Wholly unsuited to that house. A definite drawback to curb appeal. It just needs a crapton of landscaping.

No double doors. Costs too much to remodel the options and move the electric. Are the cracks in the paint or through the wood? Sometimes the cracks can be sanded, filled with wood putty and repainted. I agree you should work on the landscaping to improve the appearance.

I agree with both of the above posts. I would try to repair the existing door, and spend my money on the landscaping, which the house desperately needs.

It might be possible to prune the 2 large shrubs, with the objective to have them fill in their bare legs by next year. Do you know what kind of shrubs they are?

More like t his if you want to make the investment. Landscaping will be key.

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The house looks fine. Simple and classic, with scope for the new owners' imagination. If there's money left after landscaping, you might consider installing wider shutters, as they're currently too narrow for the widths of the windows. Also, does the lower right window have a transom or a different muntin pattern? If you do replace the windows, try to make that window match the others (which are a good fit with the house's style).

The house doesn't look fine. When you sell, you want the buyers to want to get out of the car and walk inside of yours. The way it looks now, you're going to lose people before they get the chance.

landscaping. Huge. get rid of those overgrown shrubs blocking the windows and do a proper flower bed.

Something like this.

This is a brick colonial, but almost identical to yours.

photoshopped a new door, portico and decent landscaping, removing the overgrown shrubs. Now it looks fine.

here's another similar home w/gray siding and a simple, but well done flower bed and a nice walkway.

The Front door, if solid wood, has to be protected from the elements w/a good UV paint or stain. water and sun destroy wood doors. You may be able to refinish yours.

or, get a new one in a diff style.

Similar colonial w/dark siding, bright white trim, red door. this one has a pediment over it.

this before is just like yours, more or less. Check out what they did to the landscaping. so much better. (ignore the alternate entry point unless you'd like to do some type of portico)

or an overhang to make a small porch.

AFTER

While this may be too much for you to spend, try and copy some of it. the landscaping, maybe paint the house in these blue/white colors, a portico, new exterior lighting. I guarantee you, people will WANT to get out of the car to go inside when arriving in front of this on open house day.

Not quite like yours, but I do like the darker siding color, the stone on the skirting, and the simple flowerbeds. You could do a single front door like this, with a similar style front porch/steps

Thank you all so much for the feedback! I truly appreciate it! Looks like the consensus is single door will be the way to go. I guess installing a double door just for moving shouldn’t be the goal. (FYI the door guy who I had come out did say it would be an easy swap no matter which option I went with since the rough opening would fit either option)

Regarding the landscaping - thank you for the comments. I cannot stand the landscaping and have tried to help but my dad is so stubborn and actually likes the bushes and doesn’t want to do something that requires maintenance like mulch. I had even hired a landscaper who came out and he sent them away. I gave up, but maybe if I show him these posts he’ll come around.

Beth photo shopped the entry of this house onto yours. It is one of my favorites. You should find an inspiration home here and imitate what's been done on it to bring yours up to speed for real estate presentation. A portico and new landscaping are a must.

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To clarify: I said the HOUSE looks fine. Not the landscaping. Those shrubs are a horror.

You've gotten great ideas in the thread. The thing that stood out most (other than the overgrown shrubbery) is the lack of symmetrical lighting at the entry and some type of railing.

If your dad is resistant to updating ahead of selling, then perhaps arranging an inspection to see what is absolutely necessary to repair would be a good approach. When we sold my deceased parents' home in 2014, the 20+ year old kitchen truly needed some updates, but we just couldn't face that type of renovation project so instead priced the home accordingly. It was worth it to us to not expend the time/energy/money on extensive projects.

Double door visual

You can spend a fortune updating a home for sale. The home will bring more money, but usually far less than the investment, so you are essentially gifting money to the buyer and leaving yourself with less.

The goal here is to leave your dad with the biggest money roll in his pocket at the end of selling his home.

What really pays is having everything clean, neat and looking like the home was well maintained.

The landscaping does not look well maintained. A few other things I saw just from the photo

Plastic in the window.

Cracked / broken front porch

Landscaping can provide 100% ROI or more, but I would take that with a grain of salt.

In your case I would make sure the grass is cut and any bare spots repaired. Bushes are trimmed, beds are weed free and heavily mulched. Figure out when you are going to be putting the house on the market and have a landscaper pick some inexpensive plants that will add interest at that time of year. Annuals vs perennials may add plenty of color and interest for a small investment.

https://findanyanswer.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-add-a-front-portico

"Impact on Home Values For most of the country, adding a porch will provide an average return on investment of 84%. The cost and return varies by region, as some places are more suitable for outdoor living than others. Adding on a porch can be an expensive proposition."

This means spending $5000.00 on portico will yield a sales price that is $4,200 more than you would have gotten if you didn't add the portico. You still lost $800.00

This article provides a good explanation of ROI

https://www.fortunebuilders.com/time-tested-remodeling-projects-with-the-highest-roi/

This link is great for current ROI values

https://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2021/

About a year before putting my home on the market I had a home inspection. Every buyer is going to request a home inspection and ask you to make the repairs they find. Why not get in front of it and save yourself a bunch of headaches during the process and be sure that there are not any big surprises. When the buyers for my house had their inspection the only thing that needed done was to clean some leaves out of the gutter on the back patio. He had to stretch to find something for on his report.

Instead of replacing the stained bathroom vanity top I had someone come in and do an epoxy coat over the vanity. It will only last a few years, but it looks brand new.

I painted the outdoor light fixtures that had faded.

I painted the house numbers on the curb and by the front door.

I replaced the old beat up mailbox

I power washed the outside of the house and had the trim painted.

I recolored the grout on my tile floors and in the shower.

I replaced any discolored or worn caulk.

I painted the walls, doors, trim and ceilings.

I made sure every surface was sparkling clean.

I had the furnace cleaned and a new filter put in.

I had straps added to the hot water heater.

I replaced a couple of shut off valves that had frozen and no longer worked.

I removed and cleaned the hinges on the doors and painted some of the worn door handles with rustoleum - far less expensive than replacing and again, it will look good for resale and the new owners can replace when it starts wearing off. (If they have paint stuck to them you can put them in a slow cooker over night and the paint peels off the next morning).

As I worked from room to room over the year before placing my home on the market I sorted through everything, sold furniture I wasn't going to keep, donated or threw items out and inventoried and packed all the things that I wanted to keep, but didn't need for day to day living. I stored all the boxes in a spare bedroom until it was time to market the house - then it went to temporary storage. When it was time to move 90% of the work was done. It took a day to pack up the remaining stuff and another day for movers to pack all the furniture and boxes into a moving van.

You have gotten some good suggestions.

In your particular case, the issue is deferred maintenance. Get a home inspection. Repair what needs repairing before you start the marketing process.

Clean the inside and outside of the house. Pressure wash the exterior. Remove the storm windows. Get rid of all lawn junk and clean out all the closets. Clean again. A fresh coat of neutral paint will be your best, most cost effective expenditure.

The front door can be repaired and painted. The front entry needs attention and repair.

The yard needs a lot attention. Don't fight with your father about it. Rather, start interviewing realtors. Tell them that your father is resistant to updating the landscaping. Ask for their help in persuading him to make some landscaping changes. Let them tell your dad that the yard needs a significant servicing. Let them be the bad guy. You just sigh with resignation and tell dad that it looks like something will need to be done after all. You had hoped to avoid landscaping, but the professionals have advised him to do it.

The changes won't have to be much. Pruning, clearing, removing old misshapen or diseased plants. Defining beds around the house and a few new plants. Fresh seasonal flowers in pots by the front door and the kitchen door. It won't have to be much. Your dad has an aversion to mulch. That's because he has an aversion to gardening and landscaping. Just keep falling back on the line that the realtors know what they are doing. Three realtors should be enough. Have them do a market analysis with pictures on your competition.

Good luck. It sounds like he is dug in. It will take the realtors to dig him out.

The house almost has an abondoned feel and may leave potential buyers wondering what the condition is on the inside. Curb appeal is the first impression. I’d also go with a single door.

Show your dad pictures and there are lots of options that are low maintenance. If he likes bushes, show him Ideas. Thought info below might help and perhaps save money.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/987450921/landscape-plan-for-foundation-planting?epik=dj0yJnU9ZTJNRWZ2X2VWUnU4blpWaVd6dXlBTkpGb011TlFwbE4mcD0wJm49Tm56aHdDUHZnSkhVY3NUQWdYM09TQSZ0PUFBQUFBR0Zsay1n

We had to move my mom to a senior’s home, so I know how hard change can be for them. If financial gain is appealing to him, use that for persuasion.

Sometimes asking forgiveness after is better than asking permission. Hire someone to clean up the front yard, when everything is edged, mulched and trimmed show your dad how wonderful it looks. If he gets upset about the pruning apologize. There is little he or you can do once it is done.

Yes great feedback @Jennifer Hogan - sounds like you made the entire moving process much less overwhelming than it is.

Thanks to everyone else. Our broker friend also advised not to spend too much money on updates since new buyers would prefer to customize themselves. And @homechef59, your analysis is spot on. Sometimes advice is hard coming from family so a third party delivery may fare better. Loss of our mom/his wife was tough on him but he's become more ready to move these past months - I'll be prioritizing these suggestions as winter approaches.

Clean as a pin is cheap and helps sell too.

Nina, look at Celerygirls latest photo shop image a few comments up. She nailed it. people may want to customize the inside, but the outside is on you. if you want a good price for that home, do the landscape like celery imagined

the double door isn't mandatory. you can try and refinish what's there. up to you.

Landscape was Beth H. idea :-))

@celery @beth (I don’t know why it won’t tag on my phone) gorgeous rendering!! I would spend to make it look like this if it were a forever home! Thank you for providing the detailed mock-ups and advice. I am saving it to my notes :)