Become A Master Of Curb Appeal: 7 Landscaping Practices In Reno You Should Stop Doing Today
“If all your remodeling is on the inside but the outside of the house is challenging, you’ll never have a chance to even show the inside” – HGTV
It’s weekend and you’re going out for a date, would you dare to wear pants and t-shirt? I bet you wouldn’t. Of course, you’d spend a lot of time in picking your clothes, wondering what shoes to wear and how much makeup of perfume you’d want to put on.
The one thing that most of us go after during a date or any other encounters is the first impression – a positive and lasting impression. The same goes with curb appeal especially when your home is on the market, and you’re looking forward to having it sold shortly. As a result, you’d put all efforts, time, and money to make your property look appealing to possible home buyers, particularly in Reno.
Reno, dubbed as “The Biggest Little City in the World”, has drawn attention from people all over the world and there’s no wonder why it’s an ideal time to prep up your home. Home buyers will be stepping in your yard and knocking on your door soon, and when they do, you better be ready for it.
Moreover, Northern Nevada, specifically the city of Reno, has one of the fastest rates of economic growth in the nation, which has led to an influx of new residents, all searching for housing. A lot of movers are coming in and it’s the second most popular destination in the western hemisphere for movers. Hence, you should take this as your advantage.
One of the most important things that you should pay attention to, is your curb appeal, specifically landscaping, which plays a crucial role in adding value to your home. Spending time on curb appeal will surely to draw in all the potential buyers. Be on top of the game and stop these seven practices today.
1. Landscaping 101: Ignoring Cluttered Driveway or Walkway
Fall certainly brings changes to the weather and you have to anticipate foliage. Trees will start to shed its leaves and it will be all over the place – lawn, driveway, and walkway. Yes, it adds nostalgic color to your outdoor space but it’s not a good addition to your overall curb appeal which is why you have to stop ignoring the clutter. Start getting rid of the pile of leaves using a leaf blower or rake.
Aside from that, your potential buyers certainly don’t want to have a glimpse of a jumble of lawn furniture, kids’ toys and a tangled yard hose along the driveway or walkway – it’s a bad signal. Hence, you better make sure to have these stuff well-organized.
2. Landscaping Tips: Display Of Personal Collections
Alright, we get it that you have a lot of personal collections due to your fetish on certain things, but hey, home buyers won’t appreciate that as much as you do. If you’ve already made the decision to put your house on the market, you have to be responsible for keeping your collections out of the display. Any possessions such as religious decor, lawn ornaments, kids’ toys scattered around should be placed in boxes and use them in your next home.
Lawn gnomes or quirky art may look good to you, but potential buyers may have a different taste and you have to consider that. You want to showcase your house as pretty, appealing, and accommodating of the buyers’ style as well as leave a room for them to give it a little touch of their own.
3. Overdoing Color
Fall is an ideal time to add pops of color to your landscaping. However, it’s not necessary to put everything into it – in short, don’t overdo it. Bright visuals can spark interest, but it should be in moderation. For example, you want to repaint your porch or the door, better stick to classic tones or neutral colors.
For your landscaping, a little contrast would work but not too much and don’t cover your entire yard with your favorite plant or shrub, which will create a boring, monochromatic landscape. Also, you can mix things up, find the right plants or flowers to grow in fall that would surely bloom beautifully in spring or summer. However, don’t turn your landscaping into an Easter or rainbow-themed.
4. Refusing To Remove Dead Plants
All the dead should be buried – even your plants. The dead shouldn’t sit on your lawn, get rid of those plants as soon as possible. Nothing wrecks curb appeal faster than rows of dead or dying shrubs and perennials. You don’t want buyers to immediately turn their backs right after they step into your yard, right? So, take care of this problem quickly by removing them manually. Then, spruce up your yard by planting new plants that thrive in fall and winter.
Naturally-grown plants can still be used for the compost pile, just grind it first. Here’s how to make organic compost at home
5. Forgetting To Weed Out
Don’t let the weeds take control of your landscape, it should be the other way around. When weeds have gone wild, it will completely pillage nutrients, sunlight and water from other plants especially your grass. It chokes the life out of them, which means that you should not forget to eradicate them as soon and as often as possible.
Before attempting to apply anything to control weeds, make sure that you identify these invasive plants in order to manage them using the right techniques. Let’s take Canada thistle as an example – it’s one of the most popular weeds in Reno which can be found in gardens, lawns, cropland, etc. It has extensive root system and experts say that hand pulling or burning is not effective, this type of weed require regular cultivation or with the use of biological control agents.
You can deal with those annoying weeds naturally by plucking them out with your bare hands, suppressing grass with mulch, pouring boiling water, or with an application of salt or vinegar solution. Or, you can opt for organic weed killer which does not contain toxic chemicals.
6. Overlooking Home Exterior
To maximize your curb appeal, one practice that you should stop doing is overlooking home exterior. It’s totally fine to focus on staging projects inside the house, but the exterior is just as important. You should pay attention to your exterior paint color and give it a new paint job if necessary. Retouching chipping paint and repairing siding before painting can make your landscaping show in the best light. Shades of red, blue, and yellow are popular colors that can make your front entrance “pop.”
To add exterior appeal, you can add window plant boxes and pressure wash driveways. Also, give rusted-out carport, rotted wood shutters, and tattered awnings a makeover. Might as well remove outdated fixtures to ensure added value and interest.
7. Unusual Landscaping
Landscaping is made up of two features, the hardscape, and the soft scape. Both should be incorporated properly in order to achieve successful and best results. Now, for the soft scape which covers the plants, flowers, trees, and shrubs. You have to plant these in your front yard and make sure that you follow a well thought out landscape design. Also, consider perennials or ornamentals that grow well in the Reno soil. Planting edible vegetables or fruits is not a bad idea. But make sure that this garden will be placed in your backyard.
Moreover, before you start worrying about the plants to grow or how to maintain your lawn, it’s imperative that you start with a type of grass that will thrive in Reno considering its climate. Reno has 252 days of sunshine, low amounts of precipitation, dry air, and extreme temperature changes between night and day.
Given this, you have to choose the right type of grass and Fescue Grass is an excellent option – it flourishes in spring and fall. Bermuda Grass (warm season grass) and Perennial Rye Grass (cold season grass) are two other types of grass that works well in this city’s soil.
Hardscape includes water features, walkways, etc. Of course, you can’t just install a birdbath or a pond wherever you like. It has to follow your design to ensure that it will look appealing to your potential buyers. You have to incorporate soft scape and hardscape, to make sure that you’ll have an inviting outdoor living space. This would welcome your guests in a positive and radiant way.
Way To Sum It Up
Curb appeal is indeed a strong magnet that pulls home buyers’ attention. In as much as you make effort on the interior of your home, it’s equally important to shed the same determination on your exterior. Incorporating all these tricks in your landscaping will certainly give you the best results that you could have hoped for, specifically in leaving a positive and lasting impression.
Now, if you think you don’t have the time or your abilities aren’t too good for these tasks, then ask expert assistance. Help from a credible landscaping company should do the job. It’s going to be an investment that won’t dig a deeper hole in your pocket and significantly provide you with better results. Start today and be ready before winter comes!
Read on more about: Lawn Care Guide: Tips to Lawn Mowing
