Improving your landscaping has a lot of benefits. It demonstrates pride of ownership and is one of the best ways to increase your home value should you want to sell it. After all, if buyers see that you take care of the outside of your house, they’ll assume you’ve taken good care of the inside.
You don’t have to rip out everything and start over. It’s easy enough to make some simple enhancements. A general rule of thumb is to spend 5% to 10% of the value of your home on landscaping improvements. You can reduce these costs by doing some of the work yourself. Here are five landscaping trends sure to increase the value of your home.
Clean Up!
Remove wilted or dead plants and replace with drought-resistant, native plants, or create a mulch bed in their place. Be sure to prune overgrown trees and shrubs, and cut away low branches.
Plan For Low Maintenance Upkeep
A few simple tips can make your yard easy to maintain.
Choose perennial plants that return year after year.
Consider a sprinkler system or automated soaker hoses for upkeep.
To cut down on mowing time, choose plants that are cover and incorporate hardscape.
Plant and Grow a Privacy Fence
Highly regarded, privacy in a home has great value. Add to the value of your home when you grow a privacy fence. Create some privacy by planting trees or shrubs that keep your views inside your yard. Choose native plants that are durable. Consult your Agriculture Extension Office for great ideas. Buy bigger plants rather than waiting for the smaller ones to mature enough to create a privacy fence. This way you’ll need fewer plants and save time digging in the yard. Pro tip: Vary the types of plants to avoid losing them all to the same type of disease or pest.
Create Outdoor Living Space
If it is within your budget to create outdoor living space, sales are strong for homes where the indoors has been created outdoors! Add a built in grill, refrigerator and a TV for the ultimate outdoor are. Cozy it up with a fire and comfortable seating. Choose recycled plastic for no more maintenance patio furniture and seating.
Create a Focal Point
Fashioning your backyard and lawn into an appealing and well-kept retreat expands the “liveable” space in your home. Think of it as an investment. You’re adding an extra room to your home, without adding additional walls.
Thank you to Rose Stanford, a former real estate agent who enjoys fixing up and staging older homes. Her specialty is renovating backyards and patios. Our ideas for this blog have been taken from the realitytimes.com
