The pandemic sent the housing market into major flux and created a housing shortage across the country. The sellers’ market left many homeowners in the position of considering putting their home on the market. Whether you’re looking to sell your home in the near future or get it appraised, landscaping can greatly increase your home’s value.
It’s important to do it right, however, because the wrong features could impact the value negatively. Recent research indicates that a well-landscaped yard can increase a home’s value by five to nearly 13%. That’s anywhere from $16,500 to $38,000 on a home with an estimated value of $300,000!
Learn how a sophisticated outdoor landscape design can increase your home’s value and learn what features you should avoid.
Curb Appeal Matters
First impressions matter, and the first impression people get when they see your home is the yard and the front of your house. In real estate terms, this is called “curb appeal.” A buyer who falls in love with your yard is more likely to fall in love with the rest of the house.
In order to give your home it’s ideal curb appeal, It’s important to start with a solid plan of action. Diving into landscaping with no plan is a mistake. Have an idea of what you want the end product to look like. Saving some pictures of landscaping and yards that you like in order to use them as examples for your landscaper is a great start. Our designers at Buckhead Landscape and Design (BLD) create an original landscape design and installation plan based on your needs and desires—a plan you can approve before the work begins.
Getting Return on Investment
Landscaping has to go beyond keeping your pathway trimmed and planting some flowers and shrubs. If you take the wrong approach, your landscaping can cost you a lot more than you get out of it, or can hurt the value of your home.
The term to keep in mind here is “return on investment,” or ROI. If you spend $10,000 on landscaping, you want to improve the property value by more than $10,000. ROI is less important if you’re just landscaping to put your stamp on a home you’ll be living in for a long time, but it can be essential if you’re looking to sell in the near future. Studies have shown that the factors impacting value the most were plant size, plant type, and the design itself. An experienced landscaper like BLD can give you pointers on what plants and designs will elevate your property.
Features to Avoid
There are many landscape features that could bring down your property values. For example, large hills can turn people off because they are difficult to mow (although, in a place like the Atlanta metro area, you may not have much of a choice there). If you can terrace a hill, it can change a poor feature into an attractive one.
Too many trees is another issue. Planting trees can beautify your yard, so they aren’t a feature you should avoid entirely (and in the Atlanta area, it’s not really a feature you can completely avoid). You just want to avoid having too many. Having many trees in your yard creates the risk of damage to your home, restricts natural light, and limits open space. The more trees a home has, the more it will also cost to trim and maintain them in order to lessen the chances of them becoming a hazard.
A disjointed, non-unified design is another mistake. You need to make sure your colors, scale, and texture match and complement one another. Also, any big-budget features that cost a lot of money to maintain will discourage buyers, so you want to think twice when it comes to installing something like a rare, expensive Japanese garden.
Ideas Sure to Up the Value
First, when you consider your design, think about using sophisticated features like island plantings and curved bed lines that match the architectural style of your home. For example, you wouldn’t add an opulent fountain to the front of a basic, Craftsman-style house.
Next, choose a landscaping idea that works year-round. Pick elements that will draw a focal point through all seasons, such as having a place for bulbs in spring but also having evergreens that stay green through winter.
Eco-friendly living is also popular right now, so think about having low-maintenance elements. Plants, shrubs, and flowers that are local to the area are usually the easiest to maintain and keep beautiful.
Lighting features can increase value since they provide safety and functionality, but make sure they’re also attractive. Consider using your lights combined with the right plants to highlight yard features and walkways in order to give your home more curb appeal at night. Also, outdoor living features such as fire pits, patios, and grill areas will increase value, because on top of being visually appealing, they make an outdoor space more functionally enjoyable for those who live there.
The designers and landscape experts at Buckhead Landscape and Design have many years of experience creating designs that improve the visual appeal of homes, and also making them more functional and enjoyable for homeowners. Contact us to make a valuable investment in your home by creating a stunning outdoor space.