Selling your house? Improve your backyard.

Selling your house? Improve your backyard.

To ensure you get the best possible price you get for your house, do the following simple improvements for your backyard.

Define your lawn

The least you can do is mow and edge your lawn. Edging your lawn makes a garden (or yard) look restrained and tamed, which gives it the appearance of lower maintenance – a popular selling point. Creating an edge is easy and can be as simple as using a sharp spade to cut a neat separation between your lawn and garden bed, path or fence. Alternatively, you can use a physical barrier such as timber, steel, brick or stone. Weeding and mulching your plant beds will help your garden appear low-maintenance and well kept. Avoid mulches that are too “out there”, such as dyed woodchip as these can put off home buyers.

mower

Plant your worries away

Address your property’s shortfalls such as overlooking neighbours or busy roads by planting-out your gardens. While the plants may not initially create a full visual barrier, or any real sound improvement, the perceived improvement from a buyer’s point of view will be worth it. Talk to your local garden centre about your garden’s particular environment (shade, light, soil and proximity to the coast). And remember, if you are selling, your nursery can order in mature hedging for an immediate result. Minimising the number of plant species in your garden will make your garden appear easier to maintain and give it a more uniform look. However, don’t be too dogmatic about restricting your choices. In general, Carroll encourages some plant diversity as it encourages biodiversity, is good for the local ecology, reduces pest impact, extends flowering times and generally looks more interesting!

Gardening

Paint your backyard alive

If your porch, front doorway or even the interior of your home is looking a little worse for wear, adding a new, fresh coat of paint can work wonders for revitalizing it, cleaning it up, and making your home appear newer and well maintained. So spend the money on a few cans of paint if any of these areas look weathered and worn. And if you have any rooms with bold colours, opt for some neutral tones instead.

New Fence/Deck

When the fence around your home is rotten and weathered, make the effort to install a new one. Since it’s also located in plain sight, it can have a drastic impact on those first and last impressions. These days, there are a variety of fence options you can choose from. Whether it’s a wood fence, PVC fence (vinyl fence) or ornamental iron fence – a newly installed fence will wow potential buyers and improve your resale value as well.