Landscaping Tips to Sell Your Home

When selling your house, the outside of your home is the first thing potential buyers will see. First impressions do count...a LOT! So, keep this in mind when it comes time to put your home on the market.

Many home sellers focus their efforts and energy largely on the inside of the property. It is extremely important that the inside of the house looks just right, but this is not a time to overlook the first impression your home makes from the street. Those potential buyers have to get out of the car and come inside your house to be able to see the inviting home interior you created. But if your house practically scream "Run! And keep going!", from the outside, very few buyers will actually get to see the inside of your house at all.

The outside is the bait

There are a few simple things you can do as a home seller, to make your house more appealing, at a glance. If your potential buyers get a good feeling on their way into your house, they're much more likely to also like what they see once they get inside the home.

Lawns and selling a house

The first step, in preparing the garden for sale, is the grass, or lawn. If you have a lawn, great! Just mow the lawn neatly and trim the edges. Mowing the lawn a short while before the buyers arrive to view your house can be a very good idea. The smell of freshly cut grass can be pleasant, and suggests that your house has a well-cared-for garden.

If you do have grass, but it leaves a lot to be desired you can still make a good impression by keeping it neatly trimmed. So, if you have more weeds than actual grass, mow! At least your weeds will be neatly cut weeds, which look a lot like grass. A weed lawn is not the ideal, but it's better than nothing.

If your lawn is in very bad shape, with bare patches, invest in some grass seed. Just remember that grass seed takes time to grow (and water and fertilizer). So, don't leave sowing grass seed too late! Put out fast-growing grass seed, string off the area, and let your potential buyers know that you've made the first step towards giving the house a nice green lawn.

Instant lawn would make the ultimate impression, but most home sellers are reluctant to put down the cash this requires. And there's no guarantee that your expensive instant lawn will grow anyhow. Many instant lawns go through a period when it turns yellow and unattractive, a short while after being installed. And that might look even worse than your Apache lawn (a patchy here and a patchy there). But if your instant lawn is cared for correctly, your house can boast the best lawn on your street.

Shrubs for sale

Shrubbery is another inexpensive and important factor for homes on the market. The funny thing is that you can achieve a very inviting effect with potted shrubs and plants. Potted plants are not fixtures to the property, so you may move with all your potted plants, if the buyers don't include them in the contract of sale for the house.

Bushes planted at the end of a walkway can frame the entrance into a yard. So, if your walkway is bare, consider a bush on either side of it.

It is all about the potential of the house

A few blooming flowers from your local nursery will also help. Don't worry if they look freshly planted. You don't need to fool people into thinking they've been there forever. You are just aiming to show the potential of your garden and home, and that you've made some good effort.

Remember: I said "potential". Don't fall into the trap of doing too much! One of the worst things a home seller can do is to over-landscape their garden. You don't want to give potential buyers a crowded impression, or create a high maintenance paradise. Open space is okay. A neat and open garden will allow your potential buyers to imagine how they would design the area, once they own the house.

Your potential buyers might have children or dogs, and want an open space in the garden for them to play and frolic. So, keep the garden design loose and generic, and don't spend too much time or money on landscaping to sell.