Landscaping - What would you do?

[Whitney Breedlove]

I would like to turn my primary residence as a rental property in the next couple of years but it has pretty extravagant landscaping. I do not want to pay to maintain the landscaping as it is thousands of dollars a year (plus the hassle of having to manage paying the yard guy), but I also don't want our tenants to let it get completely overgrown and be an eyesore for our neighbors (and then I'd have to pay anyway to have it cleaned up when they move.) I've thought about ripping everything out and just doing bare minimal landscaping but this would probably cost in the ballpark of $10k due to the labor, and then when I go to sell it one day, it wouldn't have the same curb appeal. Seems like there's no way to win here! What do yall do with your rental properties when it comes to landscaping?

[Charles Carillo]

@Whitney Breedlove

Maybe sell it instead of making it a rental. You will get the top price in the current condition it is now while utilizing the Home Sale Exclusion from Capital Gains Tax ($250k or $500k). You do not have to worry about neglect or having to make any repairs when you are ready to sell. Also, if you did rent it for a few years, and then you wanted to sell, it might need to be vacant while you did the repairs prior to the sale which will require you to pay mortgage/expenses without any income, during the repair, and sale period.