Thinking of Selling Your Home? Make Sure it is Drive-By Ready

Scientists believe that it takes only 10 seconds for you to develop an impression of another person. I believe the same is true of a property.

Home buyers frequently tell me that they’ve driven by a home for sale and “it looks amazing” or “we don’t think it’s for us”. This is even before they know how big the home is, what upgrades it might have, before they’ve seen the floorplan, the back yard, sometimes even before they know the price. Unfair or not, a home’s appeal is established well before you reach the front door. In truth, I regularly recommend that home buyers do the ‘Drive-By’.

When preparing a home to be put on the market, home sellers tend to focus on interior staging. De-cluttering is indeed an invaluable step. Rearranging furniture can make a significant difference in revealing the size of your rooms. Occasionally paint and carpeting might be advisable. But the impression your property makes when viewed from the street, probably has the biggest influence on potential home buyers. Outdoor living areas are very much a part of the home staging process.

Unkempt landscaping suggests an overall attitude of neglect. Natural thought progression would be, if the seller does not care what their neighbors can see, what must be the condition of less public spaces in the home? This may not be true at all. Perhaps you just don’t have a green thumb, or you never seem to be able to stretch your free time enough to include yard work.

In the case of a Home for Sale, now is the time to bite the bullet and employ a landscaper, at least for the limited time your home is on the market.

The emotion of home buying is a powerful thing and opinions are formed quickly. Even the little things can attract the spotlight. But maybe you’re more of a numbers person. Read on. The Appraisal Institute provides actual cost vs return data.

Landscaping Can Have Major Impact on Property Values: Appraisal Institute
By RISMedia Staff

The Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers, today advised homeowners that improving their property’s landscaping can result in a significant return on investment when selling the home.

Standard lawn care services recover 267 percent of the project cost at resale, according to the 2018 Modeling Impact Report: Outdoor Features by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). The NAR report also revealed that landscape maintenance and tree care recover 100 percent of the project cost when selling the home, and installing an irrigation system recoups 86 percent of the cost.

“A home with lackluster landscaping or an exterior in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint will likely be unappealing to prospective buyers and ultimately could affect the home’s potential resale value,” said Appraisal Institute 2020 President Jefferson L. Sherman, MAI, AI-GRS. “Appraisers can offer ideas for homeowners to enhance their homes’ landscaping and therefore to potentially boost their sales price.”

The Appraisal Institute encourages homeowners to consider these four simple landscaping improvements:

Keep the design updated and in line with comparable properties in the area.
In arid climates, install landscaping that requires little or no water to maintain.
In markets with year-round hot climates, plant trees in a place where they block the sun.
Remove weak, old or damaged trees planted too close to a home or building as they could pose dangers to the home’s structure.
Larger tree root systems that extend underneath a house can cause foundation uplift and can leech water from the soil beneath the foundation, causing the structure to settle and sink unevenly. They also can compromise an underground drainage system.
According to the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, trees that are too close to buildings also may be fire hazards.

Homeowners can learn more about how landscaping may influence property values by contacting a local designated member of the Appraisal Institute in the organization’s Find an Appraiser directory. Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2020. All rights reserved.