Why Pay 4 Lawn Care, Sprinkler repair, H20 when U can XERISCAPE??

Question

Why do so many Multi-unit property investors want/allow grass on their rental properties?

Why pay for lawn care for $100 per month when you can do decorative rock or other xeriscape designs and hire some neighbor kid to spray weeds once a month?

Seems like as a multi-unit property investor, you are looking for the smallest yard possible with the least amount of maintenance possible. Wouldn't it be ideal to have a lot with just a house, a lot of driveway parking and cement (low maintenance), a small amount of drip system w/ drought resistant plants, and a bunch of high end weed tarp underneath decorative rocks?

I realize that there are city regulations regarding vegetation. I realize that with rocks you will have to deal with weeds (even using a nice weed tarp). But wouldn't you rather spray for weeds over your rock landscape once a month over mowing every 7-days, all while paying for watering, sprinkler repair, and fertilizer (while still dealing with weeds)?

I must be missing something here because I can't find much discussion on this and a lot of people recommend grass. Yet this will definitely affect your cap rates and bottom line numbers.

I am a very practical person when it comes to the numbers. But I am also inexperienced as a landlord and just getting started. What am I missing? Any thoughts or recommendations?

More specific background to my question:

I am closing shortly on a duplex in Spanish Fork Utah. It's a small old duplex with a decent size lot that I plan to keep for 10+ years (hopefully more). There has never been an automatic sprinkler system installed. The seller has owned it 50+ years and has always manually moved around the sprinklers (lived close so that was nice). But I am about 15 minutes away and do not want to have to go there 2 times a week to manually move the sprinklers around all the time. Seems like a no-brainer to rent a bobcat for a day, level out the old very settled and uneven grass, throw on a heavy duty commercial weed tarp, decorative rocks, drought resistant plants, and a simple auto drip system. Or on top of that, take that $100 per month savings over 4 years and pay the 5k upfront to cement most of the lot for parking (carport?), storage units, and maybe a place to store a boat or RV (all up-sell opportunities for charging more to tenants). So the end result is a mostly cemented (virtually no maintenance lot) with decorative rocks and carefully placed drought resistance plants hooked up to a simple automatic drip system. That would be a super attractive property to have in my porfolio with  lower than normal operating costs. Why aren't more people doing that?

Tami Russell · Answer

I'm a landscape designer in Las Vegas for over 30 years, and hail originally from a very green Southern Illinois.  With that background, the most common thing I see missing from investor (and owner) remodels is landscaping.  So many people, especially here in Las Vegas, think that low maintenance is king.  What they overlook is the instinctive human reaction to shade and green grass.

The work I've done on properties for investors here includes instant curb appeal, such as flowering shrubs and plants, hardscape- like paver edging along driveways and walks, and attractive stone mulch.  My priority is always trees and shade.  You can get away with a lot less landscape if you have trees!

Grassy areas are valuable, but can be strategically placed for children and dogs, and do not have to be huge.  I always tie them into patio areas so they are easily accessed from the nearest door.  Real grass has been treated as an evil in Las Vegas in recent years, and although I disagree with the extent of elimination of lawns, I do appreciate the need for water conservation.

Artificial turf, once a product I refused to use, has come a long way.  It is safer, cooler, and lasts longer than turf sold just a few years ago.  And it is constantly being improved upon.  I use it a lot for low maintenance yards because the splash of green is so effective and appeals to buyers and renters.

So if I was making a list in order of priority, I'd say

• Shade
• Style - hardscape, rock mulch
• Color - flowers, low maintenance groundcover, flowering shrubs
• Grass areas strategically placed for usefulness and appearance

Note that this is primarily in the desert, where I've been for so long, but the same would hold true in other areas where grass is the dominant form of landscaping.

I've attached a before and after with artificial turf.  This client has her grandbabies and dogs play on it, except on hot days, when no one goes outside :)

Teri Feeney Styers · Answer

I manage a high end HOA in a high desert area of Grand Junction. We don't require lawns - but do require landscaping and trees. There is a big difference between "xeriscaping" and "ZERO-scaping".  Mindy is correct - tons of low water plants out there that will fill in nicely and many have blooms with lots of color. Get some expert advice at the nursery. Perinnials are best so you don't have to replant every year. That said, @Chris Watkins be cautious with overdoing the concrete and rock. Not only does it create a bleak look; it also adds heat that can radiate and kill plants, make patios uncomfortably hot, etc.

William Hochstedler · Answer

You might also ask the question of why more home owners in Utah don't xeriscape either.

The common application of weed barrier, wood chips and selected plants is problematic as well.  It takes a lot of babying the first year.  You can't get these plants established with just a drip.  You have to supplement the chips seasonally for it to stay sharp.  And weed barriers fail after several years creating weed problems.

So the question of return on investment is very relevant, particularly when there's a grass lawn in place (even if mostly dead).  Moreover, even without sprinklers, you can push manual watering and mowing onto the tenants in small multi's and certainly in SFR's.

I'm amazed that there hasn't been a smarter landscape design for investment properties or home owners for that matter.  This year we installed a new front yard at my personal residence and I didn't like the aesthetic of the cookie cutter xeriscaped formula.  Instead, we planted super aggressive low-medium water perennials that have a chance at out-competing the weeds.  The strategy is very Darwinian and we'll see what it looks like in a few years.  Even so, it cost a couple thousand and required daily watering for six weeks before we could back off, particularly with this summer's heat.

I'm amazed that there haven't been landscaping companies that have come up with a plan that are tailored to investors with designs that are zero maintenance in year 5, say.  If I could make a phone call and pay a few grand for the initial installation and a few hundred each year for the next few until the cost goes to zero, I would do this all day long.

I think there's also a moral component here.  Water is going to be more and more of a problem in the coming decades and investors should be ahead of this.  Many municipalities are getting on board as well.

Great topic.

Bill S. · Answer

@Chris Watkins based on what you said, it sounds like they may not actually be doing much watering at all. I have a property that has no outside watering and has a respectable lawn for the neighborhood. All the "watering" is from the roof gutters. It gets mowed a couple of times in the spring and maybe two or three times in the summer and then a cleanup in the fall. Your climate is not all that different from mine so I agree with @Mike Hanneman's suggestion to compare winter and summer water usage.

So while you don't want lots of people in your smaller units, many tenants have pets and they want a nice yard for their pet. It won't be nice when they are done but everyone likes to at least start with a nice yard. Gravel and rock hurt the pets feet (like they do ours) so pets don't like to walk on rock and gravel. IMO a nice fenced yard for each unit is critical to maximizing rent. For me just one pet in one of the units more than covers the water bill for a very nice yard. I spend the money on fencing before landscaping. Fence the property so each unit has it's own private yard accessible out the door for that unit. When I install a sprinkler system, I do it just in the front. There are two reasons for that, 1) the front creates the curb appeal and 2) it's cheaper to do.

Mike Hanneman · Answer

As with anything regarding renovating an investment property you would need to first create a budget and then go from there. Turning an "old" lawn new again can be very easy and cheap to do especially if you have the time. A a couple visits from a lawn fertilizing Co can do wonders for the lawn.

I know parts of Utah can be difficult to have a lawn without a lot of water so xeriscape may be the anser in your area. I would talk to a landscape co. or price out the materials (if you are going to do this yourself) and see what the actual numbers would be. Check your water bills and compare the difference between summer and winter to get an estimate of what watering the lawn actually costs. This will give you somewhere to start to see what would be best lawn vs. xeriscape

Mike Hanneman · Answer

It's also easier and a lot cheaper to have a lawn that's already there, then to rip out the lawn and then re-landscape. Water is cheap up here, it would take a while to break even with the water saved.

Most tenants also want a yard to have pets or kids play in, verse having them play in the rocks or mulch.

Mindy Jensen · Answer

@Chris Watkins, is xeroscaping something that anyone is doing in your area? Will it stand out and look odd?

I live in Colorado - desert - and have found some really amazing-looking plants that are also low-water. Check out snapdragons, purple fountain grass, salvia, lavendar, Mexican feather grass. The purple fountain grass grows to bushes 4 feet x 4 feet. Beautiful deep maroon color, almost no water.

Account Closed · Answer

you might be taking potential tenants out of your pool of applicants by not having a lawn; i.e. those with children....

Jeff B. · Answer

The WIKI uses the term

Xeriscaping

Why Pay 4 Lawn Care, Sprinkler repair, H20 when U can XERISCAPE??

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