You’re selling your home. It’s your pride and joy. Your children grew up there, and now they’re grown and you’re thinking of downsizing. Does your home scream fussy or family-friendly to young families? If you’re targeting the family market as you sell your home, consider how your home presents itself to this audience. Give your home the kind of curb appeal that will attract young families.

Think Like a Young Family 

If it’s been a while since your children were small, then you may have time to invest in your home and your gardens. You could be retired and enjoy hobbies indoors and out. 

Remember when your family was younger? Your priorities were work and family, and you didn’t have as much time to invest in home maintenance. It may have been a struggle to mow the lawn or remember to clean out the gutters. As you plan for curb appeal, consider how your home might appear to a young family whose priorities are having fun outdoors, rather than doing home maintenance.

Do You Have Low-Maintenance Landscaping? 

When people look at your home, what do they see? If the landscaping looks like work, young families will be turned off. Those who want a larger garden can grow it, but if you have extensive plantings already, some families could be intimidated by the amount of work that they will need to do to keep up with the existing landscaping. What can you do instead? 

• Add hardscaping that replaces some of the lawn in areas where the lawn would not be used.
• Create low-maintenance garden beds with perennials that grow slowly. 
• Add evergreen perennials instead of flowers, shrubs, and trees that lose their leaves.
• Add a watering system or a garden that holds and moves water easily through swales or French drains. 
• Remove plants that are poisonous to children or pets. Instead, add a simple, child-friendly garden: “edible plants and a vegetable garden are extremely kid-friendly and are also beneficial,” says Family Share.

Does Your Home Look Safe? 

Families want to live in a home that’s safe and welcoming, and this is important from the very first impression that your home makes. What are families looking for when they consider home safety? 

• Your home has landscaping lighting for night time, and walking paths have good lighting and are well-maintained.
• Pools and other water features aren’t easily accessible to young children.
• There is a clear view from living spaces out into the gardens and sight lines from parking spaces to the house.
• There are good handrails next to stairs and around decks. 
• There are no obvious problems, such as holes in the lawn or low-hanging branches. According to Level Green Landscaping, “Let branches grow too low, and a visitor walking and talking on their phone could walk right into them. Keep them trimmed up and out of the way.“
• The home is tucked away from loud or busy public areas so that children can’t easily access them.
• Children’s elements such as playhouses or playground equipment are well-maintained.

Does Your Home Have Key Maintenance-Saving Features? 

Young families want to play outside – they don’t necessarily want to work outside. Adding maintenance-saving features to your garden landscape will help families see your home as an easy-maintenance investment. What can you do to make your home easier to maintain? 

• Reduce fussy elements, such as water features, ponds, and pools. Anything that requires even seasonal maintenance means that new chores will be added to the schedule. 
• Add gutter covers to eliminate the need to clean the home’s gutters.
• Install a small shed for easy access to home maintenance equipment.
• Maintain your home to a high standard. For example, you can make sure that your roof is well-maintained and looks new. This will not only reassure the family that you’ve maintained your home, it will also tell them that they don’t need to plan and budget for key home renovations.

At Harry Helmet, we’d like to help you create a low-maintenance lifestyle. Whether you’re looking for gutter covers or a new roof, we’re here to help you renovate a house and make it into a home. Want to increase your home’s curb appeal? Schedule a free estimate today.

Written by Del Thebaud