If you’re thinking about selling your home, try not to forget that you’re also selling the outdoor space that comes with it.

Many people consider their back garden and front yards as an afterthought when putting their home on the market. This is terribly unwise. After all, we live in Australia! Outdoor living is as essential to our well-being as beer on a hot day – practically necessitous! So it goes without saying that the importance of making your outdoor areas just as attractive as the indoors is paramount when selling your property.

This doesn’t mean you have to give up an arm and a leg, but it does mean that if you put in some effort and make a few affordable changes, you could see a serious boost in your home’s value because of it. Never underestimate the allure of an attractive garden. With that said, let’s bust out that shovel and get into it!

  1. Think neutral

When you’re selling your home, one of the key factors that add to the appeal of a property is neutrality. This is simply because it allows the buyer to envision themselves within your home, giving them a blank canvas to fantasise with, and this is exactly what we want them to do outside as well. So if we want to bring neutrality into the garden this will usually take the form of colour and design. 

When using colours for things such as decking, paving, fencing, etc. use cool, calm, and complementary tones rather than tones that scream and yell at potential buyers with pulsating vibrancy – I’m looking at you, red. And in terms of design, you want to have well flowing spaces that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but functionally sound. Think about the natural flow of your outdoor space and the most intuitive areas for seating or dining set ups.

  1. Impress with effortlessness

This is basically another way of saying that you want to keep your outdoor areas low maintenance so that buyers won’t get put off by the prospect of demanding upkeep. Most buyers will value a beautiful garden very highly, however a good majority will likely not be all that keen to invest all their spare time maintaining it. Basically you just want to keep it simple.

If you want to up the greenery, I’d suggest planting anything durable, that doesn’t require much in the way of up-keep, and something fast growing. A lot of native perennial plants (plants that live a long time) are very hardy and used to our scorching summers, so they won’t require constant attention like many non-natives. Another trick that is used for houses on the market, is to make sure that you mulch your plants a week before they officially go up for sale. This way your plants will be positively bursting with life by the time you have your photographs taken for the listing and let people through for the open inspections. 

  1. First impressions always count

If you’ve read this far and decided that you don’t have the time, patience, or motivation to go through all this effort then this is the step for you. All you need to do is focus on the facade. The front yard and the entrance to your home is the first thing that people are going to see, so it’s the perfect place to try and make a good impression.

If you already have a well established front yard, now is the time to start beautifying. Prune back overgrown bushes, make clearways to the front door, ensure easy access to the side gate, sweep the heck out of that driveway and add a whole ton of fertiliser to make your plants flourish. Clearing, pruning and weeding will open up your front yard and make it seem 10x bigger, and giving your plants some serious TLC will revamp the greenery and make your home look more vibrant.

Another very simple way to up the gardening game is with the classic pot plant. Flanking your front door with two stunning and well established plants gives your home a highly stylish and wholesome feel. But you want to make sure that they’re well maintained because nothing says sad and unkempt like a withered and bedraggled pot plant. Just think, if you treat them well, they’ll do right by you in return by impressing every potential buyer that walks through your door.   

  1. Design for privacy

Everyone needs their privacy, and when you’re able to get that both indoors and out, that’s recognised as a highly prized commodity. The best way of implementing this is by identifying areas that are exposed from neighbours or passersby then finding strategic ways of shielding them. This can be done in numerous ways; planting large, well established trees is likely the most ornamental method of screening, however this can be rather expensive. Fast growing shrubbery and hedging is another way, plants like bamboo and pittosporum (Cheesewood) are perfect for alternative fencing. Otherwise you can always install shade sails and fence extensions to increase the height. 

So I hope by now I’ve given you the push you needed to make your outdoors a mini paradise for all those hungry buyers-to-be. Your efforts will be greatly rewarded I can guarantee you that!