{"id":7730,"date":"2019-01-31T18:05:09","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T02:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=7730"},"modified":"2019-03-21T07:34:04","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T14:34:04","slug":"what-is-curb-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/what-is-curb-appeal\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Colorful, Trendy, and Great TV Fodder: But What is Curb Appeal, Exactly?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there was ever a buzzword in real estate, \u201ccurb appeal\u201d would be it. To date, the #curbappeal hashtag on Instagram<\/a> has over 359,000 posts. Local magazines boast holding the secrets to great curb appeal in the region<\/a>. HGTV has a show called \u201cCurb Appeal,\u201d<\/a> for Pete\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s colorful, it\u2019s fun, it\u2019s en vogue<\/i>\u2014but the trouble with a hyped concept like curb appeal is the details get lost in translation.<\/p>\n

So what is curb appeal, exactly?<\/p>\n

\"City<\/a>
Source: (Chanikarn Thongsupa\/ rawpixel)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The true meaning of curb appeal: Can such a catch-all word be defined?<\/h2>\n

If we had to explain curb appeal in a 15 second elevator ride, we\u2019d say this:\u00a0Curb appeal is how attractive a house looks from the outside. As a focal point for a house that goes up for sale, curb appeal encompasses all of the external factors that shape a home buyer\u2019s first impression of a property the moment they lay their eyes on it from the street. (Phew, we\u2019re out of breath!)<\/p>\n

Web sources vaguely note that use of the term \u201ccurb appeal\u201d reached fever pitch during the housing boom that preceded the subprime mortgage crisis. Digging into this claim a little deeper we looked at the available data tracking this trend over time.<\/p>\n

Google NGram which tracks how often a term gets used in books, shows that mentions of curb appeal started around 1960 and then had hockey-stick growth from 1980-2000<\/a>.<\/p>\n