Is your yard sabotaging your sale?

Good landscaping can provide more bang for your buck than almost any other home improvement ... Make sure you do it right!

What you should and shouldn't do in your landscape:

One pot of pretty flowers by the front door isn't going to do it for most discriminating buyers.

Here's a look at the top landscaping turnoffs for buyers and what homeowners can do to make sure their landscaping efforts enhance, rather than detract from the value of their home.

1.Old grown up landscaping

Rounded junipers, squared-off boxwood and holly bushes, and topiary shrubs scream that the house is a throwback to the 1960s and '70s, agents say. People now want their landscaping to look natural, with more native plants and interesting, varied foliage. Big pine trees and other evergreens planted decades ago also can be a turnoff to buyers. These trees can get too big and must be continually hacked off at the top (a bad look) or taken out entirely to avoid roofs and power lines.

2. Too many garden figurines and lawn ornaments

It should go without saying, but put the lawn ornaments away. Other buyers may not share your love of lawn globes, gnomes and plastic deer. The same rules for depersonalizing and de-cluttering inside your home apply to the outside, as well.

3. High-maintenance yards

While many buyers fancy themselves green-thumb gardeners, few want to invest serious time in pruning, spraying, mowing and fertilizing. Beds of non-disease-resistant plants such as hybrid tea roses can eat up a buyer's weekends with pruning and applying fungicide. People don't want to see work when they look at your home. Rock gardens can provide ease of maintanance and also help your load when you are trying to keep everything in top shape

5. Invasive and noxious plants

Some plants send up a red flag with many knowledgeable buyers because they are so invasive. High on the list are ficus trees, especially those planted too close to a driveway, house or patio. The fast-growing, shallow roots of the ficus crack pavement and can wreak havoc on foundations. Similarly, ivy and other vines can proliferate too quickly, posing a danger to other plants, as well as to windows and roofs. They also can attract bugs to the house.  

6. Too much green?

Many people are asking for smaller expanses of grass so they spend less time pushing the lawn mower and running the sprinkler. Again this goes back to too high of maintenance.   

And just as important, consider the landscaping in relation to the house.  Since most of the people looking at the house had families and pets, it took a long time to sell. 

With a few of these tips, it should be easy to sell your home starting from the outside in. And always feel free to inquire with your agent at Veteran Realty Services for any questions on selling your Everett Real Estate.