Whether you’re thinking of selling your home or simply upgrading its value, it is worth spending some time evaluating your home’s curb appeal. If you haven’t heard of it, curb appeal is just what it sounds like: the street front attractiveness of your house. Sure, maybe you know your home’s a real catch: structurally sound, uniquely designed–all that good stuff. But if it isn’t all that easy on the eye from the outside, you’re likely to lose a surprising share of potential buyers without them even stepping through the entryway.

Well, the good news is that ramping up your home’s curb appeal isn’t an excessively expensive or time-consuming chore. A few thoughtful tweaks here and there can work wonders. Let’s consider a few strategies!

Tidy Up That Landscaping

Maybe your property doesn’t boast lush landscaping, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t spend a day or two tidying up the yard to improve your house’s aesthetics. Pick up those strewn branches, mow that lawn, trim those hedges, mulch that garden bed, weed those sidewalk cracks, sweep that walkway: You’ll be amazing at how transformed your place can look with a bit of basic yardwork.

De-Clutter the Home Exterior

Old, broken, or simply unused satellite dishes or antennas? Take ’em down. Keep the yard, porches, and decks clear of clutter: gardening tools, ratty-looking furniture, that heap of random goods you’ve been meaning to haul to the recycling center for a few months now. Don’t muddy up a potential buyer’s imagination with excess stuff.

Address Upkeep Issues

If your house is looking a little worse for wear, you’re going to want to tackle some basic repairs. Peeling paint, a decrepit gutter, broken windows, rickety stairs or handrails: We’re in no-brainer territory here. Tackle those fixes you’ve been neglecting, and you’ll significantly improve curb appeal.

Revamp Your Home Security

Conspicuous security features are a plus, of course, but not all of them are created equally when it comes to curb appeal. Consider replacing those ugly and off-putting old-fashioned burglar bars with a set of equally effective and vastly more attractive security window screens. These provide a higher level of home protection without the unsightly appearance of bars.

Add Some Flourishes

You needn’t spend a fortune to freshen up your home exterior with an eye toward better curb appeal. Paint the front door a bright and bold color, and flank it with some equally bright and bold potted flowers (as this nice write-up in the Brunswick News suggests). Install new trim around the windows and doorway. Replace the doorknob or knocker with something more distinctive.

Pursue a few cleanup, fixit, and upgrade jobs around the outside of your home, and your curb appeal’s going to go way up. Unleash your creativity, and lay out a warmer, flashier welcome mat to buyers off the street! (And speaking of–how about a brand-new doormat?)