Question and Answer

Here is a question posed to me last week by a friend of a past client. It touches on an area that a lot of home owners have questions about: how the work the do now (or don't do now,) will impact the future sale of their home. Read on to see my answer.

Q: I am wanting to put a 5' wooden fence in my backyard to replace the 4' chain link. My boyfriend wants us to fence the south side and the back (at the alley), but leave the long section on the north side with the chain link and just plant shubbery.

I understand his desire to save some money in the immediate, but I wonder if when it does come time to sell (not planning on being there forever-prolly only about three more years), I am concerned that a potential buyer might see a partial fence as a job not completed.

Do you think it matters?

A: You pose a really good question. I think I understand the nature of it but just to be clear: you & your boyfriend are weighing the merits of spending more $$ now to enclose 3 sides of the back yard with a fence vs. saving $$ by only enclosing 2 sides with the fence and planting shrubbery to enclose the 3rd, while still leaving the chain link. Is that correct? If so, let me ask a few questions...

1. Are the shrubs already planted on the north side? If not, you need to realistically weigh the costs of the planted vegetation. I'm neither a gardener nor a professional fence-maker (?) but I do know that plants cost money. If your main reason is to save money, make sure you are working with all the figures. You may only be saving a fraction of the cost over the fence (esp. if you are having the shrubs professionally installed.)

2. How is the rest of your house as far as upkeep, upgrades, curb appeal, etc. Please be honest--it's for your sake not mine. Remember that buyers are ultimately looking at a package deal. You may have state of the art kitchens & baths but if the home looks like crap from the street, many buyers might never make it through the door. Likewise, if you spend a ton of money on the outdoor space but the inside shows relatively poorly, you might be limiting yourself to a small pool of buyers.

Without seeing the house (and you are welcome to send me pics,) I'm inclined to say spend the extra $$ and complete the fencing. A common complaint I hear from buyers who reject a property is that the seller's "cheaped out" on a repair or upgrade. If the buyer gets that impression then they are probably going to ask themselves "what else did they cut corners on?"--not a question you want to have to answer when you are trying to sell your home. Also, the buyer will on some level be thinking "if I buy this place, I'm eventually going to want to replace that chain link..." While you will not get a dollar-for-dollar value on your improvements your home will probably show better. That will lead to a quicker sale and, quite possibly, a higher sale price.

Hope this helps.