Assuming that your interior, furnishings, amenities, location, management, etc are dialed in and high quality, but the exterior is average in appearance, boring and dated.
Have you seen a bump in bookings with cosmetic exterior upgrades like updated siding, decorative lumber to front porch rails/bannisters, nice front door etc that would allow you to feature that photo in your listing?
Real Estate Broker · Staunton, VA · Member since 2019 · 194 posts · 216 votes
4y
While I think it would be difficult to quantify exact ROI, I think any exterior updates would obviously make your listing more attractive (depending on your market) and therefore would therefore justify higher occupanacy and ADR.
If you're in a super competitive market with lots of cabins, small touches can make the difference between someone booking one place over another. If you're in a less competitve market, you may not have to do as much.
There are many inexpensive upgrades you can do like paint the front door, ditch the wood railings and do a modern cable railing system, landscaping, etc. Exterior paint goes a long way if you have the budget- "moody hues" are definitely in style these days and will be more attractive than a standard stained wood cabin.
Remember, the wives/girlfriends are the ones doing the booking. They want to book a place that looks welcoming inside & out!
Thanks @Chase Hoover .. . . Spot on with your last sentence!
House in question is in a college town. Has vinyl siding that is in OK shape but kind of a urine yellow color. From what I understand it cannot be painted, or even if it can the total cost of painting is not far off from the cost of new siding. Leaning towards a subtle off-white board n batten with black gutters, doing decorative lumber over the front porch posts/railings, and vertical iron bars or cable railings underneath. No doubt would look awesome . . . But the ROI is tough to estimate as you mentioned.
I did have the chain link fence spray painted block which made a surprisingly huge difference.