Landscaping Tips To Help Sell Your Home
What are the best landscaping tips when selling a home? Sell your home faster with these ten landscaping tips!
Landscaping is not only good for the environment but, if done correctly, landscaping contributes to a high quality of life with multiple physcial and psycological benefits.
If you are considering selling your home, landscaping is crucial during the selling process, especially if you are selling in the summer. The yard is one of the first things that a homebuyer will notice, so having a landscape that is taken care of will make a long-lasting impression.
A properly maintained landscape will amplify the beauty of the home for sale and can increase a home's value by 20%. Investing in high maintenance landscaping projects is not necessary, rather focus on adding affordable and low-maintance beauty to your property.
If you are moving to a new neighborhood in Raleigh or moving cross country, follow these top landscaping tips to help sell your home in no time.
Here are ten landscaping tips to sell your home fast
1. Keep Up Your Lawn
Upkeeping your lawn is one of the best things you can do if you sell your home. It helps boost curb appeal even in the fall. A good lawn is affordable, and it will cost you almost nothing to sell your home quickly.
A well-cared-for lawn is one of the first things a potential buyer will notice when they pull up to your home. While lawn perfection is almost impossible, keeping your lawn green, well-cut, and weed-free will go a long way.
A home's exterior is just as important as the interior, and a lush green lawn is the first step towards creating an attractive property that will stand out in the real estate market.
With that being said, you want your lawn to fit in with the rest of your neighborhood and care for it in such a way that it will play a huge role in buyers attending an open house.
Whether you choose to take care of your lawn instead of hiring a professional landscaper, investing in a good lawn mower, keeping your lawn watered, applying fertilizer, and adding grass seed to any bare areas is important.
2. Add Lighting
Landscape lighting is a newer lawn trend that will help illuminate your yard and highlight specific features such as a walkway or an entrance. Incorporating lighting into your landscape will improve curb appeal and be an important safety feature.
Installing outdoor lighting that is professionally done or created with a design in mind can also increase property value. Not only will lighting deter possible trespassers and create a secure environment for homeowners, but it can add drama and draw the eye to specific focal points in your home.
Many outdoor lighting features are on the market and offer smart technology, solar power, and waterproof options. Coming in various shapes and sizes, many landscape light fixtures are high-end and can change color.
Dark sky-friendly lighting is also available and can help reduce light pollution. Outdoor lighting that is dark sky compliant limits the amount of blue light emitted, which tends to brighten the sky more than any other color.
3. Fresh Mulch
Adding fresh mulch to your garden beds and around your house is a great way to freshen up your landscaping while helping your garden survive summer. One annual mulching before or after the growing season per year is enough, but sometimes homeowners decide to mulch twice a year, once in the spring and again in the fall.
Many mulch varieties are available, from wood and bark chips to rubber mulch. Offering organic and inorganic options, the best way to decide which mulch type is best for your yard depends on your budget and how you want your landscaping to look.
It is often reccomended to opt for larger mulch chuncks since they will take longer to break down. While mulching can reduce yard maintenance, it does not eliminate it.
Use your hands or a shovel to place the mulch where you want it. Leave at least one inch of space between fresh mulch and the trunks of trees or the stems of plants since too much mulch can suffocate plant root systems.
The Raleigh Yard Waste Center sells compost and mulch. Here are the product prices for different types of mulch determined by cubic yard:
| Product Type | Product Price per Retail Cubic Yard |
| Compost | $30 |
| Organic Mulch | $24 |
| Leaf Mulch | $20 |
| Dyed Mulch | $30 |
| Wood Chips | $10 |
*Data Sourced from Raleigh.NC.gov.
4. Outdoor Water Features
Incorporating outdoor water features into your landscaping can be a great way to turn your yard into something special and unique. Water features are refreshing and can turn any landscape into something impressive.
Bird baths are the easiest water feature to add to your front or backyard and are generally affordable and low maintenance. Other beautiful water features that could be added include fountains, a koi pond, a small waterfall, or a pool.
If you decide to have a water feature, maintaining them is essential to their appearance. A water feature will not look good if algae growth, dead leaves, and debris are visible.
5. Plant Seasonal Colors
Planting seasonal colors is one of the best ways to make your landscape pop and stand out. Before you start thinking about planting seeds and flowers, you need to know your frost date.
In North Carolina, most flowers can be planted on or a week after the last frost date. Periennel flowers are harder to grow from seed but these plants will live more than two years. Annual plants are easier to grow from seed but will only live for one growing season.
An interesting gardening statistic is that the average household spends about $503 annually on gardening. While gardening and planting seasonal colors can add up in price, the beauty that it brings to your yard is worth it.
Incorporating different colors in your garden bed can add a variety of interest to your landscape. Cool colors such as blues, purples, and pinks will appear calming even on the hottest days. Warm red, orange, and yellow colors can excite your garden bed and look best in direct sunlight.
6. Pressure Wash Surfaces
Cleaning paved surfaces can be easily overlooked but it will go a long way especially if you are trying to sell your home fast. Whether you own a pressure washer, borrow from a friend, or rent one for the day, using a pressure washer on brick, stucco, concreate, stone, or wood surfaces can make them look brand new.
Pressure washing is a fast solution if you have a dirty driveway, front porch, back deck, patio, siding, or fence. Safe to use on hard surfaces, pressure washing is the ideal fast cleaning option and takes very little effort.
Most pressure washers can be rented from home improvement stores, including Home Depot and Lowes.
7. Prune and Trim Flower Beds
It is one thing to plant beautiful flowers in a flower bed, but it is another thing altogether to keep said flowers beautiful and thriving. All plants should be regularly trimmed and pruned to encourage growth and keep them looking their best.
Pruning is the process of removing any dead, damaged, or diseased part of the plant. The best time to prune a plant is in late spring, right after the plant has finished blooming. It is recommended to avoid pruning in the middle of the summer since pruning during hot temperatures can damage the plant.
By sprucing outdoor flower beds and shaping and trimming overgrown trees, you are showing potential homebuyers that your home is in the best shape possible. It is okay to trim trees and shrubs that shed their leaves annually at any time of the year.
8. Edge the Driveway
If you want to create a clean and well-maintained look for your yard, then consider edging your driveway. Edging and borders along your driveway clearly separate your driveway and any natural landscaping elements, such as a lawn or garden bed.
Not only is edging aesthetically pleasing, but it can also help with the upkeep of the property. Creating a defined look, edging can prevent weeds or grass from overgrowing onto the driveway and keep any gravel or debris from spilling onto the lawn.
Multiple driveway edging options are available: plastic edging, concrete, metal edging, brick, stone pavers, cobblestone, wood, or even hedging. Concrete blocks and natural stone pavers are the most popular types of edging that homeowners prefer.
9. Fruit Trees
Consider planting fruit trees in your yard to boost curb appeal and improve landscaping. While having a fruit tree on your property might not specifically raise the value of your home, it may help attract specific homebuyers who would enjoy having access to fresh fruit.
Well-landscaped yards with mature trees and large shrubs tend to sell more quickly than homes that do not since mature trees offer more privacy. Healthy and mature could be considered a premium and add value.
The best fruit and nut trees in Central North Carolina that grow the best include apples, pears, figs, chestnuts, pecans, and persimmons.
10. Fire Pit
Fire pits are a fun landscaping feature that can improve and elevate your outdoor space. Adding a fire pit in your backyard will provide warmth, a cozy ambiance, and beauty.
Fire pits are a landscaping feature that will never go out of style, and when done right, they will increase resale value. If you want to create a fun and exciting outdoor oasis, then a fire pit might just be your answer.
Considered a fun patio project, fire pits range in price and size and have either smokeless gas or wood-burning options. Building a fire pit can be a relatively affordable DIY project, depending on the materials used.
Before building a firepit or hiring a professional to do it for you, make sure to check with your HOA. Portable outdoor fireplaces should be at least 15 feet from a structure or combustible material.
Methodology
We used reliable data and information from multiple sources, including Dark Sky International, CaryNC.gov, NCSU, Almanac, Lowes Home Improvement, and The Home Depot, to determine the best landscaping tips to help sell your home fast.
FAQs
How does landscaping increase home value?
Well-maintained landscaping of a home can increase the value of a property by 15 to 20% on average since it can make a home more upscale and high-quality.
How important is landscaping when selling a home?
Landscaping is one of the best ways to make your home more attractive to potential buyers and can help create a positive first impression, which can lead to a sale.
What landscaping adds the most value?
The landscaping projects that add the most value to your home are outdoor kitchens, patios, decks, swimming pools, fire pits, and pergolas.
Landscaping Tips To Help Sell Your Home Fast - Final Thoughts
There are many ways to boost your curb appeal and interest to your home. The first step to improving your landscape is to have a plan and a budget. Homeowners do not have to spend their entire paycheck on landscaping projects, but regularly maintaining your lawn and planting seasonal color will go a long way once you put your home up for sale.
If you are moving to Raleigh and are ready to find your dream home, contact the experts at Raleigh Realty. We are here to help and answer any questions.
