Groundskeeping 101: Bring the Best Out In Your Property

A Smyrna rental property’s exterior is a significant aspect of its curb appeal. When it comes to grounds keeping, it’s critical to keep your property as a tidy and appealing yard. It can help attract good tenants and increase your property values. But it can be challenging to know what types of landscaping work best for a rental property and how to properly manage it is difficult. You’ll also need to understand what landscaping tasks you can reasonably expect your tenants to do and what you’ll need to have done professionally. To help make all of these a little bit easier, we’ve put together a simple guide to making your property look its best and how to handle the long-term groundskeeping best.

Your Smyrna rental property’s front yard is one of the first things prospective tenants see. For this reason, your landscaping needs to be attractive. But too much landscaping or anything that looks hard to care for can drive prospective tenants away. So when it comes to rental property yards, simple is preferable. A green lawn and some tidy flower beds can make a big difference in adding value and visual appeal to a rental property. At the same time, do what you can to make your yard consistent with other homes in the neighborhood and appropriate for your climate. It is a good idea to choose plants that are hardy and native to the area, as well as easy to care for. This will make maintenance a much easier task going forward.

Once you have your landscaping installed, the maintenance begins. If your rental property is located in an area where native plants grow quickly, you’ll need to have a plan ready to keep them trimmed and tidy. Even in more arid places, however, it’s important to take steps to avoid letting your shrubs, trees, and other plants become overgrown. Overgrowth can lead to many other problems, including problems with insects and other pests, root damage to walkways and driveways, and even roof and gutter damage. No matter what type of plants your rental property’s landscaping has, you need to plan for proper maintenance.

Many landlords expect their tenants to maintain their rental property’s landscaping, which often works out well for everyone. But some tasks are too dangerous or technical to leave up to the tenants. If your property has tall trees, it is not reasonable to expect your tenant to trim them. It is also much safer to hire out tasks like aerating the lawn or even fertilizing or spraying weeds. Working with ladders, heavy equipment, or chemicals comes with inherent risks, some of which you could be held liable for if your tenant ends up harming themselves. While your tenant can likely handle tasks like weeding flower beds and mowing the lawn, it’s best to plan to have the professionals take care of the more dangerous aspects of maintenance that your landscaping needs.

Groundskeeping is a huge part of owning a quality rental property. However, there are many decisions to be made and a lot of effort to be done in order to keep it going. Instead of trying to do it all yourself, consider hiring the Smyrna property management professionals at Real Property Management East Cobb to help. We can get your rental property spruced up and looking great in no time and then ensure that it stays that way for many years to come. Contact us today to learn more about our quality services.