Fixer properties should always be fixed outside before inside.  The reason: Potential customers (tenants & buyers) judge a property on the basis of what they see when they drive by.  Doing fix-up where the property is located on a main thoroughfare or a heavily traveled road—this strategy becomes even more important.  Always remember, the world judges almost everything on looks, ugly houses included.

STUDENT DON COLLINS SHARES HIS EXPERIENCES

PAINTING EXTERIOR

Painting changes the appearance of a property overnight. It’s important to do it first. Use off-white, cream or any light color on body of house. For trim, eave boards, windows, trim around doors and frames, can be a dark color like brown, maroon or charcoal for sharp appearance. Use medium grade exterior latex after scrapping (wire brush) any peeling paint. A latex primer coat may be needed on older wooden surfaces.

LAWN’S & PLANT’S

 Tenants and buyers like green grass and flowering plants. I’ve found that even watered weeds; mowed and trimmed, look enough like lawn to pass for lawn! Toss out some lawn seed to thicken the stuff! If there is no lawn, plant one and water several times each day while you’re working inside the house.  Also, plant a couple fast growing trees if none exist.  Fruitless mulberry or Modesto ash will do the trick.  Shrubs and bushes add a great deal of hominess.  Pyracanthas and flowering oleanders are fast growing and nearly childproof.  Even repeated relief visits by the neighbor dog packs won’t hinder their growth. Pyracanthas have stickers, which deter kids from plucking them up. They stay green and sprout colorful red berries “in season”.  Oleanders make good dividers and add privacy.  They grow faster than baby Dobermans and can survive under the affectionate care of most tenants.

WHITE PICKET FENCES 

 Picket fences add a truckload of street appeal to most any property. Street appeal is easy to convert to cash. Both renters and buyers are Impressed!  White Picket fences create the ultimate feeling of hominess.  I build them 36″ high, with pointed pickets!  Sharp points discourage high jumping for all but the very bravest kids. I use 4′ posts buried 12″ and cemented – 8′ apart! Use metal joist hangers to secure parallel 2 x 4′s – 12″ and 30″ off the ground. Lastly, nail on 1″ x 4″ cedar pickets, spaced 4″ apart – paint white.  Gates are optional.

SHUTTERS & WINDOW TRIM

Just like the old western movie sets – “What- people see is how they judge”.  Renters and buyers alike are generally impressed — Or they’re not as they’re getting out of their car!  The first 15 seconds is more important than the next 15 minutes.  Your house is not unlike a propped up movie set.  It must show very well from the front, so that’s where you “gussie it up”, right in the front where it shows.  Shutters, even those fake plastic ones add sizzle, especially if the windows on each end of the house are the same size. If not, window surround (trim) like 1″ x 6″ cedar boards around windows; paint in a trim color adds extra class for little cost.  Facia boards covering the rafter ends give a finished look to any house. Again, paint in the trim color.  Partially enclosing a front entrance porch or stoop often adds much to looks. Extending the roof over an uncovered porch and enclosing with pre-made 4 x 8 redwood lattice panels, painted two-tone can “spruce up” the appearance of a house with the blahs.

ROOFS

 If the street-side of the roof is worn and ugly, it seriously distracts from curb appeal! If my budget can stand it, I will likely have the street-side of the roof replaced. Leave the back till later and patch it for a while. Hardly anyone ever watches what goes down “out back”. If it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind — Nine times out of ten.

REAR YARD FENCES FOR PRIVACY

I like fences — Tenants and buyers like fences. You can rent average houses for 10% more if they have rear fences that will keep kids and dogs incarcerated.  Mothers understand the value when they first drive up to do business.  The biggest problem is cost – 6′ board fences are not cheap. If you don’t have the budget to do back yard fencing, wait until you do. But don’t rob front yard money under any circumstances. Back yards rank way below front yards and appearance.