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A nicely landscaped, well-staged outdoor space can be a huge selling point for potential buyers. That’s why it’s worth your time to focus on transforming your yard into a place where future homeowners would love to hang out.
Luckily, with a little creativity and a few hours time, you can turn even the most boring backyard into a great space for entertaining. Here are a few simple backyard improvements that can help you sell your home.
Clean the Yard
You want the backyard to give the impression of order and cleanliness. If all your yard consists of is a big grass-covered space, you should mow, edge and sweep the cut grass off of all surfaces to make things look orderly.
If you have flower beds, walkways and other features, get in there are weed all these areas. Remember, too, that just like inside the home, all toys, pet-related things and any other clutter should be removed. Buyers should see a clean, attractive space as they wander around the backyard area.
Create a Space for Entertaining
A backyard is a great place to entertain, and space for entertaining is a strong selling point for a home. How you create a space will depend on the features of the home.
If there is a platform, porch, slab, or any other easily accessible area, simply set up your patio furniture to create a comfortable looking entertainment area.
If your furniture has seen better days, consider freshening it up with a coat of spray paint. If you don’t have any furniture, ask a neighbor if you can borrow a set for a few weeks. Just make sure to tell your realtor that the set is not included in your home sale.
Dress Up the Flowerbeds (or Buy Pots)
If the yard has flowerbeds or if there are pots on the porch fill them with something pretty to improve your yard’s ambiance. As long as the weather is warm enough, flowers make a great choice. The bring beautiful color and can give your yard some visual pop.
You don’t need to have a green thumb to plant flowers. Just go to your local home and garden store and tell them what you want to do. They can help you find the best option for your budget, gardening ability, and location.
| 🌻 Pro tip: large plastic planter pots are cheap and can be filled with annual flowers that look great. The flowers won’t last long long, but they aren’t meant to! |
If you are selling in weather that is too cool for flowers, you can use more weather-resistant plants. Consider using mulch to pull everything together. You may be surprised at how good it looks when you’re done!
If your home is in good enough shape that the only thing you need to do is fix up the back yard, that’s great! But you may also need to do some minor and moderate repairs if you want your house to sell for top dollar.
If that’s the case, you don’t want to make more repairs than you should, nor should you neglect repairs that can hurt your home’s value.
