Adding a garden can help increase not only a home’s value, but also the value of a neighborhood, which can help a home sell for more. According to Zillow, curb appeal is one of five of the most important factors to consider when selling a home.
Great landscaping will guarantee a positive first impression for potential buyers, and landscaping investments could see returns of up to 215 percent, making them one of the most valuable home improvements your clients can invest in. This is one of many reasons it’s important to add and maintain a home garden before getting ready to sell a property.
If your sellers are considering adding a garden to their property, don’t let them miss out on these three nuggets of wisdom:
1. Make maintenance easy on the buyer
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Always consider the city’s local habitat when choosing plants. Adding native plants and trees to a garden will benefit the environment and make the garden (and entire yard) easier to maintain — and easy upkeep can attract a bigger pool of buyers. Potential buyers might consider it a drawback to have to maintain a difficult, albeit beautiful, home garden.
It’s also important to consider the environmentally conscious homebuyer who is likely to lose interest if landscaping requires a lot of water or harmful pesticides.
Many homeowners spend a considerable amount of time and money maintaining their property, so adding low-maintenance landscaping could be a big selling point for buyers who are able to see the long-term savings potential of low-maintenance landscaping — and it might help them reason with a higher closing cost.
2. Increasing neighborhood value
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Because gardens increase the value of a home, they can also help add value to a neighborhood — and when the value of a neighborhood goes up, the amount a home will sell for also goes up.
Homes in desirable neighborhoods sell for much more than homes in undesirable neighborhoods. There has also been research completed that suggests communities with gardens experience a decrease in crime; and homes in neighborhoods with less crime will also sell for more.
When communities make their neighborhoods more appealing to live in, the buyer market for homes will increase. Many buyers prefer to purchase homes in neighborhoods where there is a strong sense of community. When buyers find the right home in the right neighborhood, they’ll be willing to pay a lot more than they would for the right home in the wrong neighborhood. This is a good reason to complete the landscaping a considerable amount of time ahead of selling — your neighbors might even follow suit!
3. Quality of life
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Most buyers think about how a home is going to affect their quality of life — so if an interested buyer imagines a happier life in a home with a garden, they might be inclined to pay more for the property.
Adding a garden to a home will increase its value not only because of visual appeal but also because the potential buyer might see their quality of life improving.
Despite the initial investment, sellers will see a big return. This addition can benefit the local community, improve a new homeowner’s quality of life and add overall value to a property — all leading up to an increase in the dollar amount a home will sell for.
Matt Edstrom is chief marketing officer at GoodLife Home Loans based in Laguna Hills, California. Follow him on Twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.
