SAVING $ ON YARD MAINTENANCE

[Michael Seutin]

I have this duplex that need about $80/month worth of lawn mowing care and bush trimmings.
I am willing to spend up to $4000 to replace all this lawn for a front and back yard that would be maintenance free, or very cheap to maintain.
Of course the cheaper the better, what do you guys think I should replace the lawn with, I would use a landscaper to do it, I am too far away.
Any of you ever done such a thing as an investment.
It 's the same as investing 4k to make $80 a month, that's actually a good return on investment. That would be the equivalent of a 25% return on my money.
By the way any other money saving investment ideas for rental properties would be welcomed.
thanks

[Account Closed]

Is there some reason you can't make the tenants responsible for yard care?

There is nothing you can put in a yard that is maintenance free. Even if you pave the entire thing in concrete, someone is going to have to spray the weeds that come up in the cracks. Not to mention, concrete doesn't make very attractive landscaping.

You can put down weed cloth and rock. Some one still has to spray the weeds, and tenant kids will throw the rock around, perhaps resulting in broken windows. Some one will have to move those thrown rocks back into the yard.

I like the look of cobblestone pavers, but they are expensive, have to have the weeds spayed, and need some sort of planter around the edges in order to look good. Also to prevent it from turning into parking.

A very large deck or patio in the back eliminates a bunch of yard area. It may be more than your $4,000 budget, but tends to make the house more attractive as a rental.

If the front yards aren't large, you can do a cobblestone center surrounded by free form raised flower beds with a few resistant plants like junipers, and let the tenant plant their own flowers if they want them. That's over your $4000 budget and someone has to weed the flower beds.

The lowest maintenance yard I have is all in native vegetation. I have to spray for weeds on the drive and around the buildings, and pull the occassional stray weed in the vegetation area. But the house happens to be in an area where it is acceptible to have the yard native, and the neighbors don't have lots of rogue weeds to send weed seeds over.