To fix the yard or not?

[Tairsa Mathews]

Our current home required a decent amount of work both inside and out. We tackled the inside and have created a lot of sweat equity. We have an extremely intimidating yard project ahead. We're on nearly half an acre that hasn't been properly taken care of in years. My question as a newby is how much value does landscaping add to your homes? We obviously know that good landscaping is important for curb appeal, but we want to be careful not to over spend on landscaping. There is potential to spend a lot of money with the size of our lot so I'd love to hear people's opinions on what would be important to spend money on as far as landscaping goes.

[Mike B.]

There's still value add in the exterior, so definitely don't ignore it, but don't go overboard. Would also check out your neighbors and recent sales to see what yards they have (or what landscaping, flowers, etc was done). 

Usually the basics for good curb appeal and return would be:

• Green grass (no weeds or big empty patches), have the trees and bushes pruned.
• Use low lying flowers/shrubs at front of house so there's some color and character.. but you're not blocking up the view of front of the home

Keeping things generally 'manicured' is the better way to go.  Adding mulch to flower/planter beds is good too

For a single family home, a couple thousand dollar investment should yield a good curb appeal return.  Pictures of your home would also help plan this out better