5 Tips for Boosting Your Curb Appeal This Fall

Photo courtesy of Pinterest.

Aesthetics aren’t everything at a lake house. Your special vacation home is about what’s on the inside where memories are made with friends and family. It’s about unwinding, relaxing, and embracing imperfection. However, when it comes to selling your lake home, looks are important. It’s what your sellers first see when they arrive at your home. According to Homelight, a home with an attractive, well-maintained landscape will attract 5.5-12.7% more than those with no landscaping. At off-lake homes, the curb is the home’s front exterior. But at a lake house, there’s a second curb to consider — your shoreline. As a lake homeowner, it’s important to devote equal attention to improving both curbs. At Lake Homes Realty, we have some advice for you.

Lawn Maintenance

Taking the time to manicure your lawn is the first, most essential rule of boosting curb appeal. A well-kept lawn is an immediate sign to prospective buyers that your home is in good shape. But it doesn’t have to be a daunting task. There are plenty of low maintenance strategies for landscape maintenance. Even cutting the grass doesn’t have to be demanding — check out this tool that mows your lawn automatically. However, during the fall, one piece of manual labor required is picking up leaves. In the winter, this means taking care of the snow. A lawn that’s overcrowded by the elements will look unappealing.

 

Pressure Washers

Photo courtesy of Country Living Magazine.

When removing leaves from your lawn, the rake and garbage bag routine can get old and arduous. For a quick solution, a pressure washer can help. You can spray these leaves off your walkway, driveway, or even lawn with a high power hose. This technique also works for plastic porch furniture, outdoor patios, and stone or concrete that needs a quick and powerful cleansing.

Paint Upgrade

Painting house exterior
Photo courtesy of HGTV.

Most illustrations of haunted, abandoned houses all share one trait in common — chipped paint. To avoid your lake home looking like a ghost town, make sure to give the front of your home a fresh, new coat if needed. It’s an easy and often fun DIY task that makes a big difference for curb appeal. It’s also worth considering changing up the original color. For example, if your house is gray or white, a red door might be charming. Kristine Ginsberg, a home designer in New Jersey, told HGTV “make sure there is a contrast between the front door and the facade of the home.”

Update Outdoor Furniture

Photo courtesy of Apricity Outdoor.

When visiting your lake house, potential buyers want to imagine themselves relaxing on the front porch. Showcasing attractive furniture will help those buyers bring their vision to life. An essential piece of outdoor furniture maintenance is removing mold, mildew, and pollen from the cushions and furniture frames. Thankfully there’s plenty of DIY solutions for making your furniture shiny and new — it’s easy to create a simple mixture of ammonia, vinegar, baking soda, and water. If your outdoor furniture is truly beyond repair, you may also want to consider buying entirely new porch furniture. Brands like Summer ClassicsPolywood, and Brown Jordan are excellent, high-quality choices for lake living. When choosing furniture, you may also want to consider this year’s furniture trends.

Tend to the Shoreline

Photo courtesy of Pinterest.

As we previously mentioned, your shoreline is your second curb! It may even be more integral to increasing your curb appeal than the traditional homefront. After all, potential buyers are most interested in the lakefront. Ensure that you’re maintaining the landscape, paint, furniture, and overall aesthetics of your backyard just like you would for the front. 

Throughout the selling process, keep in mind that lake homes sell year-round. The idea that spring is the best time to sell is simply a myth. With the right curb appeal and the right agent, you’ll be able to sell your lake home this season!

Fall Lawn Care – Prepare Your Yard for Spring

lakeside lawn in the fallAutumn is just around the corner, and while you may not know it, now is the absolute best time to take care of your lawn and prepare it for the following spring.

Before getting settled into a routine of watching football all weekend, get outside and consider the following fall lawn care tips.

Remember, give your yard some attention now and you (and the yard) will be happy come springtime.

Fire up the mower and drop the blade.

Many people tend to slack a bit on mowing once fall rolls around, but mowing is not just for short-term cosmetic purposes.

Its also for keeping a healthy lawn for years to come.

By dropping the blade down for a closer cut, sunlight will be able to reach the crown of the grass, and this will help the grass through the long winter months.

Buy a good rake.

To some people raking is no fun task, but it can be if you know that you’re lawn will love you for it.

Oftentimes, people wait until their entire yard is blanketed with fallen leaves before venturing outside. They think they’re saving themselves time and trouble by raking everything up in one fell swoop.

The problem is that too many leaves blanketing the ground forms an impenetrable layer, ultimately suffocating the grass.

It becomes that much worse when the leaves become wet. Fungus can also form on the grass, destroying it.

If you absolutely despise raking, consider using a lawnmower that is equipped with a vacuum system and a collection bag. A leaf blower is also another alternative.

Poke holes in your lawn.

Now that you’re mowing and working hard to rake your leaves, it’s time to poke some holes in the lawn.

This helps to aerate the soil so that oxygen, water and fertilizer can get down into the roots of the grass.

Some people prefer to hire out for this job if they have a large lawn.

Add Fertilizer.

For those who don’t know what rhizomes are, they are part of the grass stem which lies just beneath the surface of the soil.

It is the rhizomes that actually produce the blades of grass that we enjoy looking at and walking on in the spring and summer months.

Fall is the prime time to fertilize your lawn and get the proper nutrients to those rhizomes. If you do it before the winter freeze, your grass will be all ready by the time the spring thaw rolls around.

Look for fertilizers that are specifically labeled for fall use.

Tackle those weeds.

Again, another misconception most people have is to fight the weeds in the spring when they pop up.

In actuality, the best time is in the fall, when the weeds are trying to drink everything that comes to them.

Spray them down with weed killer in the fall and they won’t be making an appearance in the spring.

Drain those lines in your irrigation system.

Is your lawn set up with an irrigation system?

If so, a good practice to get into is removing water from it by using compressed air, or if there is a drain valve, that will work too.

Simply turn the water off and drain each zone separately. Don’t forget to drain the main supply that comes from the house.

This will prevent ice from building up and rupturing the lines.

 

While it my seem inconvenient now, following these steps in the fall will lead to a healthier and easier-to-maintain lawn once next spring rolls around!