A professional pressure cleaning will make a huge difference! If that's the worst looking property in your neighborhood I wish I lived near you. :) We have many houses in our area that must be in foreclosure - they have overgrown yards and need painting and repairs.

Donna

I think the front of the house looks okay, not knowing the standards of the neighborhood, though it could use some tweaks to improve the curb appeal. I would want to widen the front porch, which seems almost unusable, it's so narrow. And I'd add a nice walkway to the sidewalk, even if no one ever used it.

It looks like landscaping was removed from the lower windows, and the brick is discolored, so I would try to clean that up. I'd also add new landscaping in front of those windows, but far enough out to allow for light and egress.

I'd change the pinky-beige paint in the living room that clashes with the floor.

The back of the house is really ugly, and I think a deck and improved patio would help immensely (along with hiding the wiring and utility boxes that are so painfully visible). I'd add a deck outside the kitchen area with sliding doors where the window is. Then I would get rid of the existing kitchen door, because who wants traffic through their kitchen. I'd replace the brick patio and maybe extend it toward the garage (since losing some space of the left due to the new deck) and maybe further out from the house. I'd replace/rehabilitate the turf where the round thing (above ground pool? Trampoline?) was.

The kitchen would get most of my attention. I don't like suspended cabinets, and I hate the range where it is (next to the door I'm getting rid of and with counter space only on one side. I might take out the peninsula entirely and do a U-shaped kitchen, putting the range more-or-less where the door is now.

Thank you all for playing! I didn't even want to bring up the situation on the inside, because I felt overwhelmed just looking at the mold and the basement toilet which appears to have no door? I agree about the hanging cabinets in the kitchen and that door being awkwardly placed, though I can never give up a way to let the dogs out...too lazy!

I agree about painting it all one color ( would choose cream, with putty colored shutters and a colorful door, maybe) removing the shrubs, and repositioning the walkway. Our walkway is the same way--leads to almost the top of the driveway, which means any visitors have to squeeze past cars to get to our door. Annoying and not welcoming.

The back of the house is indeed plug ugly. I'd just plant a whole row of hydrangeas and call that a fix, after fixing/replacing the brick patios. For sun relief, I'd like a pergola I could plant with wisteria. My friend has one to die for and I have too much shade to justify it at my house.

I feel like decks are far too much work in our climate--my neighbor's looks quite awful and the one friend I have who has a nice looking one has to spend money on it every other year. Our brick patio has required zero work other than a power wash in the decade since it was put in, so I'm a fan.

re: the ugly wires on the back of the house, I will never understand why they put the service hookups on the back of the house. There is almost always a side of the house people aren't going to have to look at from either the front or the back patio--why don't they put it there? My house is just like this--all the wires lead right to where you're sitting :(

I'd limb up that huge tree in the front yard that makes the house look as though it's hiding its face shamefully. I'd remove all the evergreens and start over with smallish shrubs and some bright cheery groundcover. The driveway needs resurfacing bad, and a new wider swooping sidewalk would be a great improvement.

In the back, I think I'd build a large wooden deck over everything that's there now. The concrete foundation needs a little tuckpointing and then painted white.

Mentioning paint, how about a bright clear yellow for the dull tan that's there now? And all the trim, including shutters, a clean bright white. Or, paint the dull tan the same color as the brick on the lower half of the house, all the trim white, and the shutters a rich brown?

And, yes it reminds me too of a tin dollhouse I had when I was little. I think it's the color (tan-yellow and dark shutters) and the support posts on the front porch that makes me think of my tin dollhouse.

I think you'd need the purchase price again in renovation budget. Would the neighborhood values support that?

A similar split on our neighborhood was remodeled slightly to have a craftsman vibe, And I love it! I'll drive by it tomorrow to get particulars, but the color and I think they added brick bases to substantial posts made the impact. I wish I could post a picture of someone else's house.

I miss our old split-level. One thing I'd do is replace the front hall closet with...nothing, and add a low pony wall with a square post to define a foyer.

Pal, they sure would. Our neighborhood is always in demand, and I've been really amazed at what things are selling for. I think some people have made the mistake of thinking you can just paint everything gray and put in a backsplash and call it a renovation, and those folks might not have gotten their money back out, but more thoughtful stuff has been very successful.