Three things I noticed:

Where prospective buyers walk up the stairs onto your porch on their way to the front door, a pot or urn planted with some daffodils and pansies could greet them. This could be placed immediately to the left of the bottom of the stairs sitting on the driveway. You can take your pot or urn with you when you move.

The landscaping is nice to the right of the front door. Your medium sized Spruce shrub has winter damage on the top, where it is all brown. Some of mine did too, such a harsh winter! If there is green underneath, a trim may get rid of the brown, or you may need to replace that one.

To the left of your front door, the foundation planting could use two Globe Cedars, one on each side of the basement window.

Last thing, if you have exterior wood siding paint left, paint, if you are allowed, the electrical posts and side of the box to try to help blend it in. Good luck with your sale: )

Oh boy you are going to hate me, but on last look I noticed that you have no path from the bottom of your front steps to the driveway. Not sure if your agent thinks that a big deal, likely not. Two chairs or a bench on the front porch would be also nice if room. Again that would go with you. That's it. Just trying to help with the curb appeal.

Remove the shutters. The garage pedestrian door and the two one car garage doors all need to be painted a color to blend in with the siding.

However, your front door should be painted a nice friendly color that can be seen from the street. Right now your front door is invisible. Green or red front door would work.

The concrete foundation needs to be painted a couple of shades darker than the siding color to ground the house. Not too dark to call attention to itself, but dark enough that it becomes invisible.

A nice S-curved walkway from the front door to the driveway in sizable stepping stones with blooming colorful flowers along the walkway will lead buyers from the driveway to your front door. You can do stepping stones, flagstones, whatever looks appropriate for your region.


Is that a photo from today? The bush/plant that is right up against the steps blocks entry. Not physically, but it is not at all welcoming. I would remove it. The front entry needs to be open and inviting. A small vignette at the door with tiny bench on the right side, and a colorful cushion will add the welcoming factor. Make sure the steps are clean. Welcome mat.
This is the feeling. When you sell in spring you can add a colorful cushion and a colorful pot with flowers to get this feeling

lol rose, while I was typing you posted many of the same things!

agree with rose cottage. also, paint garage doors and service door the siding color. the drive needs the black dressing if it is asphalt.

add aporch.

Thanks for your advice! We have added many ideas to our to do list!

Cindy, I know real estate markets can vary. We live in Southern California which I know is different from some. We sold our house last summer and had all kinds of things in mind to make it more buyer-ready. The exterior was great, but the interior needed a lot of help...seriously...floor refinishing, paint, and major updating in general. It didn't even have a dishwasher. However, our realtor advised us not to do much. We followed his advice and, other than cleaning, did nothing. We had 18 offers within a week with 5 of them well over the asking price. I was so relieved we didn't spend a lot of $$$ on updating!!!

Thank you, Chloebud. I am in Canada and I suspect that things are slow in part because of the cold and late winter. The year we had an early Spring warm up the real estate boom was quite early.

Cindy, I hope it all goes smoothly for you. We have friends who are doing some major work to get their home ready to sell. I think people tend to do more than necessary. We were fortunate to have a bidding war occur for the sale of our house. However, it works both ways...there was also one going on for our new house. We won but paid more than the asking price, too.

I agree about removing the shutters. I would also paint the vertical boards under the windows white like the garage.