new fence will not often provide for a full return on investment as it’s not considered one of the “nuts and bolts” of a home.  A good one is nice to have, but a functional one will usually be enough to avoid subtracting from value.  As long as the existing fence is mostly viable, repairs and/or painting should be easily completed at an affordable price.

Curb Appeal and their carpentry contractors on the North Shore can help determine what the best course of action is for your fencing project.