Get More Money Back With These Exterior Home Upgrades

Selling a house can be an expensive endeavor. While most of the larger costs come later in the selling process, there are some expenses that come much earlier — before you even list your home. Between cleaning, staging, landscaping, painting, and other tasks, the typical seller spends roughly $5,380 to complete some of the most common pre-listing home improvements, according to a Zillow and Thumbtack analysis. Sellers spend money to complete these tasks in hopes of impressing buyers and receiving a strong offer as soon as possible. Even if you’re not planning to sell just yet, every home update you make now could pay off in the long run. And a house’s exterior is the first thing buyers see, so we’ve rounded up the outdoor home projects that may be most worth the investment — and make a great first impression.

 

Curb appeal is important because it can have a positive impact on your home’s resale value, and it’s something that most sellers address before listing. Most sellers (65%) take on at least two home improvement projects to prepare their home for sale, according to Zillow’s research from 2022. Landscaping ranks as the third most common pre-listing upgrade. What does that mean for you as a seller? It means your competition is paying attention to curb appeal, so you should too. Although the majority of buyers (95%) use online resources to shop for homes, your curb appeal really does make the first impression. Most agents use the exterior photo of your home as the first image on your online listing, and some local MLS systems‌ require an exterior shot to come first.

 

Depending on the location, curb appeal can add value to your home. Your return on investment depends on the market itself, how much buyers value the improvements you’ve made‌, and the total spend on the upgrade. This is where a seller’s agent can be of help: they can give you insight on what improvements are popular in your area and give you info on comparable homes that recently sold in your market. There are all kinds of things you can do to the exterior of your house, from simple landscaping to a whole new roof and new windows.

 

According to Remodeling magazine's 2023 Cost vs. Value Report, 7 of the 10 home improvements with the highest ROI are on the exterior. These projects recoup anywhere between 61% (for a wood window replacement) to 103% (for a garage door replacement) of your initial investment back at resale. Some of the other high-ROI external improvements include adding manufactured stone veneer, replacing siding, and changing out the entry doors. If you're selling in a competitive market, making your home look its best can help you look good against other homes on the market. Upgrades such as updated lighting or a metal roof can attract buyers when you include them in your listing description. Most of these changes are cosmetic and optional. Alternatively, if you avoid making maintenance-related upgrades, they'll likely be found during a buyer's inspection and cost you during negotiations.

 

Curb appeal isn't just about making your home look pretty. It's also about ensuring that the major elements of the home's structure that are visible from the street are in good working order. Before tackling cosmetic upgrades, address any functional exterior shortcomings. For example, buyers can live with imperfect landscaping, but not a damaged roof with missing shingles. A damaged roof looks bad from the curb, plus it's a red flag for buyers and their inspectors, signaling that the home hasn’t been taken care of by its owners. The ROI numbers in this section come from Remodeling magazine's 2023 Cost vs. Value Report.

 

If your roof needs repair, your options are to repair before listing, leave as-is and lower your listing price, or be prepared to offer a buyer credit as part of the negotiation process. According to the 2022 Zillow Group Report, 20% of sellers repair or clean up their roof before listing for sale. Another 27% said they replace it altogether. If you need a full roof replacement, it can be expensive. A midrange roofing replacement with asphalt shingles costs an average of $29,136 nationally, and it garners a 61% return on investment — or $17,807. That makes the unreturned cost for the seller $11,329.

 

Another obvious defect buyers may notice is damaged or neglected siding. Cheaper to replace than a roof, a midrange vinyl siding replacement has an average national cost of $16,348, with a 94% ROI ($15,485). The unreturned cost for the seller is $863. If your home has a brick exterior or other material that doesn’t include siding, be sure there aren’t any major cracks, as that could be a sign of foundation damage.

 

Many homes feature wood trims and wood siding, which degrades over time due to ‌weather, time, and even pests. This can be a cosmetic issue, but if ignored for too long, rotting wood could cause leaking into the home, cracking walls, and other problems that could turn away prospective buyers, or cost you once you’re in the selling process. According to Thumbtack, homeowners report spending an average of $18,750 to install new wood siding.

 

Expect buyers to pay close attention to the windows and doors, especially in older homes. They may do it on the first tour, on a later visit, or during their inspection. If your home needs new windows and you decide to replace them before listing, it can be a huge selling point — especially if you opt for energy-efficient windows that will reduce heating and cooling costs for the future homeowner. Both wood and vinyl windows provide better thermal resistance (meaning better energy efficiency) than aluminum, but the glass and glazing matter too. Insulated, low-emissivity coatings, spectrally selective coatings, and gas fillers all help improve energy efficiency. Note that awning or hopper windows (hinged at the top or bottom) and casement windows (hinged at the side) are less prone to leakage than sliding windows. As far as cost, an upscale vinyl window replacement costs $20,091 on average, with a 68% ROI ($13,766). An upscale wood window replacement costs $24,376 on average, with a 61% ROI ($14,912). The unreturned costs for the seller are $6,325 or $9,464, respectively.

 

Inspect your windows to see if any need to be repaired or replaced. You can also try these tips for improving the efficiency of your existing windows:

 

Check for air leaks.

Replace caulking or add weather stripping.

Add storm windows.

Add solar film.

 

A more affordable improvement, a new front door can give your home's facade a whole new look. A midrange steel entry-door replacement costs an average of $2,214 and can get you an impressive 100% ROI ($2,235). The seller made an extra $21. Before you replace your front door, though, see if a new coat of paint will do the trick — more on that later.

 

If standard repairs (like a chain/track repair or repainting) don't bring your automatic garage door up to par, you might need to replace it. Luckily, an upscale garage door replacement is the outdoor project with the highest ROI that’s tracked by Remodeling magazine, with a cost of $4,302 and an average ROI of 102% ($4,418). The seller actually gets $116 back.

 

Cosmetic updates are items that don't necessarily need to be fixed, but they're worth doing. Remember — your home's exterior is the first thing buyers will see, and you only have one chance to make a good first impression.

 

Pressure wash all hard surfaces near your home's exterior, including sidewalks, curbs, pathways and driveways to remove dirt, grime and moss.

 

Whether your home is desperately in need of a new coat of paint or you just want to freshen up the look before listing, repainting your home's exterior is a fairly common task, with 27% of sellers completing the project before listing. Though, not all exterior materials will lend themselves to being painted, so take that into consideration. Neutral paint colors appeal to the broadest group of buyers when it comes to the inside of your home, and the same goes for the outside. For example, ​​homes with a deep graphite gray kitchen can sell for an estimated $2,512 more than similar homes, while a midtone pewter gray kitchen can command $2,553 more than expected. That’s according to 2023 Zillow research. If you want a better idea of what colors may help you the most, you could ask your agent, or drive around the area and note the shades of the best-selling homes around you. Ultimately, the best exterior paint color depends on your home's style, the exposure to sunlight and the exterior materials. You just may want to avoid yellow — a 2018 Zillow Paint Color Analysis found that homes with yellow exteriors sold for $3,408 less than similar homes.

 

Another popular task on the pre-listing to-do list is landscaping the yard — 33% of sellers do some landscaping work before they sell. Trim overgrown trees, branches, bushes, and ground cover, then plant colorful seasonal flowers, and add fresh mulch. While buyers aren’t likely to see your home at night, it’s good to keep lighting in mind. Twenty-seven percent of sellers replaced lighting fixtures ahead of listing. Adding short, solar-powered garden lights out front can make your home more inviting.

 

As long as it's in good working order, you can simply paint the front door instead of replacing it, and it will likely cost less than $50. Homes with black front doors sell for $6,450 more than expected, according to a 2022 Zillow study. You may want to add a pop of color to your home's facade by painting the door red, blue, or green, but be aware that those shades‌ tend to garner offers that are lower by as much as $1,300. Even then, there is a worse color you could choose. Zillow’s research found that both recent and prospective buyers would offer $3,365 less for a home with a cement gray front door.

 

To give your home an upscale look, consider adding stone veneer to the exterior. It's a more expensive upgrade than some of the others, but it could help your home compete if you live in a community with a high price point. According to Remodeling magazine, midrange manufactured stone veneer costs $10,925 and nets an impressive 102% return ($11,177), getting the seller $252 back.

 

Accessories and design touches are important on the outside of the home, too. They make a home look polished, well-cared for and updated. Consider these budget-friendly accessorizing tips that make a big impact:

 

Add new house numbers in a classic bronze or black.

Update the sconces and add sidewalk lighting (especially if you're listing in winter).

Replace the mailbox with a new one that matches the home's style.

Update the door hardware — smart home locks are popular with buyers. Replace your old welcome mat with something clean and simple.

Add some front porch furniture that matches the style of the home.

 

Although most pre-listing exterior home improvements focus on the front of the house, don't forget to spruce up the backyard or any outdoor space you have, too, even if it's not big. New Zillow research finds homes equipped with an outdoor TV earn 3% more than expected — or about $10,749 on a typical U.S. home. That’s the highest sale price premium of all 359 features Zillow analyzed across nearly 1 million home sales in 2023. The biggest bang-for-your-buck backyard renovation, according to Remodeling magazine, is a midrange wood deck addition. It offers the tenth-highest ROI of all the outdoor home improvements analyzed — for an average cost of $17,051, and homeowners see a return of 50%.

 

Installing a swimming pool can take a lot of time, work, and money. In some markets, especially those with warm climates, in-ground pools may add more value to the property than in colder climates where a pool would get only a few months of use each year. A recent Zillow® analysis found that homes with saltwater pools sell for 1.5% more than comparable homes without one — and they sell two days faster. If you want to dip your toes into getting your own pool, here are five things to consider.