House hunters usually decide if they like a house in about 15 seconds. What can they see in 10 or 15 seconds? The house, the lawn, flowerbeds, trees, and fences.Yards with a run-down look, poor maintenance, and a poorly kept garden. Curb appeal can make or break a home sale in 10 seconds.
Or potential buyers start reducing their offer. Knotweed infestation–deduct 10%. A messy lawn costs you 1% – 2% of the asking price. Large water features can cost you up to $10,000.00. Here are other garden features that cost you money.
Artificial Grass
Artificial grass seems like a good idea to keep your lawn green without mowing. Much of it looks fake and worn after a few years. You are probably looking at a 5% reduction in your selling price if you have artificial grass.
Swimming Pools and Hot Tubs
Maintenance costs for a swimming pool can be over $3000.00 per year. Having a swimming pool reduces your potential customer base because not everyone wants one. Or is willing to pay the upkeep. Many people look at swimming pools as a waste of yard or gardening space.
Outdated Garden Decorations and Ornaments
Not everyone likes garden gnomes. Having a garden filled with gnomes and dated garden ornaments often detracts from the peace of a backyard. Replacing outdated garden furniture can cost over $4000.00. You can be sure the buyer will deduct it from the offer. The furniture doesn’t even have to be outdated. Chipped paint, torn or faded cushions, and out-of-control weeds growing around them turn off customers.
Broken Or Run-Down Fence
Fences aren’t cheap. A potential buyer will deduct around $1000.00 from the offer just to replace a few broken boards or a small section of fence. Replacing an entire fence costs thousands of dollars and any buyer who feels the need to replace a fence will lower the offer accordingly.
A Messy Unkempt Garden
A well-kept garden increases curb appeal and can easily add two or three thousand dollars to your asking price. Messy gardens and yards, unmowed lawns, and dying flowers could reduce your asking price by one or two percent.
Built-In Trampolines
Built-in trampolines take up a lot of yard space. Like swimming pools, not everyone wants one so your potential customer base shrinks. A built-in trampoline can reduce the selling price of your home by up to 5%. You are much better off having a portable trampoline that can be disassembled to take with you or sold with the house for extra money.
Poor Drainage
Poor drainage turns yards and gardens into a soggy mess. It drowns plants and grass. A potential buyer squelching through a wet yard is not going to be impressed with the idea of paying for a drainage project or hauling in a significant amount of soil to build up the lawn and garden. Perceived drainage problems cost you money or can lose a sale completely.
Invasive Plants
Some of the worst invasive plants in your yard–like dandelions, Canada thistle, barberry, buckthorn, and English ivy–will end negotiations before they even get started. Most people are not interested in spending days or possibly weeks cleaning out invasive plants. Or hiring someone to do it. If they make an offer at all it will reflect the amount of effort and cost to clean out the yard of their new-to-them home.
Too Much Hardscaping
Like artificial grass, concrete walks, patios, rock gardens, and stone pavers reduce yard work. Hardscaping does not give potential buyers the warm comfortable feeling that soft grass, flowers, and rounded beds do. Your customers may be calculating the cost of pulling out all of the concrete and disposing of it.
