Make friends. It’s usually not hard—unless they’re nuts. I’m a pain in the backside online, but in person...everyone likes something. Most people like a number of things. I’m interested in absurd numbers of things, so I just find the overlap and we chat for hours about whatever. Start with a sharp eye for what they’ve paid attention to and a sincere compliment. Soon, you’ll know the names of every kid, in-law, grandkid, and cousin, or every flower, or the detailed history of every car acquisition. If you don’t know about something that they are passionate about, show an interest in learning. People don’t hate their friends. Then keep an eye on the property and try to make it as minimally obnoxious as possible. And be a good judge of character and ask the people with more sound judgement to let you know when there’s a problem. Crazy mean people are usually easy to sniff out, and you don’t ask them to let you know about anything, but if you compliment their cats enough, they usually unclench a little. Baked goods used to work, but too many people are gluten/sugar free range vegan quinoa diabetic organic non-GMO gathered widdershins by Buddhist Wiccans and rubbed in raw royal jelly (which is definitely not sugar), and you’d immediately start off on the wrong foot. Find out if they’ve got severe allergies or severe craziness first. And get them not to talk about really stupid things but instead about stuff you do find interesting so your eyelid twitching doesn’t give you away. You might know homeopathy is a crock but talk happily about how to grow herbs.

I don’t like the garage door painted such a dark color, it looks like a black hole. I prefer the garage and trim color as they are. The Italian cypress do look a bit forbidding there, but if you love them...maybe if you moved the one closest to the driveway to the left a bit and took out that one shrub so the three cypress were in a sort of triangular pattern rather than a line. I don’t think you need to rip out all of the shrubs but you might want to identify what they are and look up proper pruning techniques for giving them a more natural shape instead of shearing them into balls. Some shrubs lends themselves to this treatment, most look better pruned by hand. IMO. Shutters definitely don’t look right.

Do NOT allow the collage kids to maintain the lawn and landscaping for a discount. I can tell you they won't do it. I know this from experience of being a landlord for more than 20 years and a Realtor for 40 years. It may start off okay, or not, but the minute they become busy with school, work, friends, and other things to do they will not take care of the landscaping. Don't do it. In fact, do the repairs before you rent. Take photos. Then when they move out and you have to repair again from their occupancy, then that is the time to do the rest of the curb appeal improvements before you put it on the market. If you do it now, you will have to do it again when the collage kids move. JME.

We need to see a photo that will enlarge. Can't really discern the details well enough to advise much. Color of tiles on the roof should be the decision maker here.