The other day while having lunch with a friend, Jacie, who also happens to be a realtor, the topic of gardens came up. We all know that a great garden sells your home, but as someone that knows how personal a garden is I was curious to know:
What makes a great garden in the eyes of another?
Whether we like it or not, when we sell our homes, the precious garden that we cultivated goes on display with it. Our stories, our lives, and all that the garden tells about us is conferred in the story of the home to the eyes of those that may or may not put their hard won money down. Here’s what Jacie has to say about what she’s noticed helps make the sale.
Make everything neat and tidy
Award winning landscape by Botanical Decorators.
The first thing everyone looks at is the quality of the maintenance and repair. They won’t overlook major things, like irrigation issues either. A buyer can tell at a glance if the area regularly floods by the amount of grass that is missing and how much mud is showing. This is followed by the smaller touches, like the condition of your containers.
Cleaning up any clutter and water features, doing basic repairs, and touching up any exterior paint areas that may be flaking will go a long way to helping sell the house. These actions help raise the curb appeal of the property as the potential buyers walk up the drive. Follow this up by making sure all trees and bushes are neatly pruned and trimmed, and that the grass is recently cut. This will help sell the illusion of effortlessness in the maintenance and upkeep, thus their eyes will be focused on other ideas, like how they can fit grill set on the patio or the swing on the front porch.
Make good use of the space.
We all know the fundamental truth about living any where: while you live in a home things accumulate. We all do it by bringing home a knick-knack here, a little something for the patio there. Eventually, our clutter starts to get comfortable to us. However, to a buyer, the clutter isn’t appealing and it prevents them from using their imagination on what they could do with the space.
To do this, step back and take an objective look at your place from the perspective of a buyer. If you were looking to buy this property, what would you make of it? As a standard recommendation to appeal to the broadest range of buyers, we recommend that clients take out most of the yard art, the extra seating arrangements if you entertain, any containers that aren’t being used in your landscape scheme, and anything else that doesn’t seem to really belong. The reason is that most buyers are looking for a showpiece when they go to purchase, even if that’s not what it will look like after they move in. It helps them to visualise how the space can be used and make them think of it as more luxurious and high class than they currently live.
Include touches of your personality and those of the community.
As a complete contradiction to the advice above, it’s also wise to live in a few pieces that showcase your personality and that of the neighbourhood. It shows the buyer what they can expect once they move in. Tiki torches, for instance, speak of fun outdoor activities, while low lying solar powered lights may speak of more laid back evenings ahead.
Use of landscaping story design to tease their imagination.
Everyone dreams of a living in a great house with gorgeous landscaping. If you’ve got a while to cultivate your look, take into consideration the design elements of colour, texture, line, and form to appeal to the imagination and work with the architecture of the house. For example, if your home is a French style, you might want to add a few elements of French style landscaping to complete the look. The goal is to make it warm and inviting, cohesive to the whole picture, yet neutral to as many people as possible.