Landscaping for Curb Appeal - A Must for Home Sellers

Earlier today, I drove into my neighborhood and passed a home for sale. It had a sign in the front yard that said “Priced to Sell.” I wanted to get a sharpie and write “Landscaped to Linger” underneath the headline. Why? Because the home has been sitting on the market for months, and I have not seen a single buyer look at it.

There are two problems with this home, from a selling standpoint. Anyone planning to sell a home can learn from the mistakes of this homeowner. Here’s why this house has been on the market for so long:

1. The front yard landscaping is atrocious. There is no curb appeal to speak of.
2. The home is overpriced relative to other (and better) homes for sale in the neighborhood.

When I drove by the place earlier today, I was appalled by the lack of landscaping appeal. Forget about curb appeal … this house had curb repel…

The front lawn had Bermuda grass, which can be really attractive when it’s healthy. But it was clear nobody had been watering the lawn, or doing anything else to maintain it for that matter. The front yard was a 50/50 mixture of weeds and grass, and the weeds stood out from 50 yards away because they were so tall. Some areas of the lawn had such a thatch layer that it looked like a brown welcome mat, instead of grass. A flower bed had been overrun by weeds and grass, completely obscuring whatever flowers might be in it.

The Importance of Curb Appeal

Some sellers think that curb appeal is just window dressing — something to make the house look pretty. In reality, curb appeal (or the lack of it) goes much deeper than this. When a potential buyer pulls up to the house I mentioned above, what do you think goes through their minds? They are probably thinking two things:

1. “Boy, I sure do have a lot of work ahead of me.”
2. “These people obviously don’t care about their home.”

Either one of these first impressions is enough to turn buyers away. But it’s the second item that does the most harm. If somebody visits a house with such a terrible landscaping presentation, they get the impression the homeowner doesn’t care about the home. The next thought that goes through their mind is: “Well, I wonder what else is wrong with this place!”

This is the last thing you want a buyer to be thinking when he or she enters your home. They will take this negativity inside the home with them as well. And when that happens, your chances of making a sale will plummet.

Landscaping the Front Yard to Sell

As a self-taught landscaping geek, I have a plan of attack for the people up the street. Of course, they probably wouldn’t lift a finger to implement these suggestions — so I’ll just share them with you, for your benefit. Here’s what I would do to transform the front yard of said house, in order to increase the likelihood of a sale.

• I would get a flexible rake and start raking the thatch out of the lawn. Bermuda grass is notorious for building up thatch, and it accumulates at the base of the grass. Eventually, it turns into a blanket of disease and decay — and it will destroy a lawn if left unchecked.
• After raking out the thatch, I would treat the lawn with a weed-and-feed type of fertilizer. Personally, I don’t use chemical fertilizers on my lawn. But these people need the “big guns” in order to turn their lawn around as quickly as possible.
• I would water the fertilizer in well, putting at least an inch of water on the lawn. I would then water the lawn every four days while the house was on the market.
• While the yard was greening up (slowly but surely), I would move on to the flower beds. I would pull all of the weeds and rake out any dead foliage on the ground.
• If the plants underneath the weeds were keepers, I would leave them alone. Otherwise, I’d make a trip to the local nursery to pick out three of the same plant. Three is a good number for landscaping design.
• Next, I would add a fresh layer of mulch to all of the beds. If the new plants were dark in color, I would choose a lighter mulch for contrast. If I had light-colored plants, I would go with a darker mulch. This makes the plants “pop” better.
• I would trim all of the bushes / shrubs to make sure they were well defined, and to ensure they weren’t blocking any windows.
• Speaking of windows, I would clean them inside and out until they sparkled.
• A few accent plants (potted) on the porch and sidewalk, and I would be just about done.

Important Note: Of all the items on this list, the lawn will take the longest. You can’t turn grass around overnight, or even in a week. It will take several weeks to improve it. But the results are worth the time and effort. A healthy lawn is the fundamental building block for curb appeal, so get on it ASAP.

If you don’t have time for this kind of work when selling your home, you can also hire a local landscape company to help you. You can find landscaping companies online these days, so it’s easy to get quotes for such a project. And it’s worth the cost.

I hope this article helps you landscape your way to better curb appeal — and a quicker sale. Good luck!

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