Your smartest home investment
If you’re thinking of selling your home in 2015,
then there’s one space you need to invest in.
If you’re thinking of selling your home next year, then undoubtedly you’ll be thinking about what small improvements you can make that deliver the biggest return. At some point during this stage, you will look at your garden. Having a well-kept garden will not only help when it comes time to sell your home but can also give you a healthy 88% return on your investment.
But before you dust the mower off, pause. With a little bit of thought you can achieve much more.
The majority of us when thinking of making renovations to our home before it goes on the market, simply view the garden as an area that should be mowed and if we can be bothered, weeded. This is not realizing its full potential.
View your garden as an extension to the house, an extra room, albeit without ceiling and walls. This way you’ll start to see how you can really achieve a substantial return on any investment.
The key is looking at this space and thinking how can it be redefined so that it harmonizes with the home and can be used, not simply during the dry summer months, but throughout the year, night and day.
For instance, if you have glass bi-folding doors, which open directly onto a patio space, then you’re simply stepping into another space. This also has the effect of visually drawing this external area into the home. And don’t imagine that this will go unnoticed by potential buyers. Like you, they will see this as an additional room, an extension if you will, and accordingly will factor this in when they’re making an offer.
Also consider who will be potentially buying your home. If it has two bedrooms, then it might well be that your property will be sought after by a couple. In which case they may be looking for a garden that is easy to maintain yet feels chic and sophisticated. In which case you might consider creating a space for outside dinning with a small herb garden. An oasis of tranquility for foodies.
If you have four bedrooms, then your home may appeal to a family, in which case they may be looking to generate as much space as possible. Especially when you know that in a Lloyds TSB Insurance survey, 22% of homes had a trampoline in their garden. But don’t forget Mum and Dad. So if you can design an area that becomes theirs and not the kids, then they’ll appreciate that.
Ensuring that potential buyers fall in love with your home and therefore compete for it, is the whole reason for undergoing this process.
And don’t think that this has to be an expensive or time-consuming. It isn’t. It’s simply a matter of taking your time, planning everything through, and if you don’t feel that you can manage it yourself, drawing on the experience and knowledge of local professionals.
According to Jonathan Haward from County Homesearch, having a nice garden will always attract interest and could add up to 20% to a home's value. The only problem you may face, is that you fall in love with your new garden and don’t want to move.