Don’t sell up – do up!
I was listening to a radio interview this morning with interior designer and presenter Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. He said he was increasingly being commissioned for new interior design work, and put down the renewed demand to a change in outlook from home-owners and estate agents.
A few years ago the emphasis was firmly on houses as investments. People were being encouraged to tone down their interior decor to make their property as saleable as possible. Today, claimed LLB, people are treating their houses as homes again, living by the mantra ‘don’t move, improve’, and decorating according to their own tastes, for their own enjoyment.
In today’s economic climate the ‘don’t move, improve’ mantra applies equally to gardens, but for different reasons. Unlike interiors, there was never a trend towards creating dull, anonymous gardens, designed solely to enable a quick sale. For gardens, ‘don’t move, improve’ is as much about investing in your property as it is about spending your money so you can enjoy it.
The latest figures from the Land Registry’s House Price Index make grim reading. Average property prices in Leicestershire are still 14% lower than at their peak in 2007, while Derbyshire’s are down 12.5%. In these conditions investment in your property is the sensible option.
We have a bold statement on our home page – “A designed garden can add 10-15% to a home’s saleability and appeal”. This quote, from Ian Stewart of Savills Estate Agents, appeared in the Financial Times in the middle of the housing boom four years ago. We thought long and hard about including it – was it still valid in today’s conditions? After consideration we decided that it was. It’s just the focus which has changed – from investing for a quick sale, to investing for a longer term return.
And the great advantage of a new garden, as opposed to a new kitchen or bathroom, is that your investment will actually grow to look better year after year.