These Eight Landscaping Solutions Will Lower the Cost of Your Home
Landscaping is a powerful thing . Not only will a beautifully designed yard be a sanctuary for your family, but the right landscaping choices can increase the value of your home by as much as 30% . That’s because well-designed and maintained outdoor spaces allow people to imagine enjoying the property and signal that the entire place is well-cared for.
Unfortunately, poor landscaping decisions—even if they’re expensive and well-maintained—can actually reduce the value of your home by the same amount . If you’re ever planning to sell your home or access its equity, you may want to reconsider either of these options to avoid losing some of your property’s value.
Too many trees.
Trees generally add value to a property. In addition to their natural beauty, they also provide shade and a sense of stability to the yard. But too many trees can negatively impact the aesthetics of your outdoor space, as well as the value of your property:
-
Blocking Sunlight: Too many trees planted close together can make your yard look dark and gloomy.
-
Dead Lawn: This lack of sunlight can also overwhelm everything else in your yard, leaving the ground bare.
-
Costs: Every tree requires maintenance and (eventually) removal, so the sight of a forest growing in the open space around a home will quietly lower the price they’re willing to pay for it, imagining future arborist bills.
Additionally, if trees are planted close to the home, the likelihood of damage to the roof and siding will also reduce the perceived value of the property.
Overwhelming hardscape
Landscaping serves a specific function in a well-designed outdoor space: it provides barefoot walking paths, clearly delineates distinct areas of the yard, and offers design opportunities.
But turning your entire outdoor space into a concrete or paved jungle will lower your property value, as potential buyers often see hardscaping as impersonal. It’s also much harder to change and personalize than a more natural approach, and the lack of earth cover or natural shelter can turn that rock into a frying pan in the hot months.
Lack of light
Too many trees can make your space feel gloomy during the day, but not enough lighting can make your space feel uninviting at night. While you don’t want your outdoor space to be lit up like a football stadium, soft, well-placed lighting that’s brighter around the patio, deck, or pool area and dimmer further away makes the space feel homey, comfortable, and safe.
Poor lighting also means that no one will be able to enjoy your landscape at night because they won’t be able to see it. Using light to highlight features, mark paths, and define spaces will make your landscape more useful while maintaining property value.
Aggressive plants
When people value your home, they look at a number of factors. One is how many problems it may have in the future. An old, mossy roof may not leak now, but people will quietly subtract a large amount of money from the value of the house to cover the expected cost of replacing it.
Likewise, everything in your landscape design is a potential expense waiting to happen, and nothing is more worrisome than aggressive , invasive plants like creeping ivy or bamboo. These plants spread quickly, which can give an outdoor space a quick sense of lushness. But they are also difficult to control or stop, and can quickly turn a carefully designed garden into an overgrown mess.
And a house slowly being covered in vines is probably also slowly being destroyed by those vines. You may like the view, but all that ivy will make your house less valuable.
Water bodies
Water features like ponds , bird baths, and fountains can attract wildlife, mask road noise, and add a peaceful atmosphere to your outdoor space. They can also become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other pests, algae, and bacteria, turning into stinky messes over time. Plus, fountains and other motorized features can break down—and there’s nothing less attractive than a broken, rusty water feature that no longer pumps water.
As with other outdoor features (or swimming pools , for that matter), water features might also have flags announcing the costs of their maintenance, and all of these costs make potential buyers think twice about the value of your property. If the hassle of maintaining these water features outweighs the joy and beauty they bring to the space, the value of your home will decrease as a result.
Statues
A quirky gnome or other figurine can be a fun addition to a well-designed outdoor space. An army of them, or a motley collection of odd (and badly weathered) statues, will make your yard look like it’s being used by a hoarder. Too many outdoor decorations of any kind (gazebo globes, bird baths, dream catchers, wind chimes, etc.) will make your outdoor space look cluttered and untidy — even if it’s otherwise tasteful and in great shape.
Large lawns
A vast ocean of grass, sun-drenched and windswept, may seem like the perfect way to enjoy your property. Until you have to mow it. And water it. And weed it. And hunt critters in it. In other words, a huge stretch of untouched lawn requires a lot of maintenance, and fewer people will want to do it, which will lower the value of the property.
Large lawns also raise questions like: What is it for? An open space with no defined areas can be a blank canvas, which is great if potential buyers are looking for a blank canvas. Otherwise, it can look like a huge yard that they’ll only spend time in when mowing and weeding, which doesn’t exactly add value to your home.
Lack of paths
A beautiful outdoor space should also be usable, and a key aspect of its usability is the ability to easily walk and access different areas. Having to put on hiking boots and socks just to walk up to a stately tree for a nap or to tend to a bed of wild flowers is no fun. Having a few simple but clearly marked walking paths that allow you to get to and from different areas of your yard is a key aspect of its perceived value – people only attach value to things they can actually (and easily) use.
Paths also serve to delineate spaces in outdoor areas and ensure that paths are dry after a rainstorm so you don’t have to trudge through mud – both of which help make your landscaping look thoughtful and sophisticated rather than chaotic.