Landscaping Plants and Property Values
The prices in real estate seem to continually keep creeping one way or another up and down. The whole home real estate market bounces around like a ball. Some areas find selling a home a hot commodity and other regions across the country find slow sales.
No matter what a home may be worth you cannot “tap into” the money inside the house unless you decide to refinance or sell. There are things you can do inside to make the house appraise higher for the refinance, a coat of paint can go a long way. But what about outdoors… in the landscape.
Adding some landscaping or upgrading the backyard landscape with ideas could not only enhance the look but add to the value for refinancing or make the sale easier.
Usually the return on investment for what you put in not only returns in money later but you can gain the benefit of shade and privacy. If you add fruit trees you may also enjoy nature’s foods. Flowers also make the landscape more appealing.
Where do you start in the landscape design path?
First ask yourself what are you looking for? Do you want shrubs for privacy or for beauty.
Borders offer a low cost solution that can add a lot of punch, either on entry ways or in front of hedges.
If your neighbors are close, placing a line of shrubs or a hedge at the property line can “define” the property. When you’re looking at shrubs don’t pick things based on “likes” but also what is best in terms of soil, sunlight, water, and other factors. Make sure you take into account the exposure of light available. Sunny or shady will affect your plant selection.
Water is becoming more and more of a precious commodity. You never know what can happen in terms of drought. Putting plants in the landscape is good but also consider the long term maintenance in water and care. Consider putting in an automatic sprinkler system, the long term benefits is not only watering the plants regularly but also it adds to the “salability” of your home.
From personal experience I’ve watched small landscape jobs of $2500 - $4000 increase the value of a home between $10 -12,000 dollars. Last time I checked that’s a pretty good return on investment!
