As an example she pointed out how nice the downtown looked as far as upkeep for common areas and planters at regular intervals with pretty flowers up and down the main street.

This was highly unsanitary.Dog Damage to Back Yard and Planters - $320 The presence of the three dogs resulted in the back yard being reduced to dirt as well as destruction of all plants in the planters.

If you do surround a property in this matter, you should put your by-the-house bushes and greenery in wood planters made out of dimensional lumber, wood baskets, and large plastic stone-look pots.

I like raised planter beds built out of retaining wall block you get from a big box store. 

Things may have changed since them.Singapore is a setting for a (dis/u)topic novel ... everything is planned & regulated and the only "green" is contained in planters or well defined parks.  

In my firsthand opinion, RMt's better days are in the past:Used to be a center of tobacco industry in eastern NC - the 'Golden East' (even the mall is named Golden East Crossing)Used to be a thriving hub for textiles (literally days after NAFTA was signed, the textile plants closed)Used to have headquarters for Hardee's (it's where Hardee's began)Used to be a banking center of Eastern NC - People's Bank merged with Planters Bank to be Centura Bank; RBC bought Centura to make RBC Centura (that's where I worked, before and after RBC)... that didn't last, as PNC bought it out; I think they maintain a presence there, but a much smaller oneThat said, the real estate market is on the cheap side, and if you have a tenant in hand looking for a place there, then maybe... but also check out other things like the crime rate per capita, medium income, etc...

Starbucks gift card, books store gift card, movie tickets from Costco (they have packages with two admissions, drink and popcorn for $24 here), Costco gift baskets (surprisingly nice ones with chocolates, cookies and a planter are $20).There is discussion of this topic every year on bigger pockets.

I have a few handymen that I keep good relations with and will come out for emergencies like this.My scenario, a drink driver in a large truck jumped the curb, plowed through the planter wall, plowed through the entire house and the neighbors brick wall.I put the tenants up in 2 hotels rooms for about 6 weeks.

This break has allowed me to spruce up my place with a DIY patio and a planter/screen in the backyard to provide more privacy and outdoor seating area.

Get some decent-sized greenery going under the window on the left (maybe create a planter), and think about a specimen-size tree in the yard that will eventually grow to hide the lack of a window on the left side of the second story gable.You'll be amazed at the difference these simple, inexpensive improvements will make.Cheers!