Evaluating the Near-Perfect Home

If you find the perfect home for your family, but are not “wowed” by the home’s exterior, you have an important decision to make.  The same may apply to your current home. Perhaps you’re happy with your home’s beautiful kitchen and bathrooms, but aren’t quite satisfied with its outside facade.  Is there a way to conceptualize and evaluate various improvement strategies before just pulling the plug and moving on?

Thankfully, there are a host of resources at your disposal to help you make your final decision.  You can explore websites like houzz.com and Google Images and checkout the exteriors of other homes to find inspiration for your home’s new look. Some simple changes you can consider on your own may include repainting the home’s exterior, adding some professional landscaping, and freshening up the home’s main walkway, stairs and entryway.

If you are seeking more widespread changes that would help you create a real “wow factor” for your home’s exterior, you will benefit most by consulting with a professional architect or designer.  These professionals can do amazing things when it comes to turning “hum-drum” properties into something unique, quirky, eclectic, classy or whatever style you may be looking for.

For example, a simple ranch home can be transformed into a modern craftsman-style home, simply by adding a front farmer’s porch, hexagonal columns and modern shutters, and modifying the home’s roofline around the entrance.  A plain colonial can be transformed into a brick front showcase with new architectural features such as white columns, black shutters, a portico and window trim.

If you really are not happy with the home’s outward appearance and are leaning toward a full structural and aesthetic renovation, you can never start the planning process too early.   Here are a few things to consider before moving the project forward.

1. What do you like least about the house’s exterior?
2. How will a renovation solve these problems?
3. What is your budget?  How will the renovation be financed?
4. How long will the renovation take and how much disruption is expected?
5. How long are you planning to stay in your house once the renovation is complete?
6. Will your total costs for the house following a renovation match the value of surrounding homes?
7. Working within your budget, how closely will come to your “dream home”?

If you Google phrases like “before and after home makeovers roof renovation,” you can find “before” and “after” pictures that are truly amazing. If the renovation of a home’s entryway, roof lines, color palette and exterior details are planned in a coordinated manner, you are most likely to achieve a cohesive result that greatly improves your home’s appearance.

Roofing plays a significant role in changing the look of the house.  Many of the homes on Google, for example, show a variety of roofing materials – everything from asphalt to metal to slate – along with vivid new colors and architectural techniques that add dimension and texture to a roof.  When paired with some dramatic rooflines, a house can become practically unrecognizable from its original form.  If you do decide to proceed with a roof renovation, you can visit the CertainTeed website and inspiration gallery to learn more about different roofing styles, materials, colors and costs.  Thorough research will ultimately aid you in expressing your likes and dislikes to your architect or home builder.

After doing some research you may decide that a significant renovation to overhaul your home’s curb appeal may not be “in the cards” for you at the moment. Perhaps there is too much work to do, the project could go over budget, or you simply don’t want to invest the time and effort.   If so, continue your home search, or perhaps test the waters by talking to a broker about listing your home, and look for something that more closely matches the home of your dreams.