When renovating or preparing a house for sale, it is easy to forget about the outside areas when so much time and effort goes in to perfecting the interior look. But it pays to give some thought to what you can do to improve your front and rear gardens, especially just before you put the property on the market.
Selling a home is all about making a good impression and it is easy to spoil any good impressions your home does make by presenting it with an untidy or unattractive garden.
Here are 10 steps you can take to make sure that your garden is an asset to your home and an attractive proposition to any potential purchasers:
1 – Pay particular attention to your front garden. You are looking for curbside appeal, so that you can convert drive-by viewers into interested parties. At a minimum, make sure all your lawns are neatly cut and hedges nicely trimmed.
2 – If there is one thing that makes a garden look well-tended and cared-for, it is having neatly trimmed edges on your lawn, especially around your flower beds. If you have a lot of edges to look after, make sure you at least trim those in the front garden and any that can be easily seen from the house.
3 – Even if you have a low maintenance look with easy to care for trees and shrubs, consider adding some flowering plants if the time of year allows, especially near the front door or alongside paths leading to the front door. If you choose a limited color palette of flowers, say various shades of red or combinations of pink and white, you can create a stylish, attractive and inviting look.
4 – If you have trees or shrubs whose growth has begun to interfere with the light coming into your house, you should make sure that you prune these plants back. One of the most frequent criticisms that potential purchasers make of properties is that they lack light. Careful pruning of the plants near your house can go a long way preventing this from being a criticism that can be leveled at your home.
5 – Try to make your garden a weed free zone. Depending upon whether you have kept up with the weeding or not, this could be a big job. Even so, it is undoubtedly a job worth doing, whether you do it yourself or you pay somebody else to do it for you.
6 – Once you have cleared your garden beds of weeds cover the bare earth with mulch, or top up any existing mulch. This helps prevent renewed weed growth and provides a really neat finish.
7 – While on the subject of weeds, clear away any weeds from hard landscaped areas, for example, between paving slabs or at the base of walls and fences.
8 – If you have an extensive paved or hard landscaped areas try to soften these by adding some plants in pots or appropriate garden furniture. Where possible use aromatic plants like lavender or honeysuckle, as these can add to the attraction of a seating area.
9 – If you have paved areas in shady parts of the garden they may have become slippery or covered in mossy growth. This can be both ugly and dangerous to visitors. Make sure that you clean these areas off thoroughly. A pressure or power washer should be able to get the job done in no time at all.
10 – If you have any ponds or water features make sure that they are clean and free from weeds and algae growth. Water is undoubtedly an attractive feature in a garden, but water features can be seen as high maintenance. It is important therefore to make sure that they do not looked in need of maintenance at the time that your home is on show.
Of course, there are a lot of other factors that go into to making your home ready for sale, but if you follow the advice here, you can be sure that your garden will add to the attractiveness of your home, rather than detract from it.
About the author: Martin Cole is a garden writer and outdoor power equipment expert and the publisher of GardeningStepbyStep.com and Outdoorpowerbuddy.com .