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Garden Must-Have Features...If you plan to sell your home

paved-patio.gif
If you're planning to sell your home in the near future and don't have trees, shrubs and a paved patio area - pencilling in a few DIY weekends may be on the cards.

According to research conducted by UK's Halifax Estate Agents, these three features are what most buyers are looking for. The findings are intriguing because it flies in the face of modern home pedagogy.

If you take current TV shows as gospel - and I'm not sure why you would - then plantings need to be low maintenance, foliage species. Grasses, succulents and strappy-leaved plants have been the rage for almost a decade. We've been led to believe that people no longer enjoy gardening, or gardens. Therefore, the lie continues, we need to make our "outdoor spaces" as minimally imposing on others as we possibly can.

But, if this research is anything to go by then it seems that homebuyers are looking for houses with gardens more than minimalist outdoor spaces. Why? Because shrubs and trees are hardly low-maintenance. Certainly not as carefree as flax and cordylines, anyway.

They require regular fertilising, mulching, pruning and some even need frequent deadheading during their growing season.

Have homebuyers really seen the error of their ways? Or, are they just nostalgically romanticising the gardens they once grew up in?

Anyway...moving on.. Here are the winners in the features most homebuyers look for.

Must-Have Garden Feature Winners

  1. 63% of homebuyers are looking for homes with trees and shrubs
  2. 58% want a paved patio
  3. 57% want a garden shed or greenhouse
  4. 43% would like a water feature, and
  5. 42% like the idea of growing roses

People aren't just looking for the things they want either. There are a few items that many of them would rather not see in the garden. And here they are;

Things that shouldn't Feature in the Garden

  1. 67% don't want to see garden rubbish. Makes sense. Here's some tips to hide your garden maintenance areas.
  2. 59% are turned off by dog and cat mess
  3. 43% said they want their privacy and don't like neighbours looking over the fence. Here's some gardening tips to screen your backyard.

Probably the most interesting statistic to come out of this research - for me anyway - was the opinion of having gnomes in your garden. 1 in 10 people said they would be attracted to a home with garden gnomes while 17% (nearly 1 in 5) admitted that it would be a turn-off. Interesting...

Source: DIYWeek.net





Posted by Stuart on August 30, 2007 6:17 AM | | Check to Subscribe to this Comment:


Comments

First time reader, very impressed!

Yeah, I always find it surprising how many people love roses!

I know I have grown up with them, both sets of Grand Parents and both my Parents LOVE roses.

Its good for me, I learnt to prune roses young...and plenty of people will pay for rose pruning YAY

Posted by: James M | August 30, 2007 1:44 PM

Having worked on numerous UK gardens that report is the biggest load of tosh I've seen by a UK company.

I think someone in the Halifax is smoking too much wacky backy!

Posted by: Richard Boyd | August 30, 2007 4:41 PM

Oh BTW James M

That roses should be pruned by certain techniques is an old myth, perpetuated by just about everyone.

Posted by: Richard Boyd | August 30, 2007 4:44 PM

Richard - I'm taking this research at face value so I'm keen to know your reasons for refuting their results?

Posted by: Stuart | August 30, 2007 7:29 PM

Hi Stu

Ok some answers bearing in mind this is about buying and selling properties.

Must-Have Garden Feature Winners
1. WTF even the worst garden in the UK has T & S’s – made up answer. If they had said a patio then that percentage would be about right. We end up taking out more trees than we put in people are totally clueless about plants in general and they put in trees that are totally out of proportion for the space available, usually far to close to properties and boundary walls…
2. Probably near to the mark – probably asked round the office to get an idea of %
3. As 2.
4. Nearer to 15-20%, IMO we take out more water features than we put in!
5. As 2.

Things that shouldn't Feature in the Garden

1. 80%+ no one wants to see rubbish bins and clutter lying about, screening is big business in landscaping terms.
2. 100% no one wants to see a place littered with #@&%, no one.
3. In the UK for years one of the biggest complaints people have on new builds in the small gardens and with the placement of multi houses overlooking each 90%+ want some kind of screening. High hedging to stop neighbours looking into each others gardens got to such a point after a number of deaths that laws had to be bought in “the high hedges act”. The wastage a taxpayers money through disputes has reached such proportions that local authorities, who now have the power to mediate in disputes, now charge if they are bought into the argument. The problem is far worse in “new housing” rather than older types of properties. I could go on but this subject would cover pages.

Posted by: Richard Boyd | August 30, 2007 8:29 PM

If you are looking for a house, usually you want a place to relax. What better place than a back garden ? People love having a garden, even if it's a small one.

Posted by: Petre Coman | August 31, 2007 8:29 PM

Well zero responses looks like I just wasted 5 minutes of my life!

Posted by: Richard Boyd | September 1, 2007 12:09 PM

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