Did you know that landscaping can make the difference of thousands of dollars in the selling price on your home? It’s considered to be one of the most cost-effective investments you can make when getting your home ready for market!
Power of the First Impression
First impressions matter, so don’t wait to make a good one until after the prospective buyer is in the front door. Otherwise, they may never get there!
Home buyers know that a well-cared for landscape – whether it’s simply a lush lawn or a dramatic floral garden, indicates a home owner that maintains their home: inside and out. Not only that, but home buyers are much less likely to pay top dollar for a property when it’s immediately apparent that they’ll need to pour hundreds to thousands of dollars into the landscape to get it into shape. When it all comes down to it – the neater and cleaner your landscaping is, the better your chance of a sell.
If you aren’t sure if you’re landscape is up to snuff, ask yourself these questions:
- If I were the buyer, would this landscaping be attractive enough to get me in the door? If the answer is no, ask yourself what would be, and work towards that!
- Is my landscaping comparable to my neighbors and the rest of the neighborhood? If not, what could you do to bring your yard on par without breaking the bank?
- Are there parts of the landscape that could detract from the value of my home? Examples of detracting elements would be dead trees, overgrown shrubs blocking pathways and windows – anything that could be considered hazardous or a nuisance
Looking for ideas to freshen up your home’s ‘first impression’? Stop by our Pinterest board: Tehandon’s Entry Ways for tips and ideas!
Improving Your Curb Appeal, and Sales Price!
Regardless of whether you’re selling last minute or are preparing your home for market a year in advance, there are a few key, simple things you can do to improve your home’s curb appeal.
- Mow regularly – A healthy lawn that’s well maintained should be 3-4 inches tall: too much taller and it starts to look shaggy, while cutting it shorter stresses the turf and leaves it more vulnerable to damage and disease.
- Mulch & Edge the beds – These simple, one time efforts give your yard a professional look while significantly cutting down on the amount of weeding you’ll need to do throughout the warmer months. For best results, create a 3-4 inch deep edge around planting beds to retain both water and mulch. Then, remove mature weeds before applying a 2-3 inch layer of mulch to planting beds.
- Plant Annuals – Annuals are a fantastic, inexpensive investment that will add color, interest, and even fragrance around the house. Stop by your local home improvement or garden center and pick up a mix of colors and heights to create an eye-catching arrangement. Just make sure to watch the sunshine and water requirements – accidentally planting a shade plant in full sun is a waste of money, no matter how good your intentions were!
- Trim Overgrown Shrubs and Trees – Overgrown plants tend to make the yard or house look smaller than it really is, and their shaggy, unhealthy appearance will count as a ‘con’ on most home buyer’s lists. While you can trim/prune these plants yourself, we recommend that you hire a professional instead. Pruning shrubs and trees the wrong way, or at the wrong time, can send a plant into shock or open it up to potentially fatal pests and diseases. Spend a few bucks to take advantage of a professional’s knowledge and skill; you’ll be glad you did!
By trimming and removing fallen leaves, this bed of liriope gets a brand new look!
Selling Last Minute?
Hire a professional landscape company to do a one-time landscape clean-up. A good crew can typically work wonders on a property in one day for a couple hundred bucks: Mowing, edging, mulching, pruning, and even clear away the resulting lawn debris, leaving you with a tidy landscape that’s easy to keep up with during your hectic moving preparations.
I love how you talk about the benefits of keeping up your curb appeal and maintaining your landscape. My sister wants to add a garden and a patio to her backyard so she’s been looking into hiring a landscaper to help her with the project. I’ll have to suggest to her to take a look at redoing the front lawn as well.
Thank you for saying that healthy, well-maintained grass should be 3–4 inches tall; much taller, and it begins to appear shaggy, and any shorter strains the turf and makes it more prone to injury and illness. My mother thinks the yard is unkempt since there are so many shrubs and the grass is more than 4 inches tall. I’ll contact a professional landscaping firm to assist my mom with grass upkeep.
This is very good! Especially making that first impression is always good when potential buyers get to feel something positive as soon as they lay eyes on any property. It gives you a huge advantage! I have done some real estate sales and can vouch for this it helps so much.
I think you are right about doing weeding in the warmer months. My yard could use some hedging. We’ll have to hire a landscaper to help out.