Make your Tract Home Stand Out

You're trying to sell your home, but every house in the neighborhood looks just like yours. Every lot is 50'x100'. All the homes are the same age and floorplans barely differ. Is there a way to be unique in this sea of sameness?

Home sellers in large development neighborhoods face special challenges. All the homes look similar, so the sale often comes down to a price war. Give your home some memorable character and stand out from the masses.

1. Excitement... create exciting curb appeal that draws buyers to your home. Use paint to draw attention to the front door and architectural features. Paint the trim on the front of your home in a contrasting color; Paint the front door a complimentary accent color, add a kick plate and upgraded hardware. Plant, bright, colorful flowers or shrubs near the entry or at the sidewalk; down play the massive garage door with subtle paint colors or speciman trees that draw attention elsewhere; change the color of your sidewalk or driveway with concrete stain or pavers. Spruce up your mailbox with plants or a unique feature. Add lighting that marks the path to the door or add lights on either side of the garage or driveway; add a tall tree to block a boring brick chimney or plain siding.
2. Create Lifestyle...Buyers aren't looking for a house, they are looking for a lifestyle. Use a water feature to create an air of calm and relaxation; hang a hammock between shade trees, then add a pillow and book; clean up your grill and add a few torches around the patio; try the addition of a couple of palm tree's, with up lights; weed all flower beds and eliminate anything which screams "maintainance needed"; keep your lawn fertilized and well watered...a bright green lawn makes you want to walk barefoot.
3. Grab a hammer...Add gable trim pieces to give your home a little flare; Trim dresses up cheap vinyl. Use window trim to cover, plain vinyl siding around your windows; Remove the plain siding around a gable or garage door and replace with shakes, vertical, scalloped or board and batton vinyl siding pieces; remove a garage door panel and add one with windows; or, remove the whole garage door and replace it with a carriage style, stained or painted in a complimentary color; remove cottage style shutters and replace them with wide trim around the windows; hang some window boxes and plant them with colorful, trailing, bedding plants; build a deck or arbor over an existing concrete slab patio; hang a lattice screen and plant a climber on a blank wall; add some new composite rock or brick veneer around plain porch posts, at both sides of the garage or at the edge the side walk.

Give your home a little distinguishing character. Some ideas cost more than others, but will make your home more pleasant to live in and easier to sell now, or when the time comes.