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Landscaping: Does it Help or Hurt?

Landscape renovations and property value; some people see this as a toxic combination. There are online articles written all the time describing the best types  home improvements to make, such as kitchen and bathroom remodels, in order to raise your property’s value. Typically, the author describes how landscape improvements are the biggest waste of money, return the smallest investment dollar for dollar, and can even decrease a property’s value. Then they’ll usually put in a small footnote or quickly mentioned, without elaborating, that the reason behind this is that sometimes new landscape designs/styles doesn’t appeal to potential buyers. Now if you take that into consideration, then ANY home improvement could be a waste of money and could drag down your property’s value. You could install an unappealing and downright unusable kitchen or bathroom and the value of your home could suffer and you just flushed money down the drain.

The Scenario

Now that we got that out of the way, take yourself out of this speculative cycle of thinking and into the real world; image you’re touring open houses in an effort to purchase a new home. Let’s level the playing field with thie scenario. If you drove down the street and passed two almost identical homes for sale, with the ONLY difference being that one has a lush and appealing landscape with a stamped concrete driveway, while the other is a wasteland of weeds, diseased trees, and a broken asphalt driveway, which one would you be more attracted to and more likely to buy? We’re talking about identical homes, inside and out, with the exception of the landscape. 99.9% of the human population would lean more towards the first one, but what about price? It would be a safe bet to assume that the first one is also worth more.

The Facts

So what are the facts about landscape renovations and property value?

• Truthfully, like many other renovations, if done right it can add tens of thousands of dollars to your property’s value. It’s also the ONLY improvement you can make that not only adds value immediately, but also increases in value as the years go on. Any other renovation has the high potential to go out of style in the future.
• Remember that scenario you just read above? Well here are the facts behind it. Research by Virginia tech horticulturist, Alex X. Niemiera, concluded that a well-landscaped home had a significant price advantage over a home with no landscaping, with a price difference ranging from 5.5%-12.7%. That translates into an extra $16,500 to $38,100 in value on a $300,000 home.
• Niemiera’s research also discovered that the number one thing buyers want in their landscape is a sophisticated design with a diversity of plant life. Landscapes that had a well thought out plan had a higher value than those that didn’t, even if they cost the same to install.
• According to Tony Giacalone, real estate contributor for the Boston Globe, well cared for mature landscapes signal to potential buyers that a home is well cared for and therefore more desirable.

So what’s the takeaway from all of this? A well designed landscape matters and it will add significant value to your home.