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Home selling guides tend to emphasize the importance of curb appeal – how attractive your front yard is to prospective buyers. Undoubtedly, curb appeal is essential to maximizing your home’s value when it hits the market, but it isn’t the only essential component.
While your backyard can’t claim to make a “first impression,” it makes an indelible impression nonetheless. Prospective homebuyers like to imagine their leisure time in the backyard – cooking, reading, watching the kids play. And polls show that buyers will pay handsomely for the privilege.
In this article, we list four of the finest value-adding backyard projects. If you’re undertaking these projects solely for resale, consult with a trusted listing agent beforehand; they’ll be able to tell you in greater detail what local buyers are after.
Backyard Kitchens
Backyard kitchens are very popular with buyers. Not only do they extend the functional living space of a home, but they also represent bigger things: community, warmth and making the most of a fleeting summer.
We aren’t talking about one rusted BBQ and a prep table. To make an attractive outdoor kitchen, consider installing a ventilated range, a quality outdoor grill, vent hoods and a kitchen island. It’s a big project, to be sure, but some reputable sources place the ROI between 100% and 200%.
Lush Gardens
Readers of this blog are no strangers to good gardening. Luckily, you can spin that hobby into a profitable home project.
Homebuyers like colourful, well-manicured and impressive gardens. More often nowadays, they also look for food gardens or native plant gardens. Some experts caution that making an overly complicated or labour-intensive garden can intimidate some buyers (who justifiably worry about upkeep), so consider keeping your project on the smaller side.
Water Features
If you’re a homebuyer, you’re asking your realtor to satisfy a few must-have criteria. You’re asking them to find your perfect neighbourhood; you want them to pass along inventory in the right size and style; and, crucially, you also ask them to find homes with particular outdoor features.
To reach these homebuyers, you need to ensure that your listing stands out. One of the best ways to achieve that is to add water features, one of the most popular asks among buyers. These features might be a pool or pond, fountain or waterfall – anything that adds a fun, naturalistic touch to your backyard area. Again, consult with a trusted realtor to determine whether these features sell well in your area.
A Fire Pit
According to Apartment Therapy, a fire pit has a whopping ROI of 500%! It seems too good to be true, but the article cites a legitimate study from NAR (The National Association of Realtors).
Partly, the project owes its impressive ROI to a low upfront cost. The price of fire pits has come down significantly in recent years, making the bar for entry much lower. At the same time, demand for yards with fire pits has increased (perhaps partly because of the pandemic’s emphasis on cozy outdoor experiences). Whatever the reason, a fire pit is a safe, reliable, and relatively DIY-friendly resale project for the backyard.
If you’re selling your home, connect with the best realtors in your area to determine a game plan for your backyard. Consider the projects above to attract a diverse range of buyers.
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