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When you decide to sell your home, you have a short amount of time to get your house in tip-top shape to impress potential buyers. But of the most important aspects of a home, and one of the most forgotten, is the landscaping. The outside of the home, including the landscaping, is one of the first things potential buyers notice when they arrive at the house. Additionally, landscaping can actually increase the value of the property by up to 12%. So it’s important to ensure your landscaping is ready to impress and here are a few tips to help get you started.
First off, maintenance is one of the easiest, and cheapest, ways to prep your landscaping. You should clean up the yard, get rid of dead branches and other debris, and weeds. This is one of the most important steps in landscaping because even if your flower beds are sitting pretty, a yard full of debris is going to ruin the overall picture.
When it comes to your plants, flowers, and trees, make sure everything is cleanly trimmed. If you have a yard full of unsightly or overgrown trees and plants, that’s going to show potential buyers that you didn’t put much care into your home. So you should be sure to prune any trees and shrubs. Additionally, make sure your flowerbeds are clear of weeds and debris.
If you’re looking to plant flowers before you sell, make sure you choose them carefully. If you’re like most Americans and choosing to move in the summer, with 13.9% of moves occurring in June in 2016 alone, make sure to choose summer flowers. If you choose flowers that don’t do well in the heat, you may end up with a yard full of dying plants instead of a colorful, blooming scene.
And last but not least, make sure you tend to your deck, patio, or other outdoor features you have. Fortunately, repairing or refinishing outdoor features is relatively inexpensive and easy to do. Refinishing your deck can be a great way to help potential buyers envision themselves enjoying the outdoor area if they buy the house.
Just because you’re choosing to sell your home doesn’t mean you need to hire professional landscape services to come and completely redo your yard. But you also shouldn’t leave your outdoor area looking neglected either. By tending to a few of these simple tasks, you can have a beautiful outdoor area to impress potential buyers when you put your home on the market.
