In short, yes landscaping does in fact increase your property value by as much as 15% so investing in landscaping and lawn care and effectively taking care of your curb appeal actually will bring you a return on your investment. Your 500k house could be worth an additional 75k. Buyers are looking for a great home, one that has been taken care of inside and outside. Some items on your property increase the value of the home while others may lower your value. Often it comes down to the buyers demand, some buyers are looking for a clean landscape that requires little upkeep, this is probably the goldilocks zone. Remember while you might like a garden full of sculptures and fountains, potential buyers could be less than interested and could see that as work (and money) to remove. Let’s go over some common features that will increase your home’s value through landscaping and soft scaping. We’ll also go through some features that you may be surprised to find will lower your home’s value.
Landscaping ideas to increase property value
The very obvious way to keep and increase your property value is to ensure that your front yard doesn’t resemble a haunted house, unless of course it’s October and you have some great decorations for Halloween. If you’re selling your house you’ll likely focus on some fresh paint and a clean appearance inside, but if the outside has a patchy lawn you could expect lower offers. Below are some great tips and in most cases cost effective ways to keep and increase your home’s value as you own or sell your home.
Keep a healthy lawn
First and foremost a great lawn will increase your property value, a green, healthy and trimmed lawn will do wonders and for what you’ll pay you’ll make a great return on your investment when you’re ready to sell. A lawn without patchy brown spots also shows that there are no pests to be concerned about or dead spots. You’ll want to have the lawn edged, watered and void of weeds.
Trim hedges and bushes
In keeping with the idea that buyers (and your neighbors) like to see a home that is well kept you’ll want to ensure that shrubs and bushes are trimmed. With the help of a specialist they will be able to determine at what time of the year specific plant life should be trimmed and which should be left to grow.
Healthy trees
Healthy and mature trees will add value to your home, you more than likely will not be transplanting a 60 foot tree to your property but a great start is to go for an 8 foot tree that can go into a mature tree, pricing for something like this may run $150.
Lighting
Lighting is important for safety when approaching your house, but they also showcase your landscaping, flowers and other features at night. Of course one of the biggest pros to having lighting on your property is that it serves a security feature when timed right to ward off burglars. Lighting can be an easy and effective feature to add as most lighting these days uses solar with more powerful LEDs.
Landscaped pathway
A landscaped pathway is also a nice touch to increase the value to your property. A pathway void of cracks helps and in general it’ll prevent damage from walking on the lawn. Keeping a clean pathway can be done by repairing cracks and occasionally washing it down with a power washer. Using hedges or flowers alongside the pathway is also an effective way to create an attractive entrance to your home.
Add some color to your landscape
Flowers and eye-catching plants can see some great returns to your property. You can determine what plants might be a great fit for your property and soil by speaking to a specialist or reaching out to a gardening center. You’ll often want to use plants that are native to your area as they are well suited to the climate and will be less maintenance. Annuals are also a great choice as they have two growing seasons. Potted plants are also a great choice and don’t require special landscaping for a flower bed.
Fresh mulch
Using fresh mulch is an eco eco-friendly way to maintain your lawn, adding mulch to areas around shrubs, bushes and other garden plants helps to keep moisture in the soil in addition to preventing weed growth as well as preventing soil erosion.
A Deck or outdoor living space
A deck is a great feature that many buyers are specifically looking for, a deck can usually return 80% of what you spent back into the home’s value. A well kept, non splintering deck is an attractive feature, there are many weatherproof materials that can help you to make a great outdoor living space. A pretty cool feature has also risen in demand especially in New Jersey is a fire pit for those colder months. Since the Covid-19 pandemic homeowners have been investing more and more into outdoor living spaces, these items include outdoor heaters and firepits. According to True Value Hardware they have had a 300% increase in fire pit sales.
Irrigation systems
Irrigation systems can be a great way to add value to your home, they are extremely useful in keeping your lawn properly watered and cared for. Most of these systems like pop up sprinklers can be set up automatically to water your lawn and plants at the best time depending on seasons and weather conditions. An automated sprinkler system can cost anywhere from $3,000 and prove their value very quickly.
Professional landscape design
One of the most important elements to having great landscaping is to make sure it’s done right the first time. An aesthetically pleasing curb appeal doesn’t just happen without some proper planning. A layout that doesn’t make sense isn’t something a buyer is looking for. Creating a cohesive layout is the way to go, there’s some great planning tools available if you do decide to go for DIY. Your local garden center may even have an advisor that can help you plan and source everything you need. The next option is to reach out to a landscape design company that will work with you on budget layout, and implementation.
What hurts property value
Avoiding garden gnomes and strange Greek concrete statues will keep your home’s value from tanking, you’ll also avoid people pointing at your house as they drive by. There’s quite a few things you can do or not do to avoid hurting your property value. Not everyone is going to like your style and taste so let’s just take that into account before we start. We mentioned what helps home value increase so doing the opposite of taking care of your lawn will hurt some things.
Lack of upkeep
If your home looks like the Addam’s Family front yard, you’re off to a rough start. From a quick glance at your property if you have cracked walkways, dead plants, missing paving stones, or sinking steps you may be in trouble. Not taking care of the entryway to your home can scare away potential buyers. Items that need to be repaired become opportunities for buyers to leverage better pricing, in some cases a buyer might intend to replace the item anyway, but you might be giving them a reason to request lower pricing.
Artificial grass
In New Jersey, we can’t think of why you should have artificial grass. In climates where artificial grass doesn’t make sense, expect your home value to be affected, home owners expect grass. In arid climates like the deserts of Arizona where maintaining a lawn is difficult and also an irresponsible use of water it makes sense. If you can grow a lawn, you should have a lawn. For buyers with children, artificial grass is likely going to turn them away. Replacing artificial grass with the real deal can get expensive too for a new buyer. In some cases homeowners can see a -5% reduction in their property value by using artificial grass.
Get a real lawn!
Broken fences and cracked walls
Besides your neighbors hating the look of broken fences in their neighborhood most buyers will be turned off. Buyers look for good fences as they offer seclusion, privacy and safety. They look for a safe place for their kids and pets to play while creating boundaries. Expect to lose $1000 and up off your property value with broken fences and boundaries. In some cases broken and cracked walls can point out engineering issues, for example the next door neighbors above ground pool is putting undue pressure on the ground causing concrete walls to crack on your property.
Water features, water falls, koi ponds
While you might love a koi pond, a fountain in front of the house and a water fall to help you meditate in the summer, a buyer sees a headache. Most of these features become maintenance headaches between safety with children and upkeep, buyers will likely spend money to remove these pieces.
Swimming pools
While most people think a pool adds value to a home they are rarely worth the investment. In New Jersey we get about maybe three and half months of summer, for the other eight and half months a pool becomes a liability; maintenance costs, safety with pets and children, and requires additional home insurance. On smaller properties pools tend to take up too much space as well cutting into the families valuable outdoor living space.
Depending on the location, think hotter weather, pools tend to add value to the home alongside them being on larger properties. For the most part pools are poor investments with low returns on your investment.
Basketball and tennis courts
A good amount of people reading will immediately say “oh I don’t need a tennis court” and there lies the problem. Adding a basketball half court or a tennis court might be great for the time being but when it comes time to sell, expect your property value to be affected. Most buyers are looking for an outdoor living space and not a patch of concrete where the yard or garden should be. Buyers will likely add this into their cost as they’ll want it removed upon purchase.
A lot of concrete
If your yard feels like a parking lot then expect your property value to be affected. While there’s nothing wrong with an outdoor patio, excessive concrete can pose safety risks to family, friends and can pose a threat to young children falling. Depending on your environment, you can also expect cracks and fatigue concrete through the years, potentially creating costly repairs. Using a lot of concrete can also create drainage issues.
Fruit trees
While having fruits grow on your property sounds fun, remember it’s a yard not an apple orchard. Fruit trees tend to create more headaches than they prove to be worth, a trip to the farmers market or grocery store are more cost effective. Falling fruit will be sure to invite a few friends into your yard as well. In New Jersey think deer on your property, insects and of course mice love fruit, that’s sure to bring them into your house as well. Caring for fruit trees also requires pruning and remember a single apple tree can produce up to 250 lbs of fruit good luck with disposing of all that. With all these factors most buyers prefer not to deal with a fruit tree and the headaches it can bring.