How much do you love the lawn at your rental property?
If you love it a lot, you need to strategize how you’ll keep it looking great, even while your property is occupied by tenants.
If you don’t really think about it, you still need a strategy. Curb appeal is an important part of attracting and retaining tenants. The outside of your property needs to look clean, attractive, and inviting.
We’re talking about landscaping tips today, and our focus is on what you can do to maintain your rental property with ease. Tenants don’t want to spend a lot of time taking care of the lawn, and you don’t either.
Here’s what you can do to make it easier on everyone.
Plan for Washington Weather
The weather in our part of the country is unique. On the positive side, this means the lush, moist, and cooler climate allows you to create green outdoor spaces that are attractive and abundant. It’s easy to plant flowers and bushes that attract bees and butterflies and birds. An attractive outdoor space can attract good tenants and increase your rental value. However, it also means that keeping up with lawn cutting, tree trimming, and flower bed weeding can be time consuming and complex.
Keep your Landscaping Simple
Complicated topiaries are not recommended.
Whether you have a large backyard or a simple patio space, you want to keep things simple. This is better for you, better for your tenants, and better for the amount of work that someone will have to do to maintain your landscaping.
Stick to native grass and local plants and flowers. Install an irrigation system that makes watering automatic. Create an outdoor space that is comfortable and welcoming, but not high-maintenance. Sometimes, less is more. This is especially true when it comes to landscaping.
Partner with a Landscaping Service
One of the questions that always needs to be settled is – who’s responsible for the landscaping? It might be you or it might be your tenant. This will depend on what kind of involvement you want to have in keeping the landscaping well-maintained. It also depends on your tenant and your property type. If you’re renting out a single-family home, you might have a tenant who looks forward to mowing the lawn and tending to a garden. Not all tenants will be so enthusiastic, however. Many renters lease a home because they don’t want the maintenance and work that comes with weeding and trimming and mowing and watering.
It’s a good idea to hire a landscaping service. You can roll the cost of that service into the monthly rent. This ensures that your property is landscaped to a standard that’s acceptable to you, and it relieves your tenants of any responsibility for taking care of the lawn.
You’ll need to address landscaping responsibilities in your lease agreement, whether you’ll take care of it, your tenants will take care of it, or you’ll have a service taking care of the lawn. Keeping things simple will ensure an easy, enjoyable rental experience for you and your residents.
Need help organizing how to approach your property’s landscaping? We can help. Please contact us at Real Estate Gladiators. We serve owners and investors in Monroe, Issaquah, Bellevue, Everett, Lake Stevens, Kirkland and other cities in and around King and Snohomish counties in Washington State.
