Want to learn how to increase your home’s value? Landscaping is one of the more cost-effective options for sprucing up your home’s curb appeal before putting it on the market—it can help your home sell faster and increase your home value up to 14%. Use these nine landscaping tips to improve your home’s curb appeal, boost your property value, and attract more potential buyers!

Maintain a Healthy Lawn

In addition to appearing less attractive, overgrown grass and weeds or dry patches in the yard signal neglect to buyers—which can reduce your home’s value when it comes time to sell. Maintaining a neat, clean, and attractive lawn is a great way to leverage your home’s curb appeal and entice prospective homebuyers. Fortunately, basic lawn care doesn’t need to be a budget-killer. Set up a fertilization schedule, mow regularly, and keep your lawn watered. And if you don’t want to do it yourself, lawn care companies can help you out!

Install a Sprinkler System

One of the simplest solutions for maintaining your yard—which could increase home value by up to 12%—is to install an automatic irrigation system. Whether you’re looking to add a drip system or an in-ground sprinkler system, both distribute a select amount of water so you can keep your landscape looking its best without worrying about overwatering or drying out. Buyers often see sprinkler systems as a perk because it means that you’ve been taking care of the lawn, and it gives them a means to maintain it, as well.

Consider an Artificial Lawn

If you live in a dry, arid part of the country, maintaining a classic green lawn can be difficult and expensive. Artificial grass provides your home with a quick value-add and eliminates the need to buy lawn care equipment or invest in lawn care services. Yard turf can last up to 20 years, which means you don’t need to worry about replacing it if you plan to move within that timeframe, and buyers will appreciate the reduced maintenance costs. In addition, artificial grass doesn’t require the use of harmful pesticides and helps conserve water, which can significantly lower water bills—an attractive selling point for your home!

Plant a Tree

If your yard is looking a little empty, consider planting a tree! Depending on where you live, the presence of mature trees can increase the value of your house by 7% to 19%. However, don’t forget to pay attention to the placement of your trees. Trees that are planted too close to the house, driveway, or plumbing can be damaging to your property—while trees that are planted strategically to provide shade or privacy are more attractive to homebuyers. Keep in mind that it can take anywhere from a few years to several decades for a tree to reach maturity, so try to plant them as early as possible—or look into landscaping companies that can assist you with planting mature trees. Though this can get costly depending on tree size, relocation, and difficulty of planting, the value that mature trees add can be worth the investment!

Trim Shrubs & Bushes

Potential buyers have a keen eye for curb appeal, so if you have shrubs or bushes around your home, be sure to keep them neat and healthy-looking. Make a point each year to prune and shape bushes in your yard to get rid of overgrowth or dead branches. Trimming shrubs and bushes down encourages healthy growth from the plant, which is vital to maintaining these landscape features long-term. Like trees, tactfully-planted shrubs and bushes can increase privacy and help filter out environmental noises, which only further increases their appeal.

Lay Down a Fresh Bed of Mulch

One of the best ways to keep your home landscaping looking fresh is to add new mulch. Laying mulch helps to retain moisture in the soil. It prevents evaporation, insulates soil, and helps maintain lower root temperatures, providing plants with essential nutrients that help them look their best. Additionally, by picking the right color of mulch to contrast with your flowers and plants, you can add a pop of color to your yard that complements your landscape design and boosts curb appeal!

Cultivate a Low-Maintenance Landscape

An excellent idea to boost home value is to opt for low-maintenance landscaping. Rock gardens, succulent gardens, and xeriscaping are drought-resistant landscaping strategies that require little to no watering and are ideal for arid climates. Hardscaping can also add value as these stone-based surfaces are often easier to clean and maintain. These eco-friendly solutions allow you (and potential buyers) to save time and money on upkeep, reduce your impact on the environment, and create curb appeal, all while increasing your home’s value. Homeowners in less arid climates can also plant bright perennials or establish other architectural features around the home to beautify the yard without passing on too much maintenance to future owners.

Highlight Your Home with Landscape Lighting

Quality outdoor lighting can illuminate the outside of your home, accentuate other landscape design elements, and even improve home security. In particular, outdoor lighting ideas like pathway lights provide safety for anyone walking up and down stairs, lawn paths, and other landscaped surfaces throughout your property. This simple DIY landscaping idea can be kept cost-effective by using attractive LED solar yard lights—which are bright, easy to install, and require little maintenance.

Design an Outdoor Living Space

If you’re thinking about a large-scale update to your current landscape design, consider adding an outdoor living space! Outdoor kitchens, patios, decks, pergolas, swimming pools, and fire pits can all increase your home’s value, as buyers seek out homes with these spaces.

***

Boosting your curb appeal? Extra Space Storage has over 2,000 storage facilities across the U.S. that can keep your yard equipment and outdoor furniture safe while you landscape your yard. Find cheap storage near you!