How much value does landscaping add to your house?

Niemiera, a horticulturist at Virginia Tech, found that a well-landscaped house had a price advantage of 5.5 percent to 12 and 7 percent over a house without gardens, say Chase and Patti Michels, of the Chicago Michels Group real estate agency. Landscaping can add tens of thousands of dollars to the value of your property. In fact, it's one of the few home improvements you can make that not only adds value immediately, but also increases in value over the years. While interior decoration and design concepts tend to go out of style and mechanical systems wear out, plants grow fuller and more robust over the years.

Landscaping not only increases curb appeal, but it can also give real estate properties a 15 percent increase in value, according to a Virginia Tech study. The study found that the perceived value of a home is affected by the size, type and design of the plant in landscaping.