10 Summer Landscaping Tips to Make Your Home Stand Out on the Market

When you’re putting your house on the market, you want to do everything you can to make it appealing to buyers. The first thing potential buyers see is the outside of your home. Creating curb appeal is essential regardless of whether you’re selling your home, but if you want it to stand out from other houses, you’ll need to put in some work this summer.
Give yourself enough time to start cleaning up and preparing your home to sell it. Here are 10 summer landscaping tips to make your home stand out on the market.
1. Plant Some Colorful Flowers
Summertime brings with it so many colors! Color is one of the first things that catches someone’s eye when they’re looking for a new home. Flowers can make your landscape pop and stand out from other homes on the market. Plus, they’ll give potential buyers a great first impression.
If you would rather not dig up the ground to plant flowers, opt for large flower pots. Fill them with flowers and strategically place them within your landscaping. Choose colors that fit well with the colors of your house.
2. Highlight Outdoor Living Spaces
Outdoor living spaces are highly desirable. In the summertime, you likely get more use out of your outdoor living space. This might be a patio in your backyard, a wraparound porch, a pool deck, or a spacious yard with an outdoor dining area. You can stage it a bit with some extra outdoor furniture as well.
With outdoor living spaces, you should use furniture that’s more neutral in color. To highlight it, add pops of color with pillows, a rug, or a fun piece of artwork. If you have a dining area, stage it with some plates and maybe even refreshments when potential buyers visit your home.
3. Clean Up Your Water Features
Do you have a pool, small pond, waterfall, or fountain as a wow factor in your yard? If so, you should take time to clean it before you put your house on the market.
These water features can quickly grow algae and may clog up with debris like leaves, dirt, and sticks. Clean all of the filters and remove the algae and debris. If the water feature doesn’t look clean or work properly, it will be a turn-off for potential buyers.
Adding a water feature to your home will boost its attractiveness, but you have to ensure you keep it clean to make your home stand out!
4. Add a Retaining Wall
Retaining walls instantly increase your curb appeal. They maximize the value of your property because they help prevent erosion and damage from heavy rains and harsh winters. Homes that live on a slight slope benefit from retaining walls because they prevent soil from washing away.
There are so many ways to make a retaining wall with multiple colored stone options. You can match the wall to the rest of your home’s exterior, add greenery around the wall, light it up with lanterns, or add a stairway. Retaining walls add sophistication that other features can’t match, so your home will surely stand out.
5. Bring Out the Pressure Washer
Summer is the perfect time to get out your pressure washer — or rent one — and get to work on cleaning your house’s siding. A sparkling clean house will do much better when you put it on the market than one layered with dirt from the past year.
Besides the siding, you can also pressure wash the deck, pavement, or sidewalks. These machines do a great job of getting everything clean, and it takes little time and effort to get the job done. Sometimes, instead of pressure washing, homeowners will repaint, but you probably don’t need to both repaint and pressure wash.
6. Brighten Your Home’s Exterior With New Lights
What does your home look like at dusk or during the night? If it’s dark and there are no exterior lights, that could be a turn-off to some potential homebuyers. Lighting can dramatically change your home’s exterior, and it makes your home a bit more safe and secure.
Consider some low-voltage lighting or solar-powered lights that come on when it starts to get dark. Line walkways or string lights around your porch for a cozy and safe space for any guests.
7. Trim Grass, Shrubs, and Trees
Another landscaping tip that’s great for summer and makes your home stand out on the market is trimming your grass, shrubs, and trees. The least you should do is keep your grass looking neat. Cut it and water it often, and add fertilizer if needed to bring life back to dead spots. Before putting your home on the market, cut the grass as well.
Trimming shrubs and trees takes a bit more effort, but it boosts your home’s overall look. Well-manicured shrubbery and trees make the home look maintained and more spacious. Unkempt yards may make potential buyers drive right past your home.
8. Make Necessary Repairs
Before you put your home on the market, fix all of the things you’ve put off for years. This could be a crack in the retaining wall, missing or broken siding, a crumbling sidewalk, leaky gutters, or a shaky step.
Thoroughly inspect the outside of your home and make a list of any necessary repairs you should do before you sell your house. If needed, enlist the help of friends or professional services to complete all of these tasks. Plus, after repairs, your home will likely be worth more!
9. Touch Up the Mulching
Mulch is an excellent addition to any landscaping. Like icing on a cake, mulch covers imperfections in your yard, and you can smooth it to make your yard look well-maintained and tidy. There are many options for mulch colors and types, so choose one that goes well with the rest of your landscaping.
Besides making your landscaping look perfect, mulch also does wonders for your plants and the environment, especially if you use organic mulch. It keeps weeds at bay and it holds moisture for your plants so you have to water less often.
10. Create a Welcoming Front Entrance
Finally, to make your home truly stand out from other houses, create a welcoming entrance. The entrance to your home is typically a focal point, and it’s the thing all homebuyers look at as soon as they see your house. It leaves a lasting first impression for potential buyers.
Clear away the steps or walkway that lead up to the front door. Check that the door’s paint is up to par and that the doorknob and lock work properly. If you want, you can add a little bit of front-door furniture or decor to spruce up the look!
Everyone Will Want to Buy Your Home!
Once you touch up your landscaping with some of these tips, your home will be the best-looking one on the market. It should sell quickly! After you’ve completed your home’s exterior, check on the interior as well to further boost your chances of a quick sell.
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