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Natural landscaping and home values
Hi everybody,
We live near the downtown of Green Bay, Wisconsin, though actually, it's an old "suburb." Back in the 1920's, the lots were platted as "farmettes" 50' wide and 250' deep, the idea being that everyone would have a produce garden. Over the years most people eventually converted their yards to nothing but lawn, but when we purchased the home 20 years ago, we decided to convert half of the backyard to an urban habitat with natural landscaping. The result has been not only a lovely wooded and secluded lot full of flowers from early spring through fall, but we haven't needed to water or use any chemicals. What little lawn we have (because we've kept it mowed away from neighbors' properties) is only a 30 minute task with a reel mower. The problem is, we now have the home up for sale and what to us has been an asset is a liability in the eyes of prospective buyers! They want us to knock off thousands of dollars from our asking price for their cost of "cutting down those trees and clearing out all those weeds in back." They want the big rectangular lawn. Has anyone else experienced this situation and if so, what did you do? Are there any networks we could plug into where we might find an appreciative owner for this beautiful landscape? We would gladly knock off a few thousand to someone who said "This is lovely! I want to keep it." But we've already rejected an offer from somebody who wants to destroy it. (Yes, I know...we're crazy.) Thanks for any advice or suggestions you might have to offer. :-) Tommy |
#2
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Natural landscaping and home values
In article
, " wrote: Hi everybody, We live near the downtown of Green Bay, Wisconsin, though actually, it's an old "suburb." Back in the 1920's, the lots were platted as "farmettes" 50' wide and 250' deep, the idea being that everyone would have a produce garden. Over the years most people eventually converted their yards to nothing but lawn, but when we purchased the home 20 years ago, we decided to convert half of the backyard to an urban habitat with natural landscaping. The result has been not only a lovely wooded and secluded lot full of flowers from early spring through fall, but we haven't needed to water or use any chemicals. What little lawn we have (because we've kept it mowed away from neighbors' properties) is only a 30 minute task with a reel mower. The problem is, we now have the home up for sale and what to us has been an asset is a liability in the eyes of prospective buyers! They want us to knock off thousands of dollars from our asking price for their cost of "cutting down those trees and clearing out all those weeds in back." They want the big rectangular lawn. Has anyone else experienced this situation and if so, what did you do? Are there any networks we could plug into where we might find an appreciative owner for this beautiful landscape? We would gladly knock off a few thousand to someone who said "This is lovely! I want to keep it." But we've already rejected an offer from somebody who wants to destroy it. (Yes, I know...we're crazy.) Thanks for any advice or suggestions you might have to offer. :-) Tommy Well the short answer for me is I intend to live here till I die so does better half. We plant for our needs and design interests. If you like designing your environment and consider it fun than do it . But you seem to be considering a move. You have your reasons. Below site may address some of your issues. Thorny. http://www.plant-care.com/blog/110/l...property-value s/ Bill -- Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA |
#3
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Natural landscaping and home values
Thanks for any advice or suggestions you might have to offer. :-) Tommy Well the short answer for me is I intend to live here till I die so does better half. We plant for our needs and design interests. If you like designing your environment and consider it fun than do it . But you seem to be considering a move. You have your reasons. Below site may address some of your issues. Thorny. http://www.plant-care.com/blog/110/l...property-value s/ Bill http://tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=xfkeMi%2BJ48Mh27Mfh9K75w%3D%3D Meant to post this earlier. Bill -- Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA |
#4
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Natural landscaping and home values
wrote in message ... Hi everybody, We live near the downtown of Green Bay, Wisconsin, though actually, it's an old "suburb." Back in the 1920's, the lots were platted as "farmettes" 50' wide and 250' deep, the idea being that everyone would have a produce garden. Over the years most people eventually converted their yards to nothing but lawn, but when we purchased the home 20 years ago, we decided to convert half of the backyard to an urban habitat with natural landscaping. The result has been not only a lovely wooded and secluded lot full of flowers from early spring through fall, but we haven't needed to water or use any chemicals. What little lawn we have (because we've kept it mowed away from neighbors' properties) is only a 30 minute task with a reel mower. The problem is, we now have the home up for sale and what to us has been an asset is a liability in the eyes of prospective buyers! They want us to knock off thousands of dollars from our asking price for their cost of "cutting down those trees and clearing out all those weeds in back." They want the big rectangular lawn. Has anyone else experienced this situation and if so, what did you do? Are there any networks we could plug into where we might find an appreciative owner for this beautiful landscape? We would gladly knock off a few thousand to someone who said "This is lovely! I want to keep it." But we've already rejected an offer from somebody who wants to destroy it. (Yes, I know...we're crazy.) Thanks for any advice or suggestions you might have to offer. :-) Tommy I'm no expert on the matter, but it might be possible to put some sort of conservation easement on a portion of your lot. Just as gas or mineral rights can be sold seperately from actual land ownership, so can development rights, logging rights etc. You would be reducing the value of your property somewhat, but the entire reduction in value can be written off of your income taxes. |
#5
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Natural landscaping and home values
wrote in message ... The problem is, we now have the home up for sale and what to us has been an asset is a liability in the eyes of prospective buyers! They want us to knock off thousands of dollars from our asking price for their cost of "cutting down those trees and clearing out all those weeds in back." They want the big rectangular lawn. IMO the right buyer has simply not seen the home yet. I sold last year in a very tough South Florida market, and the entire front yard was mulched and planted- photos available http://www.cearbhaill.com/ I have NO doubt that my home sold on curb appeal alone- my buyers just fell in love with it and had to have it. It couldn't have been the interior of the home as it still had its original avocado green and harvest gold bathrooms! Many areas needed work, some substantial. I had spoken to several people about the situation prior to putting the home on the market, and the general consensus was that some folks will find a non-lawn yard a liability and some folks will love it. I just happened to luck into a couple who loved it after only 30 days on the market, and they paid full asking. I realize that this is little help to someone sitting wondering why their home won't sell. But you asked for experiences and this is mine Good luck- someone will find it charming, I'm sure. -- Toni Hills of Kentucky USDA Zone 6b http://www.cearbhaill.com |
#6
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Natural landscaping and home values
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#7
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Natural landscaping and home values
On Jul 27, 9:30�am, "
wrote: Hi everybody, We live near the downtown of Green Bay, Wisconsin, though actually, it's an old "suburb." Back in the 1920's, the lots were platted as "farmettes" 50' wide and 250' deep, the idea being that everyone would have a produce garden. Over the years most people eventually converted their yards to nothing but lawn, but when we purchased the home 20 years ago, we decided to convert half of the backyard to an urban habitat with natural landscaping. The result has been not only a lovely wooded and secluded lot full of flowers from early spring through fall, but we haven't needed to water or use any chemicals. What little lawn we have (because we've kept it mowed away from neighbors' properties) is only a 30 minute task with a reel mower. The problem is, we now have the home up for sale and what to us has been an asset is a liability in the eyes of prospective buyers! They want us to knock off thousands of dollars from our asking price for their cost of "cutting down those trees and clearing out all those weeds in back." They want the big rectangular lawn. Has anyone else experienced this situation and if so, what did you do? �Are there any networks we could plug into where we might find an appreciative owner for this beautiful landscape? We would gladly knock off a few thousand to someone who said "This is lovely! �I want to keep it." But we've already rejected an offer from somebody who wants to destroy it. (Yes, I know...we're crazy.) Thanks for any advice or suggestions you might have to offer. That's the craziest thing, buyers wanting you to pay in advance for their purported landscaping... sounds like a cheap shot to me, what if after they close they decide to leave it as is... then you're a sucker. Sell it as is at the price you set. And why are you concerned with what the next owners do, what if they said they want you to pay to repaint your freshly painted house some other color, are you in any way obligated, of course not, and they probably wont paint, they'll put the money towards a vacation or some such. If you're selling the place move on and don't look back... if you truly were so concerned about your landscaping you'd not be selling, yours is a "control from the grave" mentality. |
#8
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Natural landscaping and home values
On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:30:42 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote: Hi everybody, We live near the downtown of Green Bay, Wisconsin, though actually, it's an old "suburb." Back in the 1920's, the lots were platted as "farmettes" 50' wide and 250' deep, the idea being that everyone would have a produce garden. Over the years most people eventually converted their yards to nothing but lawn, but when we purchased the home 20 years ago, we decided to convert half of the backyard to an urban habitat with natural landscaping. The result has been not only a lovely wooded and secluded lot full of flowers from early spring through fall, but we haven't needed to water or use any chemicals. What little lawn we have (because we've kept it mowed away from neighbors' properties) is only a 30 minute task with a reel mower. The problem is, we now have the home up for sale and what to us has been an asset is a liability in the eyes of prospective buyers! They want us to knock off thousands of dollars from our asking price for their cost of "cutting down those trees and clearing out all those weeds in back." They want the big rectangular lawn. Has anyone else experienced this situation and if so, what did you do? Are there any networks we could plug into where we might find an appreciative owner for this beautiful landscape? We would gladly knock off a few thousand to someone who said "This is lovely! I want to keep it." But we've already rejected an offer from somebody who wants to destroy it. (Yes, I know...we're crazy.) Thanks for any advice or suggestions you might have to offer. :-) Tommy Very few people appreciate a "natural" lot, but it only takes one buyer. Improve street appeal and brighten your front door with color. This is a bad time to sell so it might take more time and/or a lower asking price. It's in your best interest to set emotions aside. Good luck. |
#9
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Natural landscaping and home values
In article
, " wrote: Hi everybody, We live near the downtown of Green Bay, Wisconsin, though actually, it's an old "suburb." Back in the 1920's, the lots were platted as "farmettes" 50' wide and 250' deep, the idea being that everyone would have a produce garden. Over the years most people eventually converted their yards to nothing but lawn, but when we purchased the home 20 years ago, we decided to convert half of the backyard to an urban habitat with natural landscaping. The result has been not only a lovely wooded and secluded lot full of flowers from early spring through fall, but we haven't needed to water or use any chemicals. What little lawn we have (because we've kept it mowed away from neighbors' properties) is only a 30 minute task with a reel mower. The problem is, we now have the home up for sale and what to us has been an asset is a liability in the eyes of prospective buyers! They want us to knock off thousands of dollars from our asking price for their cost of "cutting down those trees and clearing out all those weeds in back." They want the big rectangular lawn. Has anyone else experienced this situation and if so, what did you do? Are there any networks we could plug into where we might find an appreciative owner for this beautiful landscape? We would gladly knock off a few thousand to someone who said "This is lovely! I want to keep it." But we've already rejected an offer from somebody who wants to destroy it. (Yes, I know...we're crazy.) Thanks for any advice or suggestions you might have to offer. :-) Tommy This is a tragic tale, and we may have to face it someday too. We would like to live further in the country with more land. Our house has more than doubled in value and we might be able to make the move with such a tiny mortgage. But my "ideal" would be to keep this house for a couple years after finding the perfect country place, so I could slowly move whatever of our plants can be moved to the new place. We've created a "woodland" trail around our house which takes up just about everything that "ordinary" people would have kept lawn. Even among our neighbors I'd say two-thirds think we're wonderfully eccentric and visit us for tours while walking their dogs, the other third are lawn-nazis who probably wish our island of trees and shrubs and shade plants didn't exist (at least one person has registered this opinion to our faces -- his yard is a combination of concrete and river rocks with just a couple shrubs). The idea of just digging half of it up to toss, so that a "nice" evil lawn would increase the customer base to buy the house, it is just horrible to ponder. If we ever pursue selling the place we may first TRY it as-planted to see if some delighted eccentric like ourselves loves the "wilderness" look of the enclosing garden, but I'd still worry someone would buy it because it's a great house, and a week later tear out all the plants and throw them away! So I'd still like some overlap to at least move the rhody collection and whatever ferns and perennials aren't easily replaced. Bigger shrubs that don't dig up well, and the trees, will just have to be left to new owners' choices to keep or cut down. There have got to be some halfway points though. Sacriaficing just one side of the house's gardens, takign out enough for one tidy evil lawn area, that might be enough for most potential buyers to feel they had the expected lawn, with the other areas around the house becoming a plus for great gardens rather than a negative for too much planted. Some shrubs at least could be moved with ease even if they had to be given away. If you don't have to move instantly it's worth treating the gardens as the asset ADDING to the value, and not decide too quickly nobody's going to say oh I love this landscaping, this is the house for me. You could start with just some limbing up to give an airy open feeling that keeps prospective buyers from thinking trees take up too much of the space. -paghat the ratgirl -- visit my temperate gardening website: http://www.paghat.com visit my film reviews website: http://www.weirdwildrealm.com |
#10
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Natural landscaping and home values
In article , "David E. Ross"
wrote: [cuts] Provide paths through it, perhaps paved with bark chips, decomposed granite, or recycled concrete (broken up sidewalks) as stepping stones. A bench within the native plants would be a nice place to sit and listen to birds singing. A natural garden can be much more attractive than a weed lot. Some even resemble classic English perennial country gardens. Great advice! We already have some seating areas in our gardens, and if ours goes on the market someday, I'll try to remember to keep the bench areas very tidy to enhance the feeling that it's usable space rather than used-up space. -paghat the ratgirl -- visit my temperate gardening website: http://www.paghat.com visit my film reviews website: http://www.weirdwildrealm.com |
#11
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Natural landscaping and home values
(paghat) wrote:
We would like to live further in the country with more land. to at least move the rhody collection and whatever ferns and perennials aren't easily replaced. If you move to a *real* rural woodland setting you won't need to landscape, you'll have the real deal... any parking out will look absolutely fake. And unless you first build a sturdy fenced area most any plant you bring will be devoured by deer (and rabbits). |
#12
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Natural landscaping and home values
On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:53:51 -0700 (PDT), Sheldon
wrote: (paghat) wrote: We would like to live further in the country with more land. to at least move the rhody collection and whatever ferns and perennials aren't easily replaced. If you move to a *real* rural woodland setting you won't need to landscape, you'll have the real deal... any parking out will look absolutely fake. And unless you first build a sturdy fenced area most any plant you bring will be devoured by deer (and rabbits). I live in the middle of the city and deer have destroyed over 50% of what I planted. The deer killed the neighbors fruit trees by peeling off the bark. I either use the electric fence or cover the plant with chicken wire. In my case it doesn't look like there is any difference living in the city or country. |
#13
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Natural landscaping and home values
On Jul 27, 7:08�pm, Phisherman wrote:
On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:53:51 -0700 (PDT), Sheldon wrote: (paghat) wrote: We would like to live further in the country with more land. to at least move the rhody collection and whatever ferns and perennials aren't easily replaced. If you move to a *real* rural woodland setting you won't need to landscape, you'll have the real deal... any parking out will look absolutely fake. �And unless you first build a sturdy fenced area most any plant you bring will be devoured by deer (and rabbits). I live in the middle of the city and deer have destroyed over 50% of what I planted. �The deer killed the neighbors fruit trees by peeling off the bark. � I either use the electric fence or cover the plant with chicken wire. �In my case it doesn't look like there is any difference living in the city or country. In which city do you live that there's a deer population. I doubt there are deer in most populous cities (to survive deer need many acres of forest and meadow to browse), sounds more like the outskirts of a small rural town/village. |
#14
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Natural landscaping and home values
On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:00:35 -0700 (PDT), Sheldon
wrote: On Jul 27, 7:08?pm, Phisherman wrote: On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:53:51 -0700 (PDT), Sheldon wrote: (paghat) wrote: We would like to live further in the country with more land. to at least move the rhody collection and whatever ferns and perennials aren't easily replaced. If you move to a *real* rural woodland setting you won't need to landscape, you'll have the real deal... any parking out will look absolutely fake. ?And unless you first build a sturdy fenced area most any plant you bring will be devoured by deer (and rabbits). I live in the middle of the city and deer have destroyed over 50% of what I planted. ?The deer killed the neighbors fruit trees by peeling off the bark. ? I either use the electric fence or cover the plant with chicken wire. ?In my case it doesn't look like there is any difference living in the city or country. In which city do you live that there's a deer population. I doubt there are deer in most populous cities (to survive deer need many acres of forest and meadow to browse), sounds more like the outskirts of a small rural town/village. Oak Ridge, TN, pop. 28,000. On average one car and one deer collide daily in our town. We have "mule deer," the ones with the huge ears. Some will get within a few feet of a human and they have been known to charge if provoked. Hunting season is too short and not enough people are eating deer for Thanksgiving. |
#15
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Natural landscaping and home values
On Jul 27, 10:23�pm, Phisherman wrote:
On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:00:35 -0700 (PDT), Sheldon wrote: On Jul 27, 7:08?pm, Phisherman wrote: On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:53:51 -0700 (PDT), Sheldon wrote: (paghat) wrote: We would like to live further in the country with more land. to at least move the rhody collection and whatever ferns and perennials aren't easily replaced.. If you move to a *real* rural woodland setting you won't need to landscape, you'll have the real deal... any parking out will look absolutely fake. ?And unless you first build a sturdy fenced area most any plant you bring will be devoured by deer (and rabbits). I live in the middle of the city and deer have destroyed over 50% of what I planted. ?The deer killed the neighbors fruit trees by peeling off the bark. ? I either use the electric fence or cover the plant with chicken wire. ?In my case it doesn't look like there is any difference living in the city or country. In which city do you live that there's a deer population. �I doubt there are deer in most populous cities (to survive deer need many acres of forest and meadow to browse), sounds more like the outskirts of a small rural town/village. Oak Ridge, TN, pop. 28,000. �On average one car and one deer collide daily in our town. � We have "mule deer," the ones with the huge ears. Some will get within a few feet of a human and they have been known to charge if provoked. �Hunting season is too short and not enough people are eating deer for Thanksgiving. I seriously doubt those deer are wandering about the downtown portion of your town... I live within a town of only 3,500, but I'm located almost four miles from the town center, there are plenty of deer where I live and technically I live in town but one would never know it. Very occasionally deer will wander within a quarter mile of the downtown center... and even in the yards of the village homes the rabbits will wreak havoc on shrubs, perennials, annuals, and vegetable gardens unless well fenced. When I moved here I brought many of the plants I had growing in my surburban yard, Within a a week of planting them here every one was eaten roots and all... I had a nice hosta collection I brought, deer and rabbits love hosta salad... the only evergreen they don't seem to eat is spruce, they just love juniper. I learned the hard way, within a few days those critters ate all my original landscape plantings. Now unless I'm willing to fence it I don't plant it. Yesterday, a typical afternoon scene in my yard: http://i34.tinypic.com/ngpuab.jpg Plant it and they will come, don't fence it and they will eat it: http://i34.tinypic.com/2cmm1aa.jpg |
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