Buying your first home is both frightening and exciting, and that?s understandable. It should be. Your home is most likely the biggest purchase you will ever make. Whether or not you?re a first-time homebuyer, chances are there was something about the house or property that made you feel like this was a place to call ?home.?
If you?re like most potential homebuyers, you?re concentrating on the house, not the landscape, when viewing a home for sale. As you shop for your new home, the following landscaping tips will hopefully help you avoid expensive problems in the future.
Homebuying Landscape Tip #1: Where?s the High Water Mark?
If you can avoid living in a floodplain, do it. A few years ago, a friend of mine purchased a home in a 100-year floodplain. By definition, a 100-year flood only has a 1 percent chance of occurring each year. Unfortunately, soon after she purchased the property, a real estate development with a large building footprint and lots of surface parking went up near her property. The excess run-off caused by the new development created an increase in the flood frequency, and every year thereafter her property flooded in the winter.
She wanted to have a garden and do some landscaping, so she had me come out and assess the situation. Unfortunately, she couldn?t have the ornamental garden plants like roses and lavender that she wanted. Her best strategy was to plant shrubs and trees that could handle being inundated by water for a period of time each year ? plants like red-twig dogwood, Western red cedar, and snowberry. In order to have any kind of garden, she would basically have to plant trees and shrubs that were native to wetlands. Needless to say, this was not the garden she wanted.
If the home you?re buying is in a floodplain, think long and hard about what it would be like to have your property underwater, literally, before signing those papers.
While we?re on the subject of water ?
Homebuying Landscape Tip #2: Where Does the Water Go?
When buying a home, take time to walk around the property. Check for areas where the soil is muddy or there?s standing water. Sometimes this can merely be an indication of poor-draining soils, but sometimes standing water can be caused by much larger issues like a leak in a water, sewer, or irrigation line.
Also check for any water that drains toward the house. Civil engineers and landscape architects typically design soil grading to slope away from buildings at a rate of at least 2 percent for a minimum of 5 feet. This prevents most water from draining toward the foundation or basement of the house. If you?re considering buying a home where the land around it slopes toward the house, take special care to have these areas inspected. Most houses are built with below-grade drainage to divert water away from the foundation, but don?t assume anything. It?s better to be safe than sorry.
Homebuying Landscape Tip #3: Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall
If the property you?re buying contains any site retaining walls, check their condition. Be on the lookout for large cracks or areas where the wall may be failing. Concrete retaining walls can be built to be straight up and down or with a slight batter, meaning that the wall slants slightly back into the soil it?s retaining. If they seem structurally sound, it?s fine. On stone retaining walls, watch for any areas where stones seem to be missing or coming away from the rest of the wall. Finally, be especially cautious of any wall where the top of the wall has started to bow out over the bottom. This is usually an indication of poor drainage behind the wall, failure in the reinforcement or structure of the wall, or damage from large tree roots, and a clear sign that the wall is failing.
Homebuying Landscape Tip #4: Don?t Buy Butchered Trees
Nothing bothers me more than seeing trees that have been topped. This often happens when a homeowner decides he?s going to open up the views from his property. Armed with a chainsaw and spare time on a weekend, the homeowner will go out and saw the tops off of all of the trees on the property. If the property you are considering has topped trees, move along or have the seller compensate you for the damage he?s done by negotiating the purchase price. On average, it will cost around $1,500 to remove each tree.
?But what?s the problem with topped trees,? you ask. ?I want to see the view of the ocean (the mountains, the lake, insert spectacular view here).? The problem is that trees do not have any way to heal their wounds. That?s not just some tree-hugger nonsense ? that?s the truth, and it has implications for the tree?s health and the safety of your home. So, if you are going to top a tree, top it at ground level. That?s right: Cut it down and take it out.
Trees don?t heal; they seal.?
The best a tree can ever do after you make a cut is try to seal over the wound with future bark growth. Topping a tree opens it up to all manner of plant diseases. Trees that have been topped are more susceptible to root rot, which compromises the root structure and stability of the tree.
Furthermore, topping a tree doesn?t keep it from growing. In fact, pruning encourages growth. The branching structure that results after topping is often much weaker than the original growth, especially on conifers. The moral of the story is this: If there is going to be a tree that blows over onto your house in a windstorm, with its potential for root rot and poor branching structure, I?d put money on the tree that was topped. (I realize that to readers from the Midwest this may seem extreme, but in the Pacific Northwest, big trees and windstorms are a huge issue.)
I?ve given you the big landscape issues to watch for here. With these tips you?ll know the big landscape problems to avoid when buying a home. Water and the structural integrity of built landscape elements and trees are the biggest issues to keep in mind. Beyond that, there are not many landscape problems that can?t be fixed without a little time, effort ? and the possible outlay of cash.
Source: http://www.realestate.com/advice/landscaping-tips-for-the-first-time-homebuyer-72997/
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