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While landscaping is often an enhancement to our homes and yards, there are some visual aspects that can detract from the value of your property and even keep it from selling. Some might argue that in this strong seller’s market, little details like shaggy trees and fading flower beds don’t matter, but while it’s true that they might not prevent a sale, the condition of your home’s environs could determine the quality of the offers you receive.
Great curb appeal is all about the first impression, whether prospects are flipping through photos online or driving by. Uncut grass, a fallen branch still lying in the driveway or hanging baskets of dead plants can unintentionally indicate that a home has not been maintained inside. Realtors generally estimate that curb appeal can earn you an offer of 7% to 14% more, while a poorly designed or unkempt front yard can keep buyers from ever looking at your house.
It’s important to think through your landscaping long before you want to sell, so that your yard has good bones, making your job simply to enjoy and maintain it season to season. Then, if you do decide to sell, getting the place ready will be less stressful because you’ve already done the hard work.
Landscape design plans by Katherine Moody Brooks
Before you launch a do-it-yourself redo, consider a consultation or a full plan from a professional. As Katherine Moody Brooks, a Virginia Society of Landscape Designers (VSLD)-certified landscape designer who has been working with clients for 27 years, puts it, “Would you build a house or renovate without getting plans drawn?” Landscaping principles that are familiar to professionals, like designing on an axis, keep a yard and garden from looking “cattywampus,” Brooks says. Off-kilter and haphazard elements are unfavorable distractions, and you can avoid such mistakes with a good plan.
From proper placement of hardscape features like patios to knowledge of what thrives in this climate, there are real benefits to working with an experienced designer. Sidewalks and driveways need to be thoughtfully shaped and positioned, too. “A patio doesn’t have to be a wavy amoeba, but it shouldn’t be a square hanging off the house,” Brooks says. Old 3 1/2-foot-wide front walks can be too narrow, so if you’re installing a new one, she encourages you to widen it. Brooks also says a circular driveway in front of a house shouldn’t have a big tree planted smack dab in the middle of the circle — it blocks the front door, which should be visible to appear inviting.
Homeowners who are getting ready to sell will often proceed to neaten up their landscape without any expertise, Brooks says. “They start pruning shrubs no matter what time of year and go at trees and other plantings with a chainsaw or shears.” Disregard for seasonal growth patterns can destroy buds and eliminate any hope of blooms the following year.
“Sometimes there’s a gaping hole in a hedge where two shrubs have died, and owners will go to the nursery and pick out two new ones they like … without checking the tag for how much sun or shade is needed,” Brooks says. This can result in two more dead shrubs. Regarding a circle of plantings around a tree, what Brooks calls “the plunger,” she asks, “Have you ever seen that in the forest? No, because trees suck up a lot of moisture and leave none for plants.” She also advises clients against pruning their shrubs into misshapen spheres or “green meatballs,” and to avoid ringing tree trunks with a mound of mulch. Both are aesthetic choices that landscape designers eschew as trees and shrubs do not grow that way in nature.
There are plenty of other visual detractors to consider. Some of these include, according to Brooks, too much yard art, trash cans, lawn care equipment and assorted other eye-catching items. And it probably goes without saying, but you’d be surprised — be sure to clean up after Fido. One last word from Brooks: “No tiny pots!” Instead, take one big 18-by-24-inch pot, fill it with medium-size plants and place it on your front steps or elsewhere in appropriate light.
Landscape Tips for Sellers
As a real estate agent for 21 years, Stanton Thalhimer with ReMax Commonwealth says that when you’re selling your home, it’s imperative that its exterior reflect the quality of the interior. Like Brooks, he advises that the key is to “eliminate any visual distractions so that the focus will be on the house. You want clean lines.”
More thoughts from Thalhimer:
- Homeowners should consider carefully a major landscape upgrade like a swimming pool. Thalhimer says that while half the buying population finds a pool appealing, the other half does not. “They’re concerned about liability, maintenance, equipment, pool cover and the cost of it all.”
- Before you list your home, do the big cleanup. Remove hammocks, bird feeders, a grill sitting in the middle of the yard, toys, lawn equipment, trash cans, and debris on the sides of the house and in the backyard.
- Remove dead plants and trees/tree branches.
- Mulch plant beds to create tidy, defined lines around them.
- Haul away old cars and boats. “And no Pod in the driveway,” he adds.
