What least appeal's to me about the house is odd roof. Spending a lot of money to improve appearance without doing something about the roof would be putting a silver saddle on a donkey. To correct it is so costly,buying or building a different house make's more sense. Are you able to buy this house so far below market that added major expenditures will not drive cost above market?

Thanks for your feedback. I totally agree about the roof. I think that we could get this below market as it has been sitting for awhile but I'm sure it would end up a wash with all the exterior work. Probably worth moving on. Thanks again.

I think we would need to know what it is you don't like about the exterior. It really depends on what those things are because some of the exterior elements are directly related to the "massing" of the house and the floorplan and if you don't like those aspects, they could be either very expensive or impossible to change. (In which case it may be best to ignore them and concentrate on the interior and what it is that you like about the house.)

I am not saying that in a dismissive way like "forget it".

Honestly, the house I live in now, I was familiar with for years and I used to think the cluster of houses on this block (all by one architect) were the ugliest in the neighborhood. When I walked in and saw what the house felt like inside, I no longer really thought so much about the outside --and now that I actually understand the whole thing together (the architect designed mid-century houses with a distinct Brutalist point of view)--I don't think the outside is so bad. I also live in a city so I think "curb appeal" is something that is tertiary, much of the time.

The thing that I find off-putting about this house (which is what I would call Cotswald -inspired neo-eclectic) is the vertical "stripes" of masonry which are sort of equally divided. A house would never have grown organically (been added onto over time) in such equal vertical proportions of materials, especially in that arrangement, so it doesn't look very natural. If that's what bothers you, you could paint it all out, which adds to your maintenance but could solve the problem. A porch would never look natural on this house, and may just add to the complex appearance instead of making it look better.

Thanks palimpsest for your thoughtful reply! I think what I find off-putting about the house is that is feels like a mixture of a bunch of styles that don't really make sense for me. There is the Tudor timber on the garage doors and around a few windows, mixed with the modern roofline, the rounded window with the metal roof, etc... However, I think my biggest issue is the stone columns around the door. They just seem very harsh. I'm not sure this is fixable, however, I realize that there will be compromises with every house. Perhaps, these columns are just that.

The brick appears to be on the front façade only so painting it would fit in, imo. Pull the lights on either side of the garage door and enlarge it with a new frame and more modern styled door. Those stone trimmed windows can be cut out and resized as needed to blend in more. This is a budget of several thou with a short time line. Good luck.