Landscaping Tips To Help Sell Your Washington, PA Home
Landscaping Tips To Help Sell Your Washington, PA Home
When prospective buyers show up to your Washington, PA home the first thing their going to notice is your lawn and landscaping, or lack thereof. The look and feel of your property can immediately impress buyers and make them more interested in your home or turn them away entirely in search of another property.
Once you’ve decided on selling your home the last thing you usually want to do is spend more money on the property but a small investment in some key areas of your landscaping can yield very good returns and you won’t be spending a fortune either, for projects that can dramatic visual differences in your property.
Here are a few of our recommendations for lawn and landscaping tips to help sell your Washington, PA home.
#1. Weed The Lawn and Garden
Depending on the size of your property weeding the lawn and garden could take an hour or several. Gardens in Washington, PA can quickly get overrun with weeds like Dandelion, Thistle, Knapweed and more if they aren’t properly cared for or they are neglected. If you’re selling your home you don’t want the lawn and gardens to look neglected and by having all of the weeds removed your property will have a much better appearance and for little investment other than the labor.
If your lawn area is overrun with weeds then short of a whole corrective program to address your lawns health sometimes it’s faster and easier to start-over. In these cases we can remove the existing lawn using a sod cutter or another machine to expose the top layer of soil. We can then make any soil condition corrections and install a new lawn using seed or sod or even hydroseeding.
#2. Fresh Application Of Mulch In your Gardens
A fresh application of bark mulch will restore a nice uniform look to your gardens surface and will offer a very attractive contrast between the foliage in your garden and the fresh mulch. Mulch is quite cheap, the biggest expense isn’t the mulch it’s usually the delivery and subsequent spreading of it in your gardens and around your property. For a few hundred dollars in material and delivery charges and possibly a few hundred more for labor it’s a small investment that will make your property look much cleaner and well cared for.
Mulch Tip: Don’t forget to rake and then blow out the garden beds to remove all of the leaves and organic debris so you’re mulch goes down easy and is much easier to spread out. It will have a more uniform and level appearance this way too.
#3. Trim and Prune Overgrown Shrubs and Trees
If the trees, hedges or shrubs on the property have not been trimmed in a while then you’ll want to have all the dead branches removed and the trees trimmed into an attractive shape, rather than a mess of branches. Any trees or shrubs that come up against your home should also be trimmed so that no branches are touching your home. This can prevent pests like rodents from entering the home, it can enhance security by removing hiding places, and it can prevent any damage to your home.
In the case of privacy hedges or large cedar hedges they should also be trimmed up, nice and clean into a uniform shape. Mature trees and hedges add value to your property so it’s important to maintain them and keep them looking their best.
Depending on the size of your trees or hedges this project could take a qualified landscaper a few hours to an entire day but the end result will be a small investment for a much sharper looking property.
Tree and Shrub Trimming Tip: To reduce the amount of waste in your garden beds and in your lawn tarps or plastic can be used to place under the area you are trimming. Catching all the trimmings and debris on a tarp makes clean up much faster and cleaner too.
#4. Clean Up Ponds, Pools and Water Features
If you have a pond, pool or water feature on your property you’ll want to make sure it’s clean and not overgrown with algae and full of dead leaves and other organic matter. These should be cleaned by a professional with a power washer so that the water in your pond, pool or water feature is clear, or close to it, which is not always possible with a small pond. The bottom line is that you don’t want your water features to appear unattractive or neglected, this will turn buyers off immediately. If you have filters that need to be changed, or pumps that need to be serviced this should be completed and documentation provided to your listing realtor for prospective buyers. This shows you are being pro-active with your home maintenance and gives home buyers warm fuzzy feelings about your property.
#5. Power Washing Decks, Patios and Driveways
Anything on your property or exterior of your home made out of wood or concrete will attract the growth of organic matter such as algae, moss, mildew and mold. Wood decks become algae laden and slippery when wet, driveways can appear very dingy and overgrown and patios are not immune to this either. Nothing is more unattractive when buying a home then a property that isn’t clean and well kept. It’s amazing what a difference a good power washing can make and it’s a very affordable project that can usually be completed in just a few hours for most properties.
#6. Clean Your Gutters Inside and Out
Keeping your gutters clean is just regular home maintenance we all need to do, but we see many homes with algae and dirt stained gutter faces (outer portion of the gutter), this doesn’t look very good. If your gutters haven’t been cleaned out in a while and have “tiger stripe” stains along their face, they should be cleaned both inside and out using a pressure washer and special attachments. Clean gutters really improve the appearance of your homes exterior and it will only take a maintenance professional a few hours to clean them for you.
#7. Give The Entire Yard a Good Clean Up
Your entire yard should be given a good “once over” cleaning. Leaves, branches and other organic debris should be raked up and removed. Remove any junk or garbage on the property, the lawn should be mowed and the grass collected to be dumped into a compost or hauled away. You want your property to look maintained, you just don’t want to spend a fortune doing it and a good clean up takes nothing but man power and a dump trailer. Most large yards can be cleaned up in a day with a good team of hard workers, the difference it will make in your property is hard to put into words.
Who Should You Call To Get Your Landscaping Ready To Sell Your Home?
Larkin Landscaping is a landscaping contractor based out of Washington, PA and serving Washington County and the surrounding area. We specialize in working with property managers, realtors and homeowners to get lawns and landscaping ready for the real estate market. Property cleanups, tree trimming, lawn restorations, and more.
If you have a home or property that is about to go on the real estate market and it’s need to be cleaned up or landscaped, please call 724-328-9247 or fill out our online form and we’ll get right back to you.
