How Your Landscape Can Help Sell Your House

Home For Sale Real Estate Sign and Beautiful New House.

Curb Appeal – a catch phrase so big that HGTV made a show about it. But what is it? And in the age of technology where potential buyers can scroll through pictures of both the outside and the inside before ever stepping foot on the property, is it even still relevant?

Curb appeal is a real estate term that comes from the years when buyers would form their first impressions of a home while standing in the street or sitting inside the car, just beyond the curb. Before the advent of text messaging and smartphones, a buyer would get a phone call from their agent about a new listing. The initial drive-by would determine whether or not they would go for an actual showing.

Even with the arrival of websites like Zillow and Home Finder, the exterior appearance of your home is still important. We sat down with Carly Young, a realtor for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices to talk about what a seller can do to improve their landscape – and improve their chances of getting an offer.

What are buyers looking for in a home’s landscaping?

Buyers are looking for crisp, clean lines ands nice outdoor living spaces. They want spaces where they can entertain and relax. And these spaces need to be ready to use – so stain that pergola, refinish the deck, whatever maintenance chores you’ve been procrastinating on, get them done before you put the house on the market.

What are the top 3-4 items a seller can do to get their landscape ready to sell?

The first thing is to clean up the yard. Remove weeds, trim/prune landscape plantings, and freshen up the bed edges. Tidy up by putting away kid’s toys and seasonal items that aren’t relevant to the current season. Also make sure you have some bright colors to draw their eye. This could be some colorful annual flowers, a pretty wreath on the door, or some bright pillows or cushions on the front porch furniture.

The second thing is to get rid of any ash trees that are in your yard. Even if they are healthy looking, they need to come down because it’s only a matter of time before Emerald Ash Borer gets them. And potential buyers are only going to see them as a future expense.

And while we’re on the subject of trees – the third thing is to trim your trees. Make sure they aren’t over the house, leaning heavily over into the neighbor’s yard, or getting into power lines. And if DP&L has butchered your trees to keep them out of the line…just remove those trees altogether. Nobody wants to look at that ugliness.

The fourth and final thing is to install privacy screening. This can be a little subjective because everyone has a different definition of what makes a space private. But, if your neighbors can sit outside and watch what you are doing on your patio, then it might be wise to install some kind of a privacy fence or install some shrubs that interrupt their view of your home.

Okay final question – how often do major landscaping issues like poor grading and drainage problems stop houses from selling?

This is pretty common, especially in regard to drainage problems. These types of issues will surface during the inspection and can cause a buyer to stop in their tracks and walk away as it is another maintenance expense they will have to deal with.

Thank you, Carly, for your expertise and good luck to all you home sellers. Need some help with that clean up? Want to remove your old overgrown landscape and replace it with something fresh and simple? J Squared can help you get your landscape ready to sell – just click below to get started.

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