This ought to add oomph to your sales pitch: Buying plants isn’t just a nice diversion—it’s an investment. The Horticulture Research Institute’s Journal of Environmental Horticulture recently published a report showing that upgrading a home’s landscape does increase property value. Findings were based on an analysis of sales within the Melonie Park neighborhood in Lubbock, Texas, from 2003 to 2005.
Homes that improved landscaping from average-quality to good- or excellent-quality increased selling price by 5.7 and 10.8 percent, respectively. Approximately 30 percent of the increase in sale value was accounted for by added tree cover. The results show that each $1 invested in upgrading an average landscape to excellent quality returns $1.35 in added property value.
-- Sarah
In fact, just removing or pruning overgrown trees and shrubs makes a huge difference. Additionally, shade producing trees on the southern and western sides of homes will result in lower cooling bills. In northern latitudes, evergreen screens properly placed will act as a break to divert cold Northwest winter winds. In spite of the environuts crying about lawns, they do serve several purposes. They discourage vermin and pests from entering your home and act to cool the soil temperature, prevent run off and preserve moisture by retarding evaporation. With the gullible media and left wing enviro-nazis on the warpath these days, why not promote the positive aspects of plants that we have known about for centuries?
Posted by: Ricardo maxwell | May 09, 2009 at 06:24 AM