Landscaping to Help Your Property Sell: Part I
When selling your home, landscaping is the main factor that determines whether your home feels inviting from the outside. Curb appeal, of which landscaping is a large part, is important to 71 percent of homebuyers when choosing their future home, according to a recent National Association of Realtors survey. In other words, landscaping is often a necessary investment for a seller to make prior to listing their property, and as a real estate investor, you’ll want to factor this into your plan. As the housing market recovers, spending on landscape design and installation has gone up, and with good reason: it offers the best return on investment of any home improvement.
As with most things in life, first impressions are important, and properties are no exception. If a potential buyer doesn’t like the look of your home from the exterior, they’ll have little inclination to even go inside. You should want to increase the aesthetic appeal of the home while drawing the buyer’s eye to the door. Not to say that there’s a lot of psychology involved here, but you should adopt a marketing point of view and anticipate what a potential buyer may be thinking before they even have the thought.
Like every other aspect of real estate investment, have a plan! Don’t expect landscaping to be a quick project, because appropriate landscape improvements are estimated to return 100 to 200 percent of their cost when a house is sold (by comparison, you may only recoup 60 to 70 percent of the cost of kitchen renovation at closing). While not exactly make-or-break, landscaping improvements can vastly increase the value of your property as well as make it easier to sell, saving you time as well as hassle. Therefore, a reasonable rule of thumb for landscaping is to invest roughly five to ten percent of the property’s worth when you purchase it. Your budget needs to be realistic, and it’s always better to hire a professional. We’ve seen enough DIY landscaping jobs that did precisely nothing for the investor to know that in most cases, you’ll waste time and money doing it on your own.
Landscaping improvements are divided into two categories: soft-scapes and hard-scapes. Soft-scapes are what we typically picture when we think of landscaping, such as sod, grass, bushes, trees, and other natural features. Hard-scapes are installed non-natural features such as fountains, play sets, decks and patios, and lawn furniture. Understanding the difference here is crucial because as a general rule, hard-scape improvements typically yield a lower return on the overall investment, partly because of their initial cost but also because of the preferences and habits of the market and buyers. In other words, you’re liable to get a lot more bang for your buck by simply laying down sod, adding a flower bed, and installing a cobblestone walkway than you would by only purchasing expensive hard-scape adornments. Think lawn gnomes. Do you want to buy a house with lawn gnomes all over the place? That’s an extreme example, but it’s a good rule of thumb to keep in mind when formulating your plan for landscaping improvements. Focus on the soft-scapes, and add hard-scapes when necessary.
So what improvements are going to yield the highest return on your investment? Remember that it’s not helpful to go overboard and in most cases the necessary improvements are likely to be quite minimal (obviously, this varies from house to house), so your plan for the front lawn should be to draw attention to the house in a pleasing way; a gaudy lawn with lots of hard-scape adornments is unsightly at best and at worst may not draw the buyer’s eye toward the house. Since maintenance is the key to landscaping in general, you’ll want to start by performing basic maintenance in order to get an idea of what the property actually needs, especially if you got a good deal on a run-down or neglected property that you’re renovating inside and out. This means cleaning up the yard, removing dead branches, dog droppings, weeds and anything that may be broken or in disrepair.
Next, you’ll want to ensure that the downspouts are clean and functional, and making sure drain pipes are properly buried and doing their job so water doesn’t pool (which has the potential to ruin all of your effort and investment over time). The order of operations here is based on pragmatism; checking and, if necessary, fixing drainage and potential erosion should come before actually adding to the lawn, because these are much harder to fix once you’ve followed though with your improvement plans. You’ll then want to make sure any hard-scapes you intend to keep, such as patios, walkways and fences, are level and that roots haven’t pushed up sidewalks or patio stones. Be on the lookout for trees whose roots may pose a problem in the future or may make landscaping difficult. If your deck has wobbly railings or loose steps, now is the time to fix them.
The first aspect of soft-scaping you tackle should be the lawn. It should be lush, green, and pleasing to the eye. Americans have a set standard they apply to homes and their lawns, and you should let that work in your favor. A lush lawn that’s well-graded and healthy is appealing, so put down sod if necessary, and sow grass seeds in bare patches and cover them with hay. A green lawn goes a long, long way, but grass alone may not seal the deal; be willing to add flower beds and shrubs in an aesthetically pleasing way. Some improvements can be as simple as carving out a section of the lawn, surrounding it with rocks, and laying down mulch and planting a few flowering plants. Go easy on adding trees (more on that next week), and only add large shrubbery to hide something unsightly or afford more privacy for the property. Otherwise, tall shrubs tend to be a turn-off for everyone. Limit the number of plants, and simplify the design so you don’t have hundreds of different plants that potential buyers don’t recognize and may be scared to take care of.
Design the yard with plants and grass that work well in your environment and don’t need a lot of water, fertilizer and pruning. That means knowing how the plant will grow before you buy it. Not only do you not want to get a bunch of tropical plants that require lots of rain each year, but you also don’t want to buy a small shrub in a one-gallon bucket and find yourself with a tall tree three years later. Remember the environment in which your property is located, and also consider that while most buyers are attracted to properly landscaped lawns, they’re not necessarily thinking about maintenance, and in fact would probably prefer a lawn that looks great and requires minimal upkeep.
Remember, it’s all about the initial impression the property makes on the buyer, so pay attention to aesthetics and go for an appealing look rather than adding adornments. The key is balancing simplicity against the potential return on your investment, and the best landscaping job is one that’s simple, elegant, and beautiful. Next week, we’ll go into detail on the subject of hard-scapes and the unique issues presented by trees.
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– Get It Right Solutions