A Garden Won't Show Up on Your Appraisal
Let's be honest about something the home improvement world doesn't want you to hear: a garden won't add a line item to your comp sheet.
No appraiser is circling your raised beds and adding $10,000 to your value. It doesn't work that way, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something.
But here's what a garden will do.
Here's what a garden will do
It'll make someone pull up to the house and slow down before they even get out of the car. It'll make a buyer walk the backyard twice. It'll be the thing their partner brings up on the drive home — "did you see that garden
though?"
A garden doesn't increase your home value. But it does increase how much someone wants to make it their home.
That's a different kind of math — and sometimes it's worth more than any number on a report. Desire doesn't show up on a spreadsheet. But it shows up in offers.
The homes that sell fast aren't always the ones with the highest appraisals. They're the ones that feel like somewhere a buyer can already picture their life. A well-loved garden does exactly that. It tells a story before anyone steps inside.
So no, you won't recoup the cost of that raised bed on paper. But you might sell faster, with fewer negotiations, to someone who fell in love before they even saw the kitchen.
And that's worth something.
Looking for a home that already feels like yours? Whether you want a backyard worth photographing or just a neighborhood that fits your life, let's talk about what you're actually looking for.
Every week I talk to someone who is done with the city. Done with the noise, the rent, the feeling of never quite having enough space to breathe. And every single time they ask me the same question. Where do I even start?
Over fifty incredible people gathered together on a picture perfect day for Yoga in the Garden, and I am still in awe of what came together. It wasn't just the weather or the setting. It was the people, the energy, and the outstanding small businesses that showed up in a big way to make the morning what it was.
A couple of years ago, I met a client named Callann. Like a lot of my clients, she came to me with more than a checklist of square footage and bedrooms. She came with a dream.