Even before Susie Henderson and her family moved into a new home in Wilmette last spring, she and her husband ripped out the solid row of evergreens in the front, which she believes had been there since the house was built in 1920. "I just couldn't stand them," she says.

The home's poor landscaping was a turnoff to Henderson, who as a buyer initially walked by and dismissed the house before deciding to take a look inside. To her surprise, she found the jumbo bungalow's interior quite charming, right down to the original stained glass windows. "I thought, OK, I can put shrubs in myself. I can pretty it up with flower boxes," says Henderson, who moved in in late April.

Real estate agents say Henderson was more persistent than many buyers, who keep right on driving if they don't like the way a house looks from the outside. They also say her decision to buy the house and make it more inviting should pay off when it comes time to sell.

Conscious that friends, neighbors and passers-by do judge a home by its outside, Chicago-area homeowners increasingly are sprucing up their exteriors, experts say.

"Curb appeal is a big thing. People do drive by a home before they request to see it," says Mary Quincannon, broker associate with Beliard, Gordon & Partners, Ltd. in Chicago.

She recalls a rehabbed West Lakeview home that sat on the market last year because the outside had been neglected. After she persuaded the owners to spend a little more than $7,000 on new siding and landscaping, Quincannon says, the couple raised their asking price by $20,000. "It sold in two weeks," she recalls, "so it worked."

"The first impression is a lasting one," agrees Naperville real estate agent Walt Chase of Re/Max Professionals in Naperville. "I tell sellers they want the entrance to the home to be standing tall, really looking sharp."

But without spending much money at all, Chase says, you can improve the first impression people will have of your home by: edging the lawn to give it a neater look; trimming bushes and shrubs so they don't

cover the windows; adding flowers; fixing fences that are broken or leaning; washing the front door and windows; cleaning the cobwebs out of the vestibule; washing the glass in the front lighting fixtures, scraping any peeling paint and repainting, and painting and repairing the garage door, especially if it's in front of your home.

On the flip side, however, buyers can get a better price on a house if they're willing to redo the landscaping, fix up a broken walkway or add decorative elements, such as a new mailbox, says Chase, who is also an investor in foreclosed homes.

"The dirtier they are and the more they smell, the more I like them," Chase says of foreclosures. "That's where the opportunity comes in."

Increasingly, even homeowners who have no plans to sell are spending money to update the exteriors, simply because it makes the house a nicer place. "If you do the work early on in your homeownership, it's going to make the house that much more enjoyable to live in," says Nancy Lyons Hannick, landscape architect with NLH Landscape Architects in Highland Park.

The trend toward investing in landscape and so-called "hardscape," or brick and stone work, is part of the whole surge in home improvement.

"People are staying in their homes longer and investing in them," says Marty Halm, principal at Prairie Path Pavers, who notes the growth of brick- and stone-paved sidewalks and driveways.

While landscape architects recommend people spend 10 to 20 percent of their home's value on landscaping, homeowners who are willing to do some of the work themselves can make a difference for as little as $5,000, Hannick suggests.

As buyer Susie Henderson acknowledges, the bushes and plants around a house play a big role in creating a positive impression. Landscaping with evergreens and simple ground cover, the approach used in the front of the home Henderson bought, was the thing to do decades ago, Hannick notes, so it's no wonder the style looks outdated.

Too often, Hannick says, people try to work with what's already there, instead of ripping it out. "If the landscape is between 20 and 25 years old, it does need an overhaul," Hannick suggests. "There's a point at which a shrub can't be revitalized."

Big, sprawling evergreens planted years ago have another downside as well, says landscaper Bob Busch, owner of R. Busch and Sons Landscape in Oak Forest. In urban areas, they're too easy for criminals to hide in. Instead, he prefers the many smaller ornamental shrubs and dwarf trees available on the market today. "Most plants historically large have been genetically engineered smaller now," he says.

When Chase buys a foreclosed property, one of the first improvements he makes is a new mailbox. "So often no one ever changes a mailbox, but that's an inexpensive and simple thing to do," he says.

Martin Geller, founder and president of Out-Front Design Group in Highland Park, couldn't agree more.

"A mailbox can send curb appeal right through the roof. It adds ambience like nothing else," says Geller, whose company specializes in custom-designed mailboxes, address numbers, lawn sculptures and the like.

The company uses acrylic, Corian, stainless steel, copper, bronze, wood, granite and slate to make both post-mount and wall-mount boxes. Or, for about $125, Out-Front Design also will paint your dog, cat or a scene of your choice on an ordinary mailbox, creating a personal look.

Besides the mailbox, don't overlook other details of your home's exterior, such as house address numbers. "It's common to see houses perfectly landscaped, and then see four rusty numbers held up with bent nails over the garage," notes Geller, whose company also custom-designs address numbers.

Dingy or out-of-date exterior light fixtures also can be replaced inexpensively. And simply shining up the brass door handle, doorbell and knocker can brighten up the place.

GRAPHIC (color): Illustration by Mary Ann Smith.