Curb Appeal Archives » Larry & Kathy Reichle

Lawn Care For The Fall: Essential Tips to Follow

October 15, 2018 by Kathy Reichle Leave a Comment

All summer you’ve been watering, cutting, trimming and feeding your yard in the hopes of having the greenest plot of land in the neighborhood. So what should you do to get your lawn in shapefor the cool breezes of autumn? These six steps will help you get a head start on the colder weather.

Aeration and Overseeding

If you live in a climate with cool-season grass, fall is the perfect time to aerate your lawn because the air is cool and the soil is still warm from the heat of summer. The earlier you can do this, the better the results will be for your yard. Depending on where you live, September or early October is the best time to tackle this project. You’ll pay around $120 for lawn aeration.

Aeration removes small plugs of soil from your lawn, allowing greater amounts of air, nutrients and water to reach the root system of your grass. It also reduces soil compaction in the process. Following aeration, you might want to overseed your yard. Overseeding makes it easier for seeds to germinate while the soil is loose.

Feed Your Yard

Fall is the prime season of the year to fertilize cool-season grasses. Unlike warm-season grasses, which often go dormant in the fall and winter, cool-season grasses can actually hit their peak growth rates during the fall. This means they need a full dosage of nitrogen to help boost the health of the soil and your grass. Most importantly, this will help prevent the growth of weeds, which choke out the grass over time.

Cut Down on Mowing

Throughout the summer, you’ve gotten into the habit of mowing weekly. But if you have cool-season grass, it’s time to start cutting back on the number of mowing events each month. Generally speaking, every other week should be your maximum. If you have too much leaf coverage on your yard, you can mulch those up, but remember to leave your cutting deck high so you aren’t cutting off too much of your grass in the process.

The professional recommendation is not to cut off more than one-third of the total blade of grass each time you mow. Doing so can result in scalping the lawn, which stunts the growth of your grass. If you live in a warmer climate with warm-season grass, you can likely skip mowing altogether because your grass is going into its dormancy cycle.

Leaf Removal

There are two approaches you can take when dealing with falling leaves. At a bare minimum, you should remove any fallen foliage within seven to 10 days because it blocks sunlight from reaching your grass. But, if you get a relatively light leaf fall each autumn and you own a strong mulching mower, you can turn fallen leaves into a composting gold mine. If you mulch your leaf fall on a regular basis — at least once a week — you are recycling the nutrients back into the soil. If your leaf pile is too big, consider hiring a pro. You can expect to pay about $310 for professional leaf removal services.

Sow and Reseed

Believe it or not, but fall is a great time to reseed the bare patches of your yard and sow new sections of lawn for cool-season grasses. Applying fresh soil and some new seed to barren patches of your yard can help prepare your lawn to bounce back in the fall. As mentioned earlier, this time of year is often the strongest for cool-season yard growth, so take advantage.

Winterize Your Sprinkler System

If you have an underground sprinkler system to help you keep your yard green all summer, it could be the biggest threat to your utility bill and soil during the winter months. If you fail to blow out your underground system, the water left in the pipes could freeze, expand and burst the pipes. This could lead to a water leak in your yard that could compromise the integrity of the soil and cause serious damage. If you live in a cooler climate, it’s important to winterize your sprinkler system immediately.

Conclusion

With one weekend of work, you can accomplish most of these tasks and have a yard that looks great for the coming fall months.

WRITTEN BY ANDREA DAVIS

Ready For Staging: 4 Repairs You Need Before Selling Your Home

September 10, 2018 by Kathy Reichle Leave a Comment

Selling your home is a complex process that may take weeks to complete. This is partially because your house may need to be updated or renovated before it can go on the market. What are some of the most crucial fixes that you should make before listing your property?

Update the Exterior

The first thing that you will want to do is make sure that the home’s exterior is in good condition. This may involve landscaping work such as removing trees or shrubs that are dead or dying. It may also involve inspecting the roof, siding or other exterior components that may need to be repaired or updated to make the house easier to sell. At the very least, a fresh coat of paint should be applied before putting the house on the open market.

Check the Air Conditioning

If you have a central air conditioning unit in your home, make sure that it works properly. This means that it should start easily and produce an even amount of cool air throughout the house.

Ideally, you will have it inspected once a year by someone like Doctor Fix-It. However, inspecting it and making repairs prior to selling your home should be considered mandatory. It may also be a good idea to check the furnace and clean the ducts before you show the home to buyers.

Make Sure the Floors Are Adequate

Whether your home has wood floors or carpet, make sure that they are in good condition. If necessary, wax and clean the wood or put down new carpet in areas where it may be frayed or dirty. If you are going to replace your carpet, make sure that it is the same color and style throughout a given space.

Check the Plumbing and Electrical Systems

Buyers aren’t going to want to put an offer on a home that has poor water pressure. They are also unlikely to want to make an offer on a home that has dangerous electrical wiring. If the fixes to either system are relatively minor, you can do them yourself. However, it may also be a good idea to call a professional to make sure that the job is done safely.

Selling your home can be a great way to help you downsize or lock in profits. However, if the process is not done right, it could reduce the sale price of the home or result in the home staying on the market longer than you anticipated that it would.

WRITTEN BY MEGHAN BELNAP

FOUR WAYS TO RID YOUR HOME OF NEGATIVE ENERGY IN THE NEW YEAR

January 18, 2017 by Kathy Reichle Leave a Comment

It’s the New Year, and what better time to change the energy in your home?! Whether you’ve just moved into a new place and want to make sure you set the energy right from the start or just want to refresh your existing space, there are tips and tools you can use to easily improve the feel – and also the look.

A fresh coat of paint

You can change the feeling of your entire house with new paint, with minimal cost, especially if you do it yourself. When in doubt, go with the color of the sun.

“Color plays a pivotal role in your home,” said House Beautiful. “And, according to interior designer Ana Zuravliova, yellow neutralizes bad energy. “From an interior design viewpoint, this color will also make your space appear bigger and add a warm tone to a room.”

Declutter

Decluttering is tip No. 1 if you’re thinking of putting your house on the market. But the simple act of decluttering your home has also shown to be a great way to declutter your mind.

“The items you surround yourself with might be the result of years of thoughtless accumulation, but your environment can have a big impact on your health,” said My Domaine. “A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience found that clutter affects your ability to focus and overloads your visual cortex, while another suggests that people who live in a neat space are twice as likely to make healthier food choices.”

Start off this new year by giving yourself some room to move and some mental clarity by getting rid of stuff you no longer use, need, or enjoy. Need to know how to organize what’s left? These tips culled from professional organizers are a great start.

Apply a few Feng Shui tips

The art of Feng Shui is intended to help “bring happiness, good fortune and wellness into your life,” said Huffington Post. And while you don’t have to overhaul your everything and make potentially expensive and extensive changes to your home, there may be a few tips worth considering in “the ancient Chinese art of living in harmony with your environment.”

Bridget Saraka, the Saskatoon-based owner of Feng Shui by Bridget, told them that the practice offers “life-changing benefits. “Feng shui is about creating a space that’s not only pleasing to your eye, but also pleasing to all your senses, so that your home supports and enriches your life. When you apply feng shui principles to your home, you can attract a great new year.”

Adding color to your home and decluttering are two principles of Feng Shui. Others include:

Making your front door “visible to receive blessings” by ensuring you have easy to ready house numbers and a clear path to your home
Bringing “plants and a water fountain into your home to improve your health and foster nurturing
Positioning “furniture for safety” by making “sure that the largest piece of furniture in any room is in a position where you can see the door”

Smudge it

The idea of smudging, which is burning sage in your home (or office), may sound odd and “out there,” but, smudging with sage is a practice that dates back thousands of years to indigenous Americans, and one that is used by all kinds of people to improve the energy in a room or structure.

“Mystics say the Native American practice of smudging, or purifying a room with the smoke of sacred herbs, can help clear negative energy from a space,” said Spirituality Health.” And the apparent benefits are steeped in science – when burned, sage and other herbs release negative ions, which research has linked to a more positive mood.”

Written by Jaymi Naciri

THE $140,000 MISTAKE YOU’RE MAKING WITH YOUR HOME

January 6, 2017 by Kathy Reichle Leave a Comment

If you’re not tending to your front yard, your perennials aren’t the only thing you stand to lose. We’ve all heard of the importance of curb appeal, but do you know what that means for actual dollar value? “Good landscaping can add up to 28% to overall home value,” said landscape economist John Harris on Houselogic. “Even taking your landscaping from ‘good’ to ‘excellent,’ in terms of design, condition, and placement, can add 6% to 7% to a home’s value, according to a Clemson University study of homes in Greenville, S.C.” On a $500,000 house, you’re talking about an extra $140,000 at 28 percent!

John Gidding, host of HGTV’s “Curb Appeal” and Logo TV’s “Secret Guide to Fabulous” told the Washington Post that he had “always heard the number 150 percent” in regards to the return on investment of landscaping. “But to me that is conservative,” he said. “On a ‘Curb Appeal’ project, I put in $20,000 and the sellers got $200,000 more than they had paid for the house just a year prior. The return was astonishing.”

While a “1,000 percent return on investment in landscaping” is certainly no guarantee for the average person and individual ROI is based on numerous factors, Gidding advises that the “best strategy is to research the architectural style of your home and create a landscaping plan that matches.”

Additional tips can help your landscaping shine without a whopper of an investment, and many of the projects can be done on your own.

Clean it up

An unkempt yard isn’t going to entice buyers, especially if it’s cold outside and nice and toasty in the car. Give people a reason to approach by cleaning and tidying up the yard. Raking leaves, removing any clutter that’s gathered on walkways and porches, and washing windows will cost you nothing but a little bit of elbow grease.

Wash it

The windows probably aren’t the only thing that needs washing on the exterior of your house. “Before you scrape any paint or plant more azaleas, wash the dirt, mildew, and general grunge off the outside of your house,” said Houselogic. “REALTORS^®say washing a house can add $10,000 to $15,000 to the sale prices of some houses.”

The first step: Grab a bucket of soapy water and a “long-handled, soft-bristled brush” to remove any noticeable dust and dirt. For homes that need more attention, a power washer that can be rented for about $75 a day can do the trick.

Fix up

Have some deferred maintenance on your home? If you’re looking to sell, that maintenance is deferred no more. Remember that potential buyers are looking for anything that questions the quality of the home or its upkeep so they can move on to the next home or chip away at your sales price. “Nothing looks worse from the curb – and sets off subconscious alarms – like hanging gutters, missing bricks from the front steps, or peeling paint,” said Houselogic. “Not only can these deferred maintenance items damage your home, but they can decrease the value of your house by 10%.”

Address the lawn

“In its study of the worth of outdoor remodeling projects, the National Association of Realtors put standard lawn care at the top of their list of projects that most appeal to buyers, with 14% of the agents claiming that it recently helped them make a sale,” said Investors. “And with a price tag of only about $330, according to National Association of Landscape Professionals, home sellers can expect to triple their investment with a return of about $1,000 added to the sale price.

A new coat of mulch can give the home a fresh look, has a minimal cost, and offers additional benefits. “It protects land from soil erosion and reduces compaction from heavy rains. It also will help reduce your water bill by eliminating the need to frequently water, and provides an even soil temperature to protect your plants,” said US News.

Go low-maintenance

If adding new landscaping, consider how much maintenance is involved. If you’re planning to live in the home for a while, you’ll appreciate not having to spend a lot of time and energy taking care of your yard. “Purchase plants that are native to your region or plants that are drought-tolerant; these require less water and maintenance, which means more savings to you and more green in your wallet,” said HGTV. If you’re getting ready to sell, potential buyers will take note of native and/or drought-tolerant plants that add curb appeal but allow them to “think green.”

Upgrade your entry points

Take a good look at your front door and garage. Have they seen better days? Replacing them with fresh, new versions will give your home a noticeable lift, with a strong return on investment. The ROI on a $2,000 steel entry door replacement is 75 percent, while a “garage door replacement returns about 87% of its $2,300 project cost,” said Houselogic.

A fresh coat of paint can also do wonders if you’re looking to spend less. “If you only have a few hundred dollars, paint the front door and get new house numbers. Improve whatever the eye will see from the street,” Gidding said.

Think trees

If you’re doing some quick fixes to get your home sold, planting trees may not be on your radar. But if you’ve just moved in or are redoing your yard and are looking for smart landscaping ideas, the long-term value of trees on your property may have you researching different species.

“If you aren’t planning to sell your house today, plan for the future with a landscaping improvement that will mature over time,” said HGTV. “Plant shade trees — not only will mature trees make your home more desirable but a fully grown, properly placed tree can cut your cooling costs by as much as 40 percent. Mature landscaping is also good for the environment, providing a necessary habitat for wildlife while adding valuable curb appeal to your home.”

There’s even a site you can visit to calculate how a tree species in a particular ZIP code affects your property value as well as potential energy savings.

Light it up

According to the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) list of most-wanted home features for buyers of all ages, 90 percent want exterior lighting. If yours is dated or insufficient, a minimal investment of a couple hundred dollars could pay off big time.