Does a curb appeal add to the overall value of your house? The answer is quite simple, Yes. Does it improve your bargaining power at the negotiating table? The value of an attractive landscape to a home’s value is estimated to about 15 percent. Recent research conducted through a seven-state survey of attendees of consumer home and garden shows to determine the consumer’s perspective on how type, design, plant-size and design sophistication in a landscape affect the perceived value of a home.
Here is the Survey
Participants were shown a photo of a newly built suburban house with only a lawn and concreter pathway. They were later shown another set of 16 photos of the same house with different plant sizes and types, as well as level of design sophistication. The plant sizes used were small, medium or large based on available sizes of plant types. Either you are planning to sell your house fast in Lubbock, sell a house in El Paso or you are selling in Denver, Colorado, this would be a valuable information.
The various design sophistication level:
- Foundation planting with adjoining beds and two or three large island plantings, all incorportating curved bed lines.
- Foundation planting only
- Foundation planting with one large, oblong island planting and one or two single specimen trees in the lawn
Plant types were:
- Evergreen only
- Evergreen and deciduous plants
- Evergreen and deciduous plants with 20 percent of the visual area of the landscape beds planted in annual or perennial color
- Evergreen and deciduous plants, 20 percent annual or perennial color, and a colored brick sidewalk entrance.
The survey participants analyzed the sophistication and ranked them. The design sophistication was ranked the most, plant size came next in importance and diversity of plant type the least important. The best landscape included a sophisticated design with large deciduous, evergreen and annual color plants and colored landscape. You could as well make the curb look cool for a family by putting some safe toys for children to play on the curb.
According to HomebuyersNH.com working on your curb appeal can add an awesome value to the price of the house you want to sell, and make you more confident at the negotiation table.
