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Curb appeal is a waste of $, most buyers take one look and proceed inside the house. They are more interested in kitchen and bath. No buyer ever complains about bushes or weeds because those are easy to fix.
I'm about to pay to have my yard landscaped. I'm going to say that it probably depends on WHERE you are to a certain degree. I grew up in Jersey. Landscaping pretty much anything was easy, DIY type stuff. My friends and I would start gardens on whims at their houses. Lawns just kind of happened. If you have a derelict looking yard somewhere that things grow easily and the soil isn't so hard, I think it's less detrimental than if you are somewhere like Colorado, where I live now.
The ground is hard, the air is dry and it is REALLY hard to get anything to grow. I'm bringing in professionals, not because I don't want to do the work myself, but because I simply can't - I don't have the time, knowledge or physical fitness to take this on by myself. I just want it done so that I can maintain it. So if you're looking at a house with a crappy yard here, it's going to be a lot more expensive and PITA to fix than if it was a house back east.
I'm about to pay to have my yard landscaped. I'm going to say that it probably depends on WHERE you are to a certain degree. I grew up in Jersey. Landscaping pretty much anything was easy, DIY type stuff. My friends and I would start gardens on whims at their houses. Lawns just kind of happened. If you have a derelict looking yard somewhere that things grow easily and the soil isn't so hard, I think it's less detrimental than if you are somewhere like Colorado, where I live now.
The ground is hard, the air is dry and it is REALLY hard to get anything to grow. I'm bringing in professionals, not because I don't want to do the work myself, but because I simply can't - I don't have the time, knowledge or physical fitness to take this on by myself. I just want it done so that I can maintain it. So if you're looking at a house with a crappy yard here, it's going to be a lot more expensive and PITA to fix than if it was a house back east.
If you're in Colorado I'd think the default would be to not recreate an Eastern lawn but something Mountain West specific (or High Plains).
The yard is very important to me. Foremost I expect it to be tidy and balanced. But a half-baked last minute job is a waste of money since I would just re-do it and think you wasted the money you are expecting to get back when you sell it. What counts are trees and shrubs that are 5 or 10 yrs old since I don't have time to wait for them to grow. So tidy everything up (rake, trim, mow) and then perhaps set out a few eye-catching pots of flowers--that you remember to keep watered.
If you're in Colorado I'd think the default would be to not recreate an Eastern lawn but something Mountain West specific (or High Plains).
Exactly. I've had this house 5 years and EVERYONE in the neighborhood has a perfect green lawn. I have been trying to kill mine the whole time. I have no interest in maintaining it or wasting the water to keep grass alive. I'm looking to xeriscape with a few well-constructed beds for planting vegetables and herbs, a few for decorative purposes too. Putting in a fence in the front to give the dogs more room to run and just generally getting rid of the grass/weeds. I want a place outside that's pleasant to hang out. There's a lot I can do on my own once the basics get covered - I just want to have to weed and water things, no mowing, no sprinkler system. The wasted water here drives me nuts.
But I want it professionally done because there have been some issues with water in the basement, and I'm hoping to see if there's a way to help prevent that with landscaping or at least not make it worse.
On the one hand, landscaping does absolute wonders for whether a house looks charming or not.
On the other hand, thinking as a buyer . . .
If I loved the house AND the yard was not a knot of brambles and weeds that made me weep in despair, lack of landscaping would not deter me from buying it.
In fact, I would rather put in my own landscaping. What would win me over is a mowed lawn with super healthy grass as a baseline for my landscaping plans.
Sometimes you only have one opportunity to leave an impression on someone, anyone that may visit your neighbor or neighborhood. Why not keep you property looking pristine as that one impression will be a lasting impression of the occupants of same said residence. It doesn't take much, so long as you keep up it it. I do my own as I take pride in ownership.
We have a property we own in a great location with an ugly lot. Nothing has been done to it in years. Grass is terrible. Lot is very small and property in a warm (not quite hot) urban market. As a rental, tenants just threw some furniture out there. One planted a rose bush years ago and that is literally the only nice thing in the yard. We are putting it on the market when the tenants lease is up in September.
We need to re-grade because we are having some drainage issues and are wondering how much value (if any) there would be in making this more attractive before selling the property. We have a landscaper who is trying to upsell us on putting in a patio, seating wall, plantings etc. citing that other houses on the street have nice back yards (some do, some don't.) He has a plan which we consider to be sort of over the top for what we want, but we might spend the extra to put in some of it.
The rest of the house is in great shape and will present nicely. How much will the lot add if we do it up? Anything? Or should we leave it as a blank slate for the next owner? Conversely, have you ever been turned off by a lack of landscaping or hardscaping so much so that you passed on the house?
I'm not sure if it adds value, but in some markets it could help the property more quickly. It could be what turns some buyers away. And it might be the deciding factor if a buyer has a few different properties to choose from. When we bought our house last year, part of the reason was we really liked the landscaping.
It all depends on the property, of course. For some areas something like landscaping isn't a big deal at all; for others it is. You've spent time researching the property and getting to know the area, so the odds are you'll know if something like that is worthwhile better than any of us. Trust your gut. OTOH, if we were just talking about properties in general I'd say it's worth it to spruce up the landscaping a little.
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