When you want to increase your home’s value, the outside of your home is just as important as the interior. Smart homeowners think of landscaping as a long-term investment. According to the Appraisal Institute, quality landscaping increases a home’s value and helps the property sell faster. Read on for five tips for improving your home’s value with the art of landscaping.
1. Keep your landscaping simple. An ornate, elaborate garden installation may look beautiful to you, but to a potential buyer, it could look too busy and overwhelming. You don’t want your landscaping to be so personalized to your style that the next buyer will have to make a big investment to change it. Take a more minimalist approach so that your yard looks maintained but not wild. Fill in empty space with a few shrubs and make sure there’s a balance in the plants you choose. Additionally, you’ll want to choose plants that look good year-round. For example, your evergreens will look great during the wintertime and your cherry trees will look beautiful when the warmer weather comes in.
2. Keep your yard and garden trim. If you can’t keep up with the growth and maintenance yourself, hire a professional landscaper or gardener to tend to it. Pros know the ins and outs of landscaping, like how Toro ride on mowers are second to none and which farm machinery or farm supplies to use. You’ll need to make sure that the plants don’t create any obstructions or get overgrown. Your plants should never block doorways or windows, or cause obstructions on walkways. Additionally, any large, old trees that could wreak havoc during a storm should be removed. If any of your trees or plants are dying, replace them right away. 
3. Landscaping is about more than having a pretty lawn. Your landscaping options can be functional, too. Think about the things that would make life easier and safer. You may need extra lighting so that pathways are illuminated at night. You may want to make more convenient passageways between indoor and outdoor areas. You could also have a designer come up with ways to add more privacy or shade. If you have a backyard that’s perfect for entertaining, consider redoing your patio and having a fireplace or outdoor oven installed. When you have a usable patio, your home will appear bigger because there’s more living space. 
4. Don’t design so much of your yard in better gardens landscaping style that there isn’t a blank patch of grass. Families with children want to know that their kids will have space to run around and play catch. If you have a small yard, keep a majority of it free for a play area and add some plants to the rim or a small, low maintenance garden. You can amp up the appeal of even a blank square of grass by making sure it’s cared for, healthy and green. 
5. Start now instead of waiting until later. Even if you don’t plan on selling your home until your kids grow up, maintinaning your yard and home’s exterior now will make a good impression in the future. Plants and trees can take a long time to mature. Years down the road, it will be obvious to buyers that you’ve put time and effort into caring for your home throughout the years. This shows buyers that you’ve taken care of the home and that the inside of the home is probably just as well-kept.
When you invest in landscaping, you increase curb appeal, which is important for buyers who want to look at your home from afar. You also help your house standout from the others in the neighborhood. Landscaping can be both aesthetically pleasing and functional, especially in the backyard. A landscaped home means the buyer has to make fewer renovations, too.
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