How Do Trees, Vegetation and Landscaping Affect Appraised Value? PDF Print E-mail
Monday, 06 October 2008 06:00

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike here in the Greater Houston area, I thought the topic of on-property landscaping and vegetation would be something of relevance. As an example, my home has a good size yard with three large and very old Oak Trees on it. These trees provide great natural shade and a very pleasing curb appeal. After the storm passed, I came home to find that Ike had split one of these trees down the middle and it was now in danger of falling on my house. I quickly had the tree removed but afterward was very bummed about how my yard looked with this enormous tree now missing. The following day I received a call from another homeowner who had the same situation and wanted an appraisal that would reflective the value of the property without the trees. I had to explain to this homeowner that unfortunately, unless the property were agricultural and the vegetation was income producing, that there was no way for an appraiser to value the loss (or addition) of landscaping.


And that brings us to the point of this article; in most cases trees and landscaping are not taken into consideration when performing a real estate appraisal for residential property. It's undeniable that a well landscaped yard and large beautiful trees improve the curb appeal and overall desirability of a property, but there is no way to place a dollar amount on these items. For one, as in my case, these items could die or be destroyed in the blink of an eye. And secondly, market value is developed by comparing sales from within the market area and making adjustments to the comps based on what the market is paying for these items. There is simply no way to say, "well, looks like buyers are paying $10,000 per tree over 30'."


So does your landscaping not count for anything at all when your home is being appraised? Not exactly, we take landscaping and curb appeal into consideration under overall "condition" of the property. Just don't go planting award winning Azaleas and expect to get an increase in appraised value!

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written by Landscaping Designer in Florida, January 22, 2009
Hi,

I agree with you on your point that landscape does not increase the appraised value of a home, but still a well designed landscape is a must to attract potential buyers. Without curb appeal, it would be hard to stop buyers and have them look inside.
Hannah Montana
written by prumo, May 19, 2009
SERIOUSLY?!?! Well, it’s obviously Edward.. But putting Twilight in Hannah Montana http://file.sh/Hannah+Montana+torrent.html is going too far. I LOVE Twilight, I love Disney, but I could DEFINITELY do without Hannah Montana.
Vice President / NationWide Tree Appraisers
written by Brett Banner, May 22, 2009
In refrence to your article concearning the value of large trees damaged during the hurricane. Research show that good landscaping and large trees can atribute from 7% to 25% of the value of your home. Lets face it, if your yard was a dirt patch you would have to say that it would decrease the value of your property. Nationwide Tree Appraisers attaches a value to the old tree lost during the hurricane that is formulated using many methods recognised by insurance companies and the IRS. According to the IRS tax code 547 casulaty loss statement you must show a decrease in FMV imediatley before and event and immediatly after the event. We feel that this can be done and we are able to provide you with a detail report showing our findings.

Please give us a call to discuss further.

Brett Banner / James Ward

936-552-1426 or 936-564-8865
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written by David hogard, November 04, 2009
Hi i am agree with your proposal , If you are determined to such a task, the next step is to draw a sketch of your property and mark areas where you need landscaping. It's also good to keep in mind the amount of money you are willing to stick into your venture.


http://betterblog.ning.com/profiles/blogs/landscaping-add-more-value-to

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