Garden gardens a bonus when selling or do they put of FTBs?

[Smudge2201]

When we moved into our house the back garden was paved from fence to fence along the whole length. There wasn’t one plant in it, just a broken bench and a few plastic pots with nothing in it.

it became my project to transform it, and it’s become my little tranquil space to relax in after a long day at work.

We’re now selling. In your experience do you think it is an asset / helps a property sell, or as it’s a FTB house, would it scare them off thinking about having to look after it? OH and I have wildly differing views - not that there’s much we can do about it!

Definitely an asset. My first property is a flat with a huge communal garden that is looked after, but a private garden is top of the list for when I can afford to upgrade and I’d want a grassy/pretty one, not a paved yard or shudder astroturf

LOL at the notion that landlords of rented houses look after the garden!

We are buying now, FTBs and definitely wanted a proper garden.

It’s lovely op, and a huge selling point.

I think it looks great and will be a really good selling point. I redid my garden in my FTB flat and it was a big feature in the EA details.

It looks pretty low maintenance too.

You’re both right, if it was a mess it would be a down side, so absolutely it will help it sell. But your husband is also right, as, as said, most houses have gardens. So if you look at who else is up for sale. You will see most do and that makes it a wash.

Having bought a house with a sizeable garden last year as a FTB, I think it’s an asset - it’s one of the main reasons we wanted to move. We also completely underestimated the work involved in its upkeep (having never had a garden before!) I would guess other FTBs may be in a similar boat - look outside and see a lovely green space and flowers and naively think it just keeps itself like that 🙈

The folder of plants and their upkeep is a wonderful idea! I would have been so grateful for that!

Definitely a huge selling point imho.

I'm not your target audience (long time since we were FTBs!), but love a garden, especially one that's full of plants and looks cared for...ie, yours.

We've bought a few - admittedly project - houses that have had great outside spaces, but which have just been a sea of weeds and not a flowering plant to be seen -our current half acre being a prime example- I mean why buy somewhere with half an acre if you're not a keen gardener?. One actually had shoulder-height brambles that concealed a huge picnic table with attached seating, standing on its end! The lack of proper plant-filled gardens haven't deterred us from buying because it's par for the course with a project property, but if the house was otherwise done beautifully a bare/paved/concrete garden would.

I imagine most FTBs would love such a pretty garden as yours @Smudge2201 , but I'd definitely do as a previous poster suggested and put together a file of what you've planted/care of said plants. We've done this a couple of times when selling to novice gardeners and it was most appreciated. Good luck with your sale!

Your garden looks lovely!

We were FTB after renting flats and bought a house with a huge wrap around garden. It was a neglected wasteland of grass, weeds and slabs, but over the years we've managed to make it a nice space.

I do wonder if our garden will put prospective buyers off in the future, as we have a large part dedicated to growing veg, which isn't for everybody.

We haven’t rented for 20yrs and it was communal so that didn’t occur to me 🙈 I hope you find somewhere lovely!

Oh gosh I know what you mean about upkeep! It’s a good couple of hrs each weekend which I try to convince myself is like ‘free gym’ 🤣

Oh no, astroturf is horrendous in all ways 😞

I wouldn't buy a house without a garden garden. I wouldn't buy one that was fully paved or fake grassed unless enough of a bargain to warrant the extra work and expense of changing it.

I think I have the only LL in the country who does. But that's because it used to be a house and it's on her farm. Her OH cuts the top of our hedges (with a whacking great thing off a tractor), she puts down weedkiller in spring for me (she knows I struggle with bending down) and one of her staff mows our lawn once a week with a ride on.

Jammy huh?

But in return, we put up with the smell of cow shit 24/7, tractors driving all through the night for three days solid in Spring, calling her about escapee cows and sheep, warn her about moles (a risk to livestock), and don't object to guns being shot every weekend day in Autumn, so I guess we sort of pay for it, after a fashion.

Your beautiful garden would probably swing it for me over a paved yard. I love gardening and a well established garden is a thing of beauty - and like you say you’ve done all the hard work

Thanks, we’ve found somewhere with a lovely good sized south facing garden.

That’s a very small, manageable garden so I can’t see why it would put anyone off.

It looks lovely, and even though I know nothing about gardening I would be confident to keep a garden like that going.

I wouldn't buy a house with a paved garden as it would cost a fortune to turn it into what you have. Maybe as an aside you could mention some reasonably priced local gardeners

I probably wouldn't call it an asset as it's what I would expect. I would however call a totally paved garden a MASSIVE negative

This! Definitely don’t pave it.

Definitely an asset for me. It was the thing that made me fall in love with our present house.

paved over gardens or artificial grass would be a massive negative for me because I’d have the hassle and expense of ripping them out to create a garden for gardening in. I probably wouldn't even view a house with these,

Same. But when I look out of our upstairs window at the back, at least half of the gardens are fully paved 🤷🏽‍♀️

I love a garden and would be totally put off if a property didn't have a nice garden (or the potential for one). Yours looks lovely, a little oasis of calm.

Definitely an asset. Lots of people want a beautiful garden.

I know, over 16yrs I must have spent more on it than anything else in the house. Definitely in the £3000+ in materials and planting at least.