WWYD: Great interior, terrible backyard?
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Anonymous
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We saw a home yesterday that had a great interior---totally renovated and basically brand new inside. The layout was a little wonky, but we think we can work with it. The backyard, however, was terrible. The current owners have done nothing with it, which surprised us since the inside is so well done. It lead us to wonder if there was a reason they hadn't bothered with the yard---i.e., drainage issues, water run-off, etc that prevents landscaping or decking/patio from being added. As it is now, the yard is pretty much unusable and not a place you'd ever want to play or socialize. Looking up and down the street, the neighbors backyards were similarly barren. This is a nice area with lots of families, so that was odd to see. I'm going to look at the home again today after it rains for a few hours and see how the yard looks.
Have you bought a home with a crappy yard and been able to make it nice with landscaping (architecture and/or design)? The main issue is that is slopes down from the home and from the back property line to form a gutter for drainage. DH and I think it's curable if we're willing to put some $$$ into it (and our bid would be lower to take that into account). Without seeing the property, for those who have BTDT, are we crazy? |
Anonymous
| If you're sure it's curable, buy the place. We fixed up our backyard to the tune of a $150K retaining wall and it was worth it. If, on the other hand, there is not enough space for you or the issues are insurmountable, walk away. |
Anonymous
| I'm guessing that after spending so much on the interior, the current owners were probably spent out (at least for the mean time) and couldn't get to the landscaping just yet. If they were thinking of selling the house, then they were smart...interior renovations yield greater returns than landscaping when selling. I don't think you're in a bad position, just bid low enough so that you have the money to do the landscaping...which ain't cheap if you want a really nice job done. |
Anonymous
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If I understand you correctly, the yard slopes away from your house? So there are no moisture problems in your basement? Does your neighbor's property slope downwards into yours? If not, I think you are OK.
You might hire a landscape architect to turn your "gutter" into a rain garden. Of course, if you wanted a level backyard, you would need to look into that further. |
Anonymous
We are in a similar positon to these sellers. We renovated the interior (and front exterior for curb appeal) of our rowhouse very nicely and it looks greats, but didn't have enough cash to do the (relatively small but larger than average for the neighbothood) backyard. Issues are surmountable (nothing major, just not a nice backyard now), and if we had 30K or so extra we could do something nice to it. We are planning to sell in a year or two. Is it worth streching to do something that looks nice for a sale? Or just leave it as it is and be ready to accept a slightly lower offer than if we had done something? In other words, what's the return on a for-sale backyard reno? |
Anonymous
| A lot of people just don't spend time in their yards. After spending so much on the interior, they may have just petered out. I'd check out the drainage issue further. Perhaps mosquitoes are a big, big problem in the summer. |
Anonymous
After the winter we had--mosquitoes are going to be a big problem for everyone this summer. |
Anonymous
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OP here. Thanks, all. I'm so thankful for this downpour today! Heading over to the home this afternoon to see what the yard (and the basement) looks like after a full day of rain.
To PP at 10:14 - DH and I said that if they'd finished the backyard, we would have offered full price, but this yard isn't flat and may have major issues. In our case, I think the unfinished yard will knock about 5% off the purchase price, but I could be wrong. You may sell your place faster if you have a finished yard, but if the yard is flat and has potential, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Like others said, many people don't use their yards anyway. |
Anonymous
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Some people aren't outdoorsy people. I bought a house this past summer and the interior's pretty nice, but it's clear that the seller had spent no time on yard maintenance in the last year. You wouldn't believe how overgrown everything was in the two months between when we wrote the offer and when we moved in.
That said, it's a decent lot and it's level. Get rid of weeds, get some grass seed in this spring, do some planting and some shrubs and see what happens. |
Anonymous
| If you think it is fixable, go for it. If not or you don't like it that much, don't sweat it. Something else will come along. |
Anonymous
| PPs have good ideas why it might be barren but you are right to look at other yards too. If you love the house, it might be useful to take some landscaper there to check it out. The front yard of our house is just great and we heard stories how the previous owner used to spend hours in the front yard taking care of the garden. The back yard had a few old trees but not much. We thought we could work on it but discovered that the trees bring too much shade and the drainage isn't as good and other issues. There is a solution for this if you are willing to spend enough money. Good luck. |
Anonymous
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OP, we bought a home just like that last year (great house but for some reason the previous homeowners simply didn't care about the yard). They had put serious cash into a home addition/major renovation project, so perhaps they just didn't feel like they wanted to spend any more on the property - I really don't know.
I will say this, we got about 10% off the list price and at least part of this was b/c the backyard was a disaster zone. Huge property, but the backyard was COMPLETELY neglected. I think the house was also just overpriced, but the backyard certainly didn't help the situation. For us, we've already spent probably $20k on fixing it up and may spend much much more to get the backyard of our dreams (like $200k more). This is a $1M+ house though and our "forever" house, so we feel that it will be worth it (for us). That said, I think landscaping projects are ridiculously expensive - much more so than I would have imagined. If you won't be happy with the house if you don't do something to the backyard, I suggest you speak to a landscaper who can give you a sense of what problems exist and how much it will cost. That isn't to say that the sellers will (or should) foot this bill, but that way you know what you are getting into. All said and done, I am still 100% happy with our home purchase. |
Anonymous
| It probably doesn't have an insurmountable issues, especially if it looks ok after getting a lot of rain today. You might want to talk to your agent about including a clause in your contract that your home inspection contingency includes having a landscape architect or other specialist look at the yard. |
Anonymous
| You could try approaching a few neighbors, saying you are interested in the neighborhood, ask about the schools, traffic and then work around to the yard issue. |
Anonymous
| How was the rainy day OP? Is the yard tiny? Are the neighbors on top of you? WHO is on top of you? Are they nosy? |