A Little Effort Goes A Long Way In The Yard!
In terms of return on effort, landscaping to me is the number one place to start.
The goal for your exterior spaces is to make the yard look like it takes care of itself. Trimming the bushes, edging, and mulching the beds are easy and affordable updates that show buyers that the yard is an oasis for relaxation, not a summer-long renovation project.
Before they tour your house, buyers check out your yard. It’s part of what convinces them to take a look inside — or not. If they see a well-maintained yard, then their natural assumption is that the rest of the house will be the same.
Take a deep breath, remove your personal feelings from the equation, and take a candid look at your property. Don’t just walk across the street and look; drive past from both directions and see it as buyers see it — from the seat of the car.
Make sure that:
- The front door isn’t blocked by overgrown trees or shrubs
- The shrubs you do have are healthy. (If not — get ‘em out.)
- Your flowerbeds are true to their name, not overrun by weeds. You can see the house number from the street.
- Ready your yard for sale by following these steps:
- Remove trash, toys, animal waste, or debris from the yard.
- Move the caravan, boat, snowmobile, watercraft, trailer and so on to a storage facility.
- Edge and sweep the paths and decks.
- Fertilize the lawn, let it grow, and then raise the lawnmower blade before you mow again.
- Trim or replace the shrubs.
- Trim the trees so that they don’t hide the house. Edge and mulch the flower beds.
- Stain or power wash the decks. Repair the fence.
Tip For New Players: Longer grass casts a shadow on itself so it stays greener longer and doesn’t need as much watering.
A yard should be a place to relax and play, not a place that screams work. If the grass needs attention, buyers think they’ll need to do yard work every weekend. The yard in Figure 10-2 has a yard in need of attention and a lot of clutter mucking up the relaxation factor.
