How much does landscaping improve your property?

[JWK]

Hey all, I lurk here a lot - don't post much. Like many, I've got a dream of living in the country on some acreage and doing a lot of my own food production.

Right now we have an A frame house on a bowling alley type lot of 5 acreas. It's on the side of a hill and most of it is fairly useless when it comes to animals and plants. We will be selling in the somewhat near future to buy a place more to our wants and needs. Our lot was very overgrown and "scrubby". I did a lot of work by hand, digging out black locust trees, clearing out areas that had just turned into burdock plots, etc. There is a lot of work left to make the place look "park like" and I just can't do it by hand. Well, maybe if I had another ten years with no hurry...

So my wife and I are trying to make a decision on whether to buy a piece of equipment (looking at the Kubota bx24) or just trying to sell the place as is. Of course the Kubota will be with me for the rest of my life, but cash flow right now is a bit important. It might be better served to put into acreage, etc.

So the question is whether we will see more money from the sale of our home with a beautiful landscape job, or whether it will just be easier to sell. The way I figure it, if the landscaping will get us at least another 10K, I'll go for it. This is in central NY and the market value of our place right now seems to be about 130K. Of course we don't know exactly what the market will do this season, but just to give you a ballpark idea...

I thought there might be some people here who might have experienced this kind of situation or maybe some real estate people hang here (well, I know they do, but I'm not trying to be pushy or get a free lunch or anything - just some free advice. A ha ha ha ha!! Maybe it's the same thing?)

Any help, advice, opinions, etc. are appreciated. Thanks.

[turtlehead]

In my experience, landscaping is like fresh paint. It doesn't increase the value of the house, just makes it easier for folks to decide they want to buy it.

The last house we had, we sunk a lot of money into landscaping (in the 'burbs). Made the place *beautiful* but didn't change the asking price. That all goes by comps, square footage, and how well the place is maintained.

[beorning]

I agree with Turtlehead. It will improve "curb appeal" but most people want to add their own personality to a place they buy, and extensive landscaping puts a damper on that. The place needs to look good, but over-doing it doesn't pay off in the long run.

[chickenista]

I wouldn't run out and buy a small earth mover... you can rent them. They will bring it on a flat bed to your house, use it for as long as you need and they come take it away. Joy. Just don't roll it over and squish yourself.
And landscaping will definitely improve your odds with selling. Most buyers will be impressed with all of the work they don't have to do and don't have to pay for someone else to do. You can up your asking price when the work is finished.

[TxGypsy]

I agree with the rest of the answers. Just wanted to say I doubt landscaping will up the value of your property by $10,000. Like everyone else said.....it will make it easier to sell, but I'm not sure that it will increase the resale value of your home by much.

[hunter63]

That's a good way to "sell", buying the Kabota, "You know honey, that Kubota bx24 might be the best investment WE ever made!"

Go Dude, good job!

P.S. real estate= location, location, location!

[Tricky Grama]

You could compromise & landscape the area around your home. That way the whloe area will look good & buyers can decide what they want to do w/rest.

Patty

[steader]

We just sold our place last summer and the landscaping in our place made a big difference in my opinion. In the case of our place it had minimal landscaping (none except for one bush when we moved in) but we added trees early and a couple of bushes. We also added some annuals about a month before listing with fresh bark mulch and everything to make it look purty. We also watered lightly twice per day so that all of the plants glistened when a new prospect either drove by or showed up. Remember that curb appeal is the first impression and you can't change once it is formed.

In our case our house sold in 7 days and had a minor bidding 'situation' that worked to our benefit.

One last item to keep costs down in the short term you could outsource if you just want to 'Get R Sold' and not have a big expenditure. The key thing is to find a guy that is a solo operation and remember this phrase, "I'll pay cash and don't need a receipt or written estimate" I've found this works well for me for getting people for jobs that just need to get done and I can quickly eyeball the quality of work (like clearing land).

Just my $.02

[suburbanite]

Ask a realtor in your area if there is any glaring issue that will actually add value to fix. Otherwise don't muck with it.

[moosemaniac]

Actually a really well designed landscape plan will increase the value of the house, but I doubt it will be $10,000. Read "Landscaping Make Cents".

Ruth

[Wisconsin Ann]

I wouldn't do anything huge....but make it tidy, put up hanging plants maybe. Make it inviting. Make it look easy to care for. You want the people who come to look at the property feel welcome. don't want bad first impressions.

quick story: years ago my parents sold their first house. mom had worked for a decade on the garden. pear trees, peach trees, hundreds of dollars worth of german iris. Gorgeous flower beds. Roses. Area for breakfasting. The realtor said it would REALLY help the sale...The people who bought the house tore out the entire thing. Left the hedge along the back. planted grass.

[doohap]

You could add interest and beauty with potted plants (not only flowering plants, but small trees and shrubs). Then, when you move, the investment you put into those plants go WITH you and can be permanently planted at your new place!

[A'sta at Hofstead]

Well...... I sold my '98 double wide in April. I made a fair amount of money on the deal. It was a big lot, and we had planted burning bushes, lilacs, perennial gardens, a garden wall with clematis, etc... put in fencing and a nice front porch, I really think the pics I took of the gardens last summer and had on the online tour really helped to sell it, we got our asking price, I don't think we would have gotten it without the cosmetics in place.

[Maura]

Anything that would really had a hunk of value you should have already done, i.e. planting trees. Go to the road and walk up your drive. What do you see? Be critical. Is there something that invites you up the drive? A bed of fresh bright flowers at the base of the driveway is very inviting. Mow the grass, lay down newspaper, cover with topsoil and plant petunias and celosia (or somethings very flowery that are three levels of height). If there is a tree or group of trees between the first garden and the house, put another bed of flowers under the tree(s). If you don't have flowers in front of the house, put some annuals in. A couple of pots of flowers on the steps, also very inviting. Very inviting, but not so much work that a buyer is going to think, "Oh, no, I've got to rip up all those stupid gardens".

Mow everything you can mow, give the house a big backyard and sideyards. Under a large tree, put down patio blocks and on this put a wooden swing. Near the swing, put 2 or 3 bird feeders with seed that will attract pretty little birds. Some people don't like blue jays, so no corn or sunflower seeds. This allows people to envision themselves in your yard and is well under $10,000.

[annethcz]

When do you plan to sell? If you're in NY, and for some reason the house doesn't sell this summer, the landscaping won't make a difference at all in the winter- buyers won't be able to see the landscaping under the snow.

[citilivin]

I would look at the market in your area. What are the other properties like? I would stay within the boundaries of competing properties. Are they landscaped? and to what degree?

[RedTartan]

Can you post a photo of the front of your house? Then we could give specific advice to boost your curb appeal.

RedTartan