{"id":43565,"date":"2025-07-14T02:00:41","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T09:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=43565"},"modified":"2026-04-08T11:42:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T18:42:33","slug":"backyard-improvements-that-add-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/backyard-improvements-that-add-value\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Backyard Improvements That Add Value (and 5 That Don\u2019t)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s common knowledge that curb appeal adds resale value; a recent HomeLight survey found that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-top-agent-insights-for-end-of-year-2024\/\">48% of agents<\/a> consider it the strongest selling point in the current market. \u00a0And while painting the front door and replacing the mailbox are worthwhile improvements, the same attention should be paid to sprucing up the backyard.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you\u2019re getting your house ready to list or just purchased a fixer-upper, you might be curious about backyard improvements that add value. We spoke to two seasoned real estate professionals to find out which projects boost a home\u2019s asking price, and which ones turn buyers away.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"geo-cta widget-cta widget-cta--content     widget-cta--dark widget-cta--dark-blue-gradient\">\n    <div class=\"widget-element--content\">\n        <div class=\"widget-element--content-header\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"homelight logo\" class=\"widget-element--logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ccprototypev5\/images\/logo-small-cta.png\" width=\"106\" height=\"25\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        \n                <h3 class=\"cta-headline widget--bold\">Renovating? Check your home value first<\/h3>\n                        <p>How much is your home worth today? In as little as two minutes, HomeLight can provide you with a preliminary estimate of value in preparation of your plans to renovate, remodel, or make repairs.<\/p>\n        \n                <div class=\"widget-element--buttons\">\n            <a data-type=\"In Content CTA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/simple-home-value\/quiz?#\/qaas=0\/\" class=\"cta-click-track widget-element--button\">Input Address<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n <div id=\"section--1\" data-toc-header=\"How much value do backyard improvements add?\" data-toc-type=\"head\"><\/div><\/p>\n<h2>Exactly how much value do backyard improvements add?<\/h2>\n<p>Because real estate is hyper-local, it\u2019s impossible to put a specific dollar amount on the value of backyard improvements. An in-ground pool in Florida might raise the price of your home by $20,000, but could subtract value if you live in Michigan where the summers are relatively short.<\/p>\n<p>Generally speaking, professional landscaping can boost your home\u2019s resale value by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asla.org\/reasonstohire.aspx\">15%\u201320%<\/a>, according to the American Society of Landscape Architects. For a house worth $400,000, that could amount to an extra $80,000 in your pocket.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny sort of outdoor space that you can entertain on adds a decent amount of tangible value from a homebuyer\u2019s and an appraiser\u2019s perspective,\u201d says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/agents\/majdimichael-azzam-oh-hl0454747\">Michael Azzam<\/a>, a top-performing agent in Cleveland, Ohio, who sells properties 54% faster than his peers.<\/p>\n<p>While a complete return on investment isn\u2019t guaranteed, a well-designed outdoor space can speed up your home sale and potentially fetch a higher price. The key is to avoid overspending and focus on improvements that add value and enjoyment, both financial and personal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sell your home faster and for more money by making strategic improvements to your backyard and get tips from top-selling agents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":360,"featured_media":43566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[320,333],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-add-value","category-increase-value"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Backyard Improvements That Add Value: Top ROI Upgrades<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sell your home faster and for more money by making strategic improvements to your backyard and get tips from top-selling agents.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/backyard-improvements-that-add-value\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Backyard Improvements That Add Value (and 5 That Don\u2019t)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sell your home faster and for more money by making strategic improvements to your backyard and get tips from top-selling agents.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/backyard-improvements-that-add-value\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta 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Articles, guides, and advice from top agents all over the U.S.","email":"support@homelight.com","telephone":"(888) 688-0350","legalName":"HomeLight","foundingDate":"2012-01-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"201","maxValue":"500"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e817a66a34e68b76ff25567c7d85f8c7","name":"Kelsey Morrison","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/693f5c1346908c1078d62904cd0e3c3b1e33d408ca39bff6a2579a339980141f?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/693f5c1346908c1078d62904cd0e3c3b1e33d408ca39bff6a2579a339980141f?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Kelsey Morrison"},"description":"Kelsey Morrison worked as an editor for HomeLight's Resource Centers. She has seven years of editorial experience in the real estate and lifestyle spaces. 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Kelsey holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in Journalism from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, and lives in a small mountain town in Southern California.","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/author\/kelseymorrison\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/360"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}