You can’t underestimate how important a lawn and garden are to the value of your house. Curb appeal makes an immediate impact on potential buyers, as well as a lasting impact in the community. It could also be change the apparent worth of your property – it can add or subtract thousands of dollars to the value and sale price.
Patchy Lawn, courtesy Tricia via Flickr.
Lawn
A lush, green lawn is a major selling point. Bald patches, brown patches, or a ragged cut can cause prospective buyers to pause. Make sure it fits in with the surrounding neighborhood, as one that is too green or too brown in comparison to the rest of the neighborhood will look out of place, and fake.
Trees
Use small trees on the corners of your house to highlight and frame your house, but don’t plant them too close – as highlighted before, the roots can cause issues at later dates. hey can play havoc with pipes. You can use larger trees further away from the house – make sure to keep the branches trimmed and away from the house and other valuable property, the last thing you want is a freak storm to bring down a branch and cause damage to the home, a car, or anything else on the property. Shade trees, especially those that flower, are great additions to a property.
Garden
There are two areas in your garden you can concentrate on – the plants, and the garden bed.
In terms of plants, solid, compact shrubs that grow to around 3 or 4 feet in height and width are great choices for near the house are good choices. Your best bet is to go with an evergreen shrub – it will stay full and green year-round as long as it is healthy and taken care of. A deciduous shrub, on the other hand, will lose foliage in the cooler parts of the year, and this can take away from the curb appeal.
Flowers will also add to curb appeal with splashes of color, whether in patterns, in large clumps, or containers. Containers can be especially effective, as they can be moved around the property as needed, and can be moved inside during the winter. This will allow you to have plants year-round. Consult with color wheels and garden plans, and aim for a color scheme that incorporates only a handful of colors – too many colors will make the garden look jumbled.
The garden bed itself will also help with curb appeal. If it is poorly edged, barren, and raggedy, it won’t appeal to a possible buyer. Edge it properly, lay down some fresh mulch on a regular basis, and make sure to pull out any weeds that may crop up. Clean out any debris that may fall into the garden as well, such as leaves and branches from shrubs and trees.
So take care to put some work into your lawn and garden to give your property some curb appeal, particularly if you’re looking to list it in the near future. Even if you don’t have any plans to sell, giving your property a little added curb appeal can certainly help to spruce up the neighborhood as a whole.
