Does Landscaping Increase Home Value?
The landscaping around your home is like makeup for your property. Stop for a moment and think of how ugly your home would be if it was stripped of its landscaping features. Although the house would still be functional, it would certainly be less attractive.
Good landscaping increases property value because you can do more with the outdoor areas of your home. With landscaping that is well-planned, executed, and looked after, you can give pets, children, and adults a space where they can play, lounge, and create memorable experiences.
Landscaping is one of the most valuable improvements you can make to your home because the value of good landscaping does not fade. Unlike other home improvements that become less valuable as they get older or go out of fashion, landscaping becomes more valuable with time.
Landscaping can result in a 5.5%-12.7% increase in the value of your home when it is landscaped versus the price of that same home without landscaping. If the home is valued at $300,000, this is a significant difference of $16,500 – $38,100 in the selling prices of the two homes.
However, as Limehouse Management Company explains, not all landscaping features will improve the value of your home. The value add to your landscaping depends on the elements of the design, how the design complements the overall design of your home, and how well you maintain the landscaping.
Given its role as the number one feature of your home’s curb appeal, how should you design the landscaping for your property? Which features offer the best return on investment? Should you design the landscaping by yourself, or should you locally hire an expert to do it like Landscape Pros in Manassas, VA?
The best landscaping features for improving your home’s value
1. Professional landscape design
If you are looking for a superior landscaping design that will make your home stand out, you need a landscape architect or designer. A certified landscape architect will create a landscaping design that matches the architecture of your home. The designer will also provide installation help to make sure what you see on paper is what you actually get.
2. A well-kept lawn
This is the landscaping feature that will add the most value to your home. For every dollar you spend on lawn care – mowing, raking, fertilizing, and aerating – you will be in line to earn a potential 352% return on investment. To get the most value from your lawn, make sure it is edged.
3. Trees and shrubs
Everything you add to your home has a future date when it will stop adding value to the property. The only exception is trees. Mature trees continue to add value to your home into the foreseeable future. When planting trees and shrubs make sure they are planted some distance from the house and driveway.
4. Beautiful gardens
Well-placed gardens with a great selection of plants add variety and pops of color to your home’s outdoor areas. Using curved lines for garden beds instead of straight lines can also improve the aesthetic impact of the design. Choose your plants to make sure there will be bloom during each season of the year.
5. Spice up the front walkway.
A winding path with plants and a small hedge on each side is the best way to maximize the impact of your front walkway. This design creates dramatic beauty and builds excitement and a sense of anticipation in buyers since they are not quite sure of what lies in the path ahead.
6. Outdoor lighting
Good outdoor lighting improves safety and security. You can deploy lighting fixtures as decorative elements in the yard and also use lighting to highlight prominent features of your landscaping. Nighttime photographs of well-lit outdoor areas are a great marketing tool for your property.
7. Spread fresh mulch
Adding a layer of fresh mulch to your yard is only second in value to the impact of a well-kept lawn. Mulching the yard is affordable and easy to do, but the ROI from this simple project can be as high as 126%.
8. All-season outdoor space
An outdoor deck or kitchen that you can use throughout the year offers a place to cook and entertain guests. An outdoor space makes it possible to move many indoor activities outside and it increases the usable square footage of your home.
9. Smart irrigation system
Landscaping that does not take a lot of time and doesn’t cost so much money to maintain will increase you’re the value of your home. Smart irrigation systems take the manual work out of lawn maintenance. Adding drip irrigation systems will save you money by minimizing the use of water.
10. Create privacy
Beautiful outdoor spaces where you can spend time with family and friends will increase your home’s value. However, that is only if the people in the yard don’t have any privacy concerns. Planting a hedge that shields the home from the view of passersby will make the yard feel safer and also improve the value of your home.