Rental Property Investor · Syracuse, NY · Member since 2019 · 90 posts · 34 votes
I own a duplex in a C class neighborhood. People are low income, but good people and generally speaking take care of their homes to an ok degree. My question is simple, how much money should I spend on landscaping as it is something that obviously doesn't drive home or rent value up all that much... is it THAT important to tenants? I obviously keep the grass well maintained and sidewalks clean but would some mulch and flowers beds be worth it or just another thing to maintain and not worth my time? Thanks as always BP!!!
Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2020 · 299 posts · 476 votes
6y
@Bryan Cavellier I agree with what @John Underwood said. I don't think your tenants will care too much about landscaping, as long as it doesn't look shabby (overgrown grass, weeds, etc). With what you've mentioned in the post, if you're providing them with well maintained grass and clean sidewalks, I think that's good enough. You definitely do not want to invest too much time or money landscaping, because tenants rarely keep up on landscaping.
I agree with the others. Grass is all you need, anything else will cause more work. If you want, you could add a tree that once grown will provide shade, but that will require raking up the leaves in the fall and depending on the location and wind, cleaning out the gutters more often....and the roots may cause problems later on.
Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2020 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes
6y
@Bryan Cavellier, before I agree with all the others, does your property look better, worse or same as the neighboring properties?
Most of my properties had existing planting beds, that I would do very minimal maintenance too, but I also allowed my tenants to plant things, at their own expense and maintenance if they wanted. My landscaper would cut and edge lawn. Every few years, he would turn mulch and/or remulch the existing beds to keep them looking nice, to the tune of maybe $100/yr.
It gave the tenants something to do and care for, which seemed to carry over to inside the units too.
Rental Property Investor · Syracuse, NY · Member since 2019 · 90 posts · 34 votes
6y
Thanks for all the input... I assumed everyone would answer as I know value is driven by amenities, size of unit, and location of unit but just wanted to double check before I start a plan of what to do.
@Evan Polaski I would say that my property (both neighbors are rentals as well) look a tad better simply because I take pride in keeping grass maintained... which this answers my question of not doing much "landscaping" on this property.