Economists' Outlook

Housing stats and analysis from NAR's research experts.

Outdoor Remodeling Projects for the Future Home Seller

Looking to list your home on the market? Wanting to enhance your outdoor landscape with the thought of selling down the road? The recently released 2018 Remodeling Impact Report: Outdoor Features report has the latest in outdoor home repair and the costs you could recoup.

Enhancing one’s outdoor landscape features can bring a great sense of satisfaction to living at home, as well as help boost the dollar value at resale. In the report, REALTORS® ranked adding a landscape maintenance service #1 on the list of projects that would bring the greatest value at resale.

A standard landscape maintenance project includes an annual mulch application, mowing an average 2,835 square feet of lawn, pruning shrubs, and planting roughly 60 perennials or annuals. Landscape professionals estimate it will cost $3,000 to complete a landscape maintenance service and REALTORS® estimate that you can recoup 100 percent of those costs, or $3,000, when selling the home.

Implementing a standard lawn care service is estimated to recoup 267 percent of the costs. A standard lawn care service includes six applications of fertilizer and weed control on an average 2,835 square feet of lawn. Landscape professional estimate it will cost $375 to perform the lawn care service and REALTORS® estimate that you can recoup $1,000 when selling the home.

The third project that is estimated to recoup its own costs is a tree care service. This outdoor repair includes three applications of tree fertilizer, regular spraying, trimming and pruning, and the removal of one 30-foot-tall tree by a professional. Landscape professional estimate it will cost $2,000 to perform the tree care service and REALTORS® estimate that you can recoup 100 percent of the costs, or $2,000, when selling the home.

Not all landscape enhancements will recoup the full cost or more at the time of sale. If you are looking to upgrade our home for the time being for personal satisfaction, and sell down the road, here are a few additional cost-effective ways to enhance the outdoors around your home.

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