If you’re selling your home, then you might already know that staging is a very important part of the process. However, staging doesn’t just happen on the inside; you’ll need to work on your landscaping, too. Here are five tips for landscaping your home to sell at the highest possible value.
#1 – Keep Up on Regular Maintenance
Waiting until you have a scheduled showing to run out and make the yard look nice is a bad idea. If your home is listed on the market, then so is your address, and chances are good that people are driving by to get an idea of what the home looks like. If your yard is less than perfect, it’ll give them a very bad first impression. Keep up on your regular maintenance – mowing, weeding, twig removal, and even picking up pet droppings – in order to make your home look inviting.
#2 – Make Wise Use of Plants
Although you can do a lot to make your yard look nice, you can’t force your neighbor to paint his garage door or move her garbage cans. You can, however, plant things like bamboo, tall decorative grass, and other plants to hide them. Make sure that there are no trees too close to your home, though; this can put buyers off since tree roots cause significant structural damage to the foundation of your home. Consider cutting down any trees that are too close.
#3 – Add Some Features
Your goal should be to make your outdoor space as inviting and “livable” as your indoor space. If you don’t have any landscaping features, consider adding some. Patio furniture is a great investment in your future since it makes your yard seem far more inviting, and things like stepping stones, walkway lighting, fire pits, fountains, and more make things look incredibly luxurious. Don’t go overboard, but make your yard look nice, warm, and cozy.
#4 – Remember Universal Appeal
When you stage your home for sale, you’ll probably need to remove personal effects or repaint walls if they aren’t run-of-the-mill colors. This is because you’ll want your home to appeal universally to everyone. You should remember the same advice when it comes to your landscaping. Take down a playset you bought for your kids and take it with you. Remove any political campaign signs, sports team memorabilia, and other things that may put some folks off and keep them from buying.
#5 – Simpler Is Better
When trying to make your yard look nice, more is not better and better doesn’t always mean extravagant. The best thing you can do is keep things simple so that future homeowners can get ideas of how they would change things to suit their own needs. For example, 200 exotic plants might look absolutely stunning, but will prospective homeowners really be willing to hire someone to take care of all of them? When selling your home, the simpler the landscaping, the better.
Landscaping your home to sell isn’t a difficult task. Just remember to keep things universal and simple, use plants to your advantage, and keep your yard maintained – even between showings. Curb appeal is just as important as the staging inside your home, so use it to your advantage.