Property Management

Spring Yard Cleanup Is a Better Investment Than You Think

• by Colby Shosted
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Investing in spring yard cleanup for your properties can go a long way toward improving curb appeal and overall ROI. During the winter season, your properties are exposed to snow, ice and cold winds that blow in leaves, litter and other debris you don’t want on your properties. These harsh winter elements can blanket your properties and stifle your lawns’ roots from the oxygen and nutrients they need to maintain their healthy appearance and preserve curb appeal year-round. Come springtime, your properties may either come out unscathed or look like a scene from Twister. Or, they might just land somewhere in between. Regardless of which end of the spectrum they fall, cleaning and inspecting your properties in the spring is essential to fostering curb appeal, creating a satisfying experience for residents and improving ROI. Fostering Curb Appeal In situations where residents are responsible for yard care, it’s not uncommon for them to ignore their landscaping duties and leave owners with the risk and cost of neglect. HOA violations, rehab costs, decreased property value and lower rental prices are just a few of the factors that can hit your bottom line when curb appeal is overlooked. To avoid the expenses associated with turnover, preventive yard maintenance can help you catch small problems before they turn into larger expenses. Annual spring cleanup ensures that your lawns are on their way to a healthy and beautiful season and are utilizing all the care lawn products efficiently. The National Rental Home Council suggests single-family home rental operators should take preventative maintenance measures throughout their ownership to ensure properties remain in good condition. Preventive maintenance that aims to protect and improve the appearance and state of the rental home can eliminate rehab costs and fees associated with HOA violations. It can also limit the vacancy rates since a well-cared-for property leads to a more satisfying experience for residents. Researchers at the University of Alabama and the University of Texas at Arlington collected and assessed Google Street View photos and sales data from 88,890 properties and determined that homes with excellent curb appeal sold for 7%-14% morethan homes with less-than-ideal curb appeal. Creating a Satisfying Resident Experience Considering spring cleanup is your biggest opportunity of the year to get your properties in shape, it shouldn’t be left in the hands of your residents. Often, residents don’t have the appropriate equipment, knowledge and desire to maintain your investment. Provide your residents with an experience that allows them to enjoy the great amenities your rental has to offer, such as a well-manicured property. This is one thing you can do to give your residents the feeling of being a homeowner without all the added responsibility. The more your residents “feel” like homeowners, the less likely they are to rent elsewhere. The less your residents rent elsewhere, the more money you make. “Single-family rental operators should aim to provide residents with a highly satisfactory experience from the time of the first contact through the selection of their home, the move-in process and for the duration of the experience,” advises the National Rental Home Council. In addition to creating a satisfying experience for residents, cleaning and inspecting your properties throughout the year will help ensure they are well maintained. As many property owners have experienced, some tenants have a history of neglecting the yard. Regularly providing exterior services for your properties will give residents more appreciation and respect for your investment. It’s up to you to set the standards for how your properties should be maintained. Introducing your residents to your standards of yard care will lay the groundwork for how the interior of the property should be maintained, ultimately reducing your expenses inside and outside the home. Improving ROI The key to improving ROI for your properties is performing routine maintenance. Rehabilitating your properties between residents is neither cost-effective nor practical. Your properties should always be in rent-ready condition regardless of occupancy status. Spring cleanup is a vital piece of the year-round maintenance that keeps your properties in good condition. Maintaining your properties regularly will attract more long-term residents and reduce the costs associated with listing and marketing your properties. Studies show that improving landscape quality could increase rental rates by as much as $117 a month and improve turn times by as much as 30 days. Bottom line, better maintained yards translate to more money for owners. Neglecting your properties or assigning yard care duties to residents can increase your operating costs. Giving your lawns a good place to start in the spring can set you up for long-term success. Sidebar To keep up with curb appeal and protect your investment, here are a few simple and affordable landscaping tips you can implement today to yield long-term results. Maintain Bushes and ShrubsTrimming bushes and shrubs is quite possibly the easiest way to add curb appeal to your properties. It also offers the most dramatic effects. Keeping up with routine bush and shrub trimming ensures your properties always look their best without breaking the bank. The key here is routine. Bushes and shrubs can give properties dramatic effects. But, if they are neglected, they can have a negative impact. Fertilize Your LawnMaybe it’s because fertilizing doesn’t offer instant gratification like lawn mowing or bush trimming that some people overlook this necessity. Still, fertilizing is a vital curb appeal booster with long-term benefits, including attracting and keeping residents. At the very least, you should be applying lawn fertilizer two times a year. Some areas require even more applications. Check with your landscaper on how often your lawns need to be fertilized.  Use a Steel Blade Edger to EdgeLet’s face it—using a weed eater to edge along sidewalks and walkways is a rookie mistake and can be spotted a mile away. Instead, ask your landscaper about using a steel blade edger at least once a month to give your properties a clean and sophisticated look. When you compare a steel blade edger to properties that use a string trimmer to