This home had the most dramatically overgrown landscaping of any home we’ve taken on. It was as if the earth was trying to reclaim it. Homes like this are a beacon to us. It’s very outwardly obvious that the owner would likely be interested in selling. I personally happen to love trimming, pruning, and pulling weeds, so I had fun lending a hand to this particular project in the beginning.

On paper, this home had everything we look for. Almost 1600 square feet, 4 bedrooms,  and extremely overgrown landscaping; which MEANS, that it drove away potential retail buyers. But not us! We LOVE overgrown, ugly homes. Homes with room to add value. The sellers knew that they would need to price it accordingly, and we knew that we would be able to add the value that would make the home comfortable, functional, and beautiful again.

This home we will keep as a rental, as it is in a strong rental area, and it will cash flow enough to make a nice addition to our portfolio. These are photos of the home BEFORE

Photos during progress. My mom and I after our trimming efforts:

The front of the home AFTER and finished:

I can’t take credit for the whole transformation. After working one day for several hours, I turned the rest over to the talented landscaping team at Flip Construction. Once the new plants in the landscaping design mature, the front will look even better. One of the bigger impact lessons I learned from this project, is that decorative climbing ivy is the devil! This home had ivy growing up the brick all over the front, and the ivy actually grew little suckers that grew INTO the bricks and mortar. It is next to impossible to remove. We pressure washed, scrubbed with nylon brushes, pulled by hand, and that ivy still wasn’t totally removed. After blasting it with Round Up, I am hopeful that no new ivy will grow. Now, every time I drive around town and see homes that have ivy growing over their home as part of a decorative scheme, I notice and lament. They know not what they do. Ivy is destructive.

Here are the after photos. It took 3 dumpsters to clear out everything that was left behind, and after fresh paint, tile, fixtures, and appliances, now the home is light, bright, smells good, and has a huge fenced backyard that will appeal to any new renters with children or pets. We have put it on the market and are fielding lots of calls.