Pre-Sale Gardening and Landscaping Tips

Building off our recent blog on curb appeal, where we provided some basic tips for getting a home ready for sale, we’d like to offer some landscaping and gardening tips that can help enhance the outdoor beauty of your home, because gardens as they say are the stars of heaven.

According to HGTV, “Potential home buyers form their first impression of a home from its curb appeal. Yet often a home’s outdoor landscaping is overlooked, or underdone, in the preparation for the sales process. An attractive and well-maintained landscape can add as much as 10 percent to the value of your home. Ideally the time to get started cleaning up your yard is about a month before you plan on showing your house.” 

Add a splash of color.

You want your home to look perfectly composed and appealing so it presents well in person and in pictures. Colorful flowers can go a long way to achieving that goal.

HGTV recommends using seasonal colors, which make “the landscape pop as well, and flats of annuals are also relatively inexpensive. Go for a splash of several colors or a more monochromatic scheme, whatever fits in with the look of your home.”

While planting a flower garden in the Northeast United States can be challenging, there are many perennials that can thrive in our environment. Check out some recommendations here.

Seven Oaks is a great example of how to use colorful flowers to enhance a property.

Mulch matters.

A little mulch can go a long way. “Nothing spruces up a place like a new application of mulch, so apply a fresh layer in all your garden beds. The color enhances the contrast of the surrounding plants and makes everything pop. What’s more, mulch is relatively cheap and easy to apply,” HGTV suggests.

Applying mulch offsets the rest of the lawn, as at River Hill.

Set the spotlight.

How your home presents at night can be a key selling point. Even if potential buyers don’t visit while it is dark, photos can give them a sense of the lifestyle offered so they can picture family gatherings in the summer or outdoor barbeques in the moonlight. Proper outdoor lighting is essential for this.

Houselogic says that outdoor lighting regularly tops the National Association of Home Builders’ “list of most wanted outdoor features in its annual ‘What Home Buyers Really Want’ survey: 41% rate it ‘essential;’ 49% say it’s ‘desirable.’”

Have a great outdoor entertainment area like 617 North Broadway? Then make sure your outdoor lighting shines a light on it in the evening.

Keep it clean.

A home needs to be as neat outside as it is inside. After all, you need to pass through the front door before you can ever see the interiors. We recommend keeping gardens and shrubbery tidy and giving the home a good powerwashing, at a minimum.

“Regardless of the season, it’s a good idea to tackle any overlooked pruning chores because nothing says neglect like a bunch of dead branches….Consider buying or renting a power washer to clean paved surfaces. With very little time or effort, you can make grungy, grimy surfaces look brand-spanking new. Power washers also do a great job of cleaning fences, as well as brick and vinyl siding,” HGTV recommends.

6 Legends Boulevard showcases the power of neat and tidy landscaping.