Appearances matter in all aspects and dimensions of human life. The way you dress food makes
it more appetizing. The clothes you wear to a business meeting will influence the results you get.
People, generally, use what they see as their initial yardstick for measuring anything they are
unfamiliar with. This is true for prospective renters viewing your rental property for the first
time.
The landscaping around your rental is how the home introduces itself to visitors. From looking at
the yard alone, perfect strangers will draw conclusions about what the rental looks like inside.
Even when the person makes wrong assumptions about the property, those initial ideas will
remain in their head long after they have seen what the home actually looks like.
This is why you should make the landscaping around your rental a critical part of the strategies
for winning and retaining quality tenants, advises HMR Management . Good landscaping makes
it easier to grab the attention of high-paying renters. It also makes the home more enjoyable for
the tenants. Money and effort invested into improving the landscaping will always reflect an
improved bottom line.
To make the landscaping around your rental property more compelling for potential tenants, here
are a few landscaping tips you should implement.
10 Landscaping Tips to Attract New Tenants
1. Plant Some Trees
Having trees in the yard will completely change the way people view the home. Trees
have a calming effect that makes people want to stick around. Do not choose trees with
invasive roots and wide-spreading branches. If the branches can reach your roof, the roots
will reach the foundations. If you have existing trees, trim them to make them more
alluring.
2. Provide Lots of Shade
Your tenants should be able to enjoy the yard without worrying about the sun’s heat.
Trees can help provide natural shade. In addition to trees or the absence of them, a
pergola or similar structure can serve the same purpose. Any structure which offers
support for climbing plants can be used to provide shade.
3. Use Colorful Native Plants
Native plants are resistant to the diseases and pests that are endemic to an area. They
don’t need as much care as non-native plants; this helps to cut down fertilizers,
pesticides, or herbicides usage. Using native plants in the yard means a safer yard for
humans and pets to play in. To make the most of native plants, use colorful varieties.
4. Use Attractive Hardscaping
Hardscaping is the non-living element of the yard that help improve its appeal and
functionality. The best hardscaping features are those that do not increase energy use and
maintenance costs of the yard. Examples of hardscaping elements to add are stone
retaining walls, clay-flowerpots, stone walkways, concrete benches, pergolas, decks, and
patios.
5. Plant Fragrant Flowers
Sweet-smelling flowers are a great way to introduce your rental home to prospective
tenants. Keeping the outdoor areas around a rental property smelling fresh through the
year is not all that difficult. You just need to choose plants that bloom at different periods
of the year. If you do this carefully, you will keep the yard permanently and naturally
perfumed all the time.
6. Create a Berm
A berm is a long ridge of raised earth that adds character to a yard. Berms perform some
important functions; they act as a buffer to keep noise from the street out of the home,
they help improve privacy, and are aesthetically appealing. Building a berm is also a
good way to reduce weed growth, and, by extension, cut landscape maintenance costs.
7. Increase Privacy
Well-planned landscaping is one of the best ways to enhance privacy in a rental property.
Most tenants prefer a rental home if it has big windows. But big windows complicate the
privacy challenges of the property. However, you can deploy a barrier of shrubs and
hedges as a screen to keep prying eyes out of your tenant’s personal affairs.
8. Keep it Low-maintenance
Most of the tips above will reduce the cost and effort of maintaining the yard. Low-
maintenance yards are a great attraction when the tenant is responsible for landscape
maintenance. Given that tenants will often not look after the landscaping as well as the
owner, a low-maintenance yard will help reduce tenants’ tendency to postpone important
landscaping tasks.
9. Upgrade the Lighting
Sufficient and versatile lighting creates a lovely landscape that can be used well after
lights should serve for security, illumination, and to highlight key features of the yard.
Installing solar LED lights will let tenants get all the benefits of improved lighting
without additional energy costs.
10. Include Space for Gardening
Including space for gardening in the yard will make your rental more attractive to tenants
who love that kind of activity. This will expand the pool of prospective tenants you can
market to. Furthermore, since this is a benefit most rental homes don’t offer, tenants will
be willing to pay higher rents if your rental gives them access to some gardening space.