After 5 years of hauling sod from Home Depot and planting seeds, and still harboring a mud pit (having a Labrador doesn’t help), I gave up and finally hired a professional to pave my yard. My reaction, the first time I saw it paved was: “Wow, I didn’t realize that my yard is this big.” I spent about $2000 to pave a 400sq ft yard with two-tone pavers, plant climbing ivy to cover the back wall and plant two magnolia bushes. This improvement has just increased the value of my home. The potential buyer will now recognize that my city duplex comes with great outdoor space for entertaining and relaxation, instead of my lab’s paradise mud pit.
As the housing market continues to weaken sellers are starting to make improvements outside the house to give their home a nice curb appeal. Just like the interior of a home, a nicely landscaped property can have a profound effect on the asking price. Yards tend to be overlooked in appraisals. Appraisers assign a certain dollar amount to the value of landscaping in a certain neighborhood and then apply that number to each house in the neighborhood. That means that homes where owners have spent thousands of dollars on their landscaping are judged the same as those with withering trees and skimpy shrubs. Appraisal companies are starting to create a program that will assess the value of a yard to determine the real value of a home.
There is a high value in mature trees and bushes, as well as rare and exotic plants. Reviews of appraisals and sales data reveal that a lot with trees adds about 7 percent to a single family home’s price. According to a new study by the National Association of Realtors, nearly 20 percent of buyers say they consider landscaping to be a “very important” factor in their decision to buy a house.
A guide for appraising plants has been established by the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers, but the guide is still subject to expert opinion. Homeowners who need a professional opinion for insurance, tax or home sale marketing, typically turn to an arborist or other landscape expert. Still, not all specialists are uniformly trained, and there still isn’t unanimity of opinion or law as how to judge the value of a plant. Some experts use size, trunk diameter and condition to determine the value of planting. Others figure the cost to replace it with the same or similar nursery specimen. The Horticultural Asset Management of Raleigh, N.C. assesses the value of trees as they are growing. Their appraisal of a yard notes the condition of each plant and what it will be worth in five years.
A maintained yard sets the tone of how the buyer sees the overall potential of a property. A well kept house will sell quicker and closer to asking price regardless of market conditions. So, put your gardener gear on and start weeding and for those like me, who have no clue about gardening, hire a pro.
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