Introduction 

Welcome to another captivating episode of Your Home Sold Guaranteed Realty Real Estate Talk & News Show!

In this episode, your host Rick Kendrick is joined by a true visionary in the world of landscaping design, Tim Hanauer.

As the president and founder of Earthgraphics, a cutting-edge same-day landscape design firm, Tim brings a wealth of expertise on how landscaping can dramatically impact property values.

Topics Covered in This Weeks Show

They say first impressions are everything, and in the realm of real estate, curb appeal is the gateway to a successful sale. Join Rick and Tim as they delve into the dynamic relationship between landscaping design and property values. Whether you're a homeowner looking to enhance your living space or an investor aiming to maximize returns, this episode is a treasure trove of insights. 

Explore the art and science behind strategic landscaping decisions. Tim's journey from a passion for plants to a pioneering force in landscape design will inspire you to see your outdoor space in a whole new light. Discover how well-planned gardens, thoughtfully placed trees, and captivating hardscapes can substantially elevate not only the aesthetic appeal of a property, but also its market value. 

Throughout the episode, you'll learn about real-life success stories where Earthgraphics' innovative designs have transformed lackluster properties into breathtaking showcases. Rick and Tim will uncover the psychological aspects of landscape appreciation and its subconscious influence on potential buyers or tenants. 

Tune in to gain actionable tips on budget-friendly landscaping enhancements that yield impressive returns. Whether you're dealing with a sprawling estate or a cozy urban abode, Tim's expertise transcends property sizes and types, offering advice that caters to diverse real estate goals. 

Join us for a captivating conversation that marries artistry with economics, proving that a well-executed landscape design isn't just about plants and pathways—it's about cultivating financial growth. If you're ready to unearth the secrets of boosting your property's allure and value through strategic landscaping, this episode is your roadmap to success. 

Don't miss "From Curb Appeal to Cash: Unveiling the Power of Landscaping Design on Property Values." Subscribe now and elevate your property investment game!

Transcript of Episode #9

Welcome to the your home sold guaranteed radio show, where you get advice you can trust from the latest real estate trends to the best mortgage rates, from curb appeal to home warranty. This is the show that will help you save and make the most money when it comes to buying or selling your most valuable asset. Now here's your host, broker and founder of your home sold guaranteed realty of Florida, rick Kendrick.

Happy Sunday, everybody. Welcome to your home. Sold guaranteed radio show. I'm Rick Kendrick and today I have a special guest, Tim and Howard. He's president and founder of earth graphics. Hey, Karey, good morning. How are you doing?

Good morning, rick. Thanks for having me on your show again.

Hey, yeah, this is gonna be pretty cool. We got Tim on. I had to kind of bribe him to come on the radio station and we got to taking fish in the morse. So that's okay, that's right, Tim. I, you know, I've kind of known you all your life, haven't I? That's a 61 years. This man, 61 years old, needs my nephew. So welcome to West Palm Beach, florida. It's great to be here, rick. So, tim, our topic today is pretty interesting. You know, we've been outlining special criteria for sellers to get the place on the market and one of the major things that they've come up with is that, that curb appeal, and I'll be honest with you, that's the first thing I look at when they book a listing appointment for me. I turn that corner and I start hitting that house and I start evaluating the numbers on it, what the seller is looking for as far as a market evaluation concern. It becomes a major thing, a major thing. So let me tell you a little bit about Tim. Tim has been designing commercial and real estate landscaping for close to well over 36 years now, so that tells you how old I am. He has knocked out over 12,000 designs and at one point of his career, he had actually started a design franchise business and it's gonna be pretty intriguing. He's gonna explain to you how his landscape design business works and he can all do this really in one day, and which is pretty cool, because people want this immediate gratification and he is taking care of it. Some of his famous clients are these NASCAR guys you know Richard Petty, kevin Harvick, clint Bauer and Bobby Labonte. Tim, they must be in the pit. They're talking about you as they're changing their tires. They're in there talking about you.

Hopefully not talking bad. No, I'm sure not, because they get stories with him.

Yeah, some of the other people that you've you've kind of done designs for him is, of course, kerry Collins of the Caroline Panthers with Maryfield of the Toronto Blue Jays and, of course, chris Paul of these are pretty notable people and you know, not only does he do residential but he does a lot of commercial and we were talking earlier about all the commercial business that has been brought on, because Tim lives in the North Carolina area, in the Greensboro area, and there's a lot of things going on. He actually designed, did the landscape design for the federal courthouse of Greensboro. So he comes with a lot of experience and I think he's even spilled this over into the international arena and has done designs all across the world. What are the three areas that you've actually done designs in?

Kyrgyzstan, in Central Asia, done some projects there, done some things in the Dominican Republic and, let's see, in Thailand, did a really really neat integrated farming system design project, which which really brought together a nonprofit and a farming system with landscape design. So it's, it is fun to be. I'd love to go international and to see how other people do things. In fact, the first genre that I ever studied was Japanese landscape design. It was an American, so it is a really fun field because People design everywhere in the world and so you can get a flavor of even a house, like if you're doing a Spanish house, for example, you can pull in a Spanish style or a Mediterranean style landscape plan for something like that. So it is fun to try to broaden the scope.

I've been on site with him and actually seen him at work and he has an art to this, obviously, and he has learned from dozens of real estate agents the value of landscaping and how important it is to the value of the market and especially a house. So with his knowledge he's able to not only tell the people who are actually doing a landscape design don't over design. I mean, I walk into a house sometimes and I see this European marble in a $350,000 house. I'm not saying that's bad, but I'm just saying that doesn't create value. But this is the same technique as far as landscaping. Is that right, tim?

Exactly. I mean, imagine, for example, if you came up to a house and there was a lot of landscape there. The buyer might look at that and go man, I don't know if that I want to take care of that or even pay to take care of it. So there's some general principles that we try to do in a front yard landscape design that bring value and there's some percentages that we like to apply that really make sense. Don't go above a certain percentage, and those percentage we'll talk about that a little bit later. But if you go above it, generally the rate of return is not there. So that's key and I usually ask do you have a three year or less window when you get ready to implement this plan? Are you planning on selling this within three years Completely different design than if somebody's going to live in that house long term.

Wow, that's strong. The National Realtors Association says 92% of realtors surveyed suggest that their sellers improve their curb appeal. That's how strong this is to it. So I think we're going to get some great information from Tim today. But Tim kind of just briefly tell me about earth graphics and what they do and their concept.

Well, we saw that there was a very big need, especially in residential landscape design, for us to have the ability to come in draw landscape plans same day, and so we have instituted a brainstorming process that begins online. The client actually takes their brainstorming sheet, fills out a questionnaire online, they think about it first and then when we visit on site with a mobile office it's a van that's equipped to do that design process we brainstorm with the client, decide on their best approach to develop the landscape, blow the survey up and then we go ahead and draw it right there. We'll even take some pictures and do digital images so that by five o'clock we've got a finished landscape plan and visuals for the client to say wow, I like this or I don't like this. Can we change this and really wrap up the entire appointment in one day? Average landscape architect takes three to four weeks to get a plan back to a client and that's just like. That's not real. That's not the American way. We love it fast and we can do it fast. Fast is not a compromise at all. In fact, it actually is a better product because we talk about it and we implement it at the same time. There's no time gap between when the design gets done and when the brainstorming process happens. So it's been a great process for us. I mean, for the last 10 years we've never not been completely booked out on plans months in advance now, just because of our process and the reputation.

Wow, the aspect of being able to do this one day. Just, we are dealing with a market today with a lot of buyers, okay, who want that immediate gratification, right, and they do not want to wait Now. That's not just a product of technology and the way things are going today and you have the technology and the background to be able to do that in one day. And not only that, but provide them a and I'm sure we'll get into this later a detailed list of the type of plans according to the area where they live. So we're gonna get into that in a little bit here, but we wanna go to a little break here. But I just wanna let you know we just love the opportunity to be on the radio with our guests today. We're out there every day meeting home sellers and home buyers who we do love talking to about real estate. So if you or anyone you know is considering to make a move, we would love the opportunity to interview with the job. Give me a call at 561-901-3333 or visit rickhasthebuyerscom. After the break, tim and I will be diving in today's topic, from curb appeal to cat Unveiling the power of landscaping design on property values. We'll come back after this. Just stay tuned. This is the Rick Kendrick. Show your Home Sold Guarantee Realty. Be right back.

The schedule and appointment with Rick Kendrick to help you buy or sell your home. Call 561-901-3333 or go to rickhasthebuyerscom. Rick will be right back with more of the your Home Sold. Guaranteed Radio Show here on News Talk 850 WFTL.

Someone asked me about my real estate friend, rick Kendrick, the other day and they're like why is he so great? It's simple Rick guarantees to sell your home or he's going to buy it himself for cash. Look at the name of his company your home sold guaranteed Realty of Florida. He stands by that company. Plus, on average, rick gets you 5% more than the average agent. On a $500,000 home that's an extra $25,000 in your pocket. Have you ever considered taking advantage of the rise in the home prices, taking all that equity that you've built up over the years to buy your dream home? Well, kanisha just did that. A few years ago Rick helped her buyer first home. It was a townhouse in West Palm. She called Rick. He was able to sell that town home for $5,000 over the asking price and that was over two times what she paid for it. Now she's using that money to buy a brand new home in Port St Lucie. So if you need to sell or buy my friend Rick Kendrick he's the agent to hire 561-901333 or visit rickhasthebuyerscom.

Hi, I'm Eric Rosemary, branch manager at Cross Country Mortgage in Boca Raton. If you're deciding which lender to trust, whether you're purchasing or refinancing, I would love the opportunity to work with you. Over my 20-year career, I've helped close to 10,000 families buy or refinance the place they call home. Despite what you're hearing about interest rates, you might be surprised, as what we can do for you, let's talk, call or text me at 954-312-3104 or visit rosemarymortgageteamcom.

If you're ready to buy or sell your home and would like to schedule an appointment with Rick, call 561-901333 or go to rickhasthebuyerscom. Now back to the your home-sold guaranteed radio show and your host, Rick Kendrick.

Welcome back from the break. The topic of today is, from curb appeal to cash, unveiling the power of landscaping design on property values. Hey, kerry, what do you think? And as you know as well as I do, this is like an important part of selling a home.

Absolutely, and I've been fortunate enough to see some of Tim's designs and they're just beautiful, so he does a really great job. So excited to be talking about this today.

I'd like to welcome back again my special guest, tim Henauer, president and founder of Earth Graphics same day landscape design company. So, tim, in your bio you mentioned some things that I would say are pretty important when you deal with people. What are those things? You know, landscaping and when to stop and when not to stop.

Well, I think the first thing is is don't overdo the budget on a project. We have seen people put way, way too much money in a front yard landscape and I know that sounds like I'm crushing my industry and I'm saying, well, don't put 20, 20% of your your home budget into your front yard landscape. But what's real is is that generally between 5 and 10%. If the 5 and 10% rule goes into effect, let's say you have a I'll just use round numbers If you have a million dollar home, 50,000 to 100,000 would be about as much as you would ever want to put in on the front yard landscape and that would include hardscape like pavers and and those sorts of things. There's a diminishing return on that. So if you do a really good job on on, say, a million dollar home with $50,000, and you do a really good job with it, you will see a return on that investment. You'll probably see 60, 70, 80,000 immediately when you go to put that house on the market. But if you push it all the way up to 110, 130, 150,000 on a million dollar home, you are not going to see that return, even though you've got more value visually that you see in the landscape. You're pushing those comps, you're pushing those limits, and so we like to keep people in that sweet spot of 5 to 10, don't go up a more than that. And then the second thing is, as you mentioned this, realtors are interesting people. I've studied realtors and I've watched. Yes, you're a rare bird. A good realtor will always ask himself or herself the question what direction should I take my client to this house? Because the way you see a house if you're coming, say, from the street right to left or left to right, most houses have a good side and a bad side, and so you want to approach from the good side, and so what we do is is we say, okay, we're going to start with a good side, we want to make sure you present that to your buyer and we want to make sure that we use color to draw the eye to the door. And the door is actually the key to a front yard landscape. It is just like a woman who uses makeup around her eyes. The door is the eye of the house, and anytime someone goes to a house, they want to find the door. Where is the front door? I want to. I want to see that Now in Florida, a lot of doors are recessed and so what we want to do is put a big pot or something really colorful out to invite the eye into that spot where that door might be. But the door is the eye and so people want to find that very quickly. And if you make it very hard and say the first five seconds and we find this to be very true they determine its value. So imagine, for example, if you're coming up to a house and the big garage is way out front and you cannot see any of the other detail of the house. You drive up. It looks almost like a mini storage warehouse For five seconds. If that five seconds freezes in your brain, that's the vision you have of that house and that's why the approach is so absolutely critical. Sometimes we'd landscape to hide that feature or sometimes we try to draw that eye into the door. But the impression, the five second Impression, is the most important thing in terms of the landscape. In fact, we use the entire landscape presentation for selling houses. Based on that, where do you see the house in that first five seconds? And if you make the visual sequence come together for somebody who sees it, then the approach wow, I love this house, let's keep going. And then you've got them inside the house we're. The rest of the features will show themselves.

That's funny because when I show a house, right, the buyer comes out of the car. We're going just take a minute. Hmm, take it in right. Right, if you see him walk out of the car and they got a smile on her face going, wow, we know we might have something here, right? Because they got curb appeal and it brings them in. And a lot of times, tim, as you well know, what shows on the outside is what shows in the inside, right? So what I encourage all real estate agents to do is it take a minute. Take a minute before you walk them through the door on All our listing. When I sit down with a seller and I say let's go outside, take a look at your property, let me tell you. If there's things that need to be done, I will let them know. In fact, tim, I remember I did call you in a frantic mode saying I had a seller wanted to sell this house and I shot you some pictures. In A day's time. You shot back to me a landscape design and I actually sold that house because of. That doesn't mean you're going to get Money from it, but I just want to let you know I did get that a fishing trip. But I you take that in it. Like I said, you know, what you show on the outside brings it into the inside. Okay, so we're in the door, tim, and this may be a crazy question. I'm not sure, but you know, I see more and more people putting plants inside. What's your thought process on that?

Well, it is interior design. I mean, really there's, there's a, a logical continuum from curb to doorway and then, as soon as you break that threshold, a good interior designer is going to use plants To to bring life into a room and especially, given you know, whatever the design style is, so yeah, the interior landscaping mean there are people that that is all they do as Interior scape, and especially here in Florida it's big and so, yeah, it is a part of interior design and as you, like you said, as you begin to transition to the outside again, that's that backyard. The backyard is a very, very tricky subject when it comes to To real estate, because here in Florida, of course it's hot and people always think pool and it used to be. Pools were not an asset and now they are. In fact, covid really was the game changer for us. So here's a. Here's an interesting figure. Now again, I'm working primarily in North Carolina, but the year COVID hit I drew 110 pools in out of 330 landscape plans. In other words, every third landscape plan that I did had a pool on it. So before COVID it was less than that. It was about 50 to 60 a year and suddenly it went up and the reason was people said I need to get these kids out or I've got grandkids and I want to make sure that, and they didn't want to go to a public pool and I know that's only greater here in Florida. I mean, florida has got more pools per per house than anywhere else in America. So it's critical here now Some people don't want a pool and that obviously you have a certain smaller segment of folks that come to Florida like that. But in North Carolina it used to be that that a pool did not add value but and now they do but just like the front yard you can overdo a pool. I've I've drawn many a pool for Quarter million, five hundred thousand and that that is very hard to get that money back out.

And we still talk about COVID. But it was just miraculous. The things that changed, right, not only did you start drawing more pools, but what happened is that people had to stay home. So what they did is they opened up and said well, you know what my my company's, let me stay at home. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go buy me a house or I'm gonna I'm gonna sell my house and move up and get an Office or two for me and my wife, who are working at home now and in, and then, on top of that, have a pool, right. So so they, they made that. The little paradise is what they were doing. So that's a that's interesting about that, because you you would think like, for example, you know, the first thing that probably want to cut down because of COVID would be Landscaping. You want to cut costs, but in reality they did not. So that's that's pretty cool. I like that, carrie. We've gone through the house. We walked through the house. Now we're in the backyard. What? What are your thoughts on a backyard and a pool and all that?

well to me, you know, obviously, if we're talking about curb appeal, right, the front yard is the game changer in terms of increasing the value If you intend to put it on the market. But for me, like I'm living in my home, so my backyard is my oasis, and I would love to spend a good portion of my budget on creating this amazing feeling out back, so that when I have my friends over or the kids are out back playing, it's like basically a paradise.

And the key setup. The key setup for backyard is to remember the five primary rooms for a backyard. They are kitchen that's a place where a man burns meat, okay. Dining room when do you eat that outside? If you're going to eat outside, do you need a four person space, a six person space, eight person space? The third one is veranda, in other words a place to sit with a view. Some people don't have a view, but if you have a view, you better have a veranda, you better have furniture that's dedicated to that view. The other two rooms are very critical. The living room, that is a place where conversation happens. I mean, girls will sit for two hours and talk in a living room and drink wine and all that stuff, and guys will sit there for 15 minutes and then, without fire, they leave. But if you will put fire in the room, then you will have the fifth room and that is the den and those five rooms. I have seen clients that have all five staged with their furniture and that is critical. Because you know what it's like, rick. If you're trying to sell a house that has not been staged, it's way harder, but if you have a house that's completely staged, it's a game changer. Oh, that looks like a great study. That looks like a great dining room, because the furniture gives a room a sense of meaning. Well, in a backyard, you give the meaning by putting the furniture in there, and if you don't have your backyard furnished, you might have lots of patio space, but people don't see what it is. Therefore, they don't equate. Oh, this is going to be a great place to have my family to eat or to relax, or to roast marshmallows or to look at the view. If you don't stage it with your furniture, you have lost an opportunity and you've really lost value. So that's really the number one thing in a backyard.

I think, tim, you're right, and that's what buyers can see when they walk through the door. What they do is they actually place themselves there, and all these items are the key to doing a perfect design. And I say perfect because you get somebody that has the experience that you have to, can do this, and be able to do this in a situation where they're all happy and content with, makes a big, big, big thing. So, anyway, after the break, we're going to be featuring our listing of the week, our Buyers and Waiting program, and we're going to talk a little bit more about your home sold. Go serve big mission. This is Rick Kendrick. We'll be right back.

The schedule and appointment with Rick Kendrick to help you buy or sell your home, call 561-901-3333. Or go to rickhasthebuyerscom. Rick will be right back with more of the your home sold. Guaranteed radio show here on NewsTalk 850 WFTL.

Hi, I'm Eric Rosemary, branch manager at Cross Country Mortgage in Boca Raton. If you're deciding which lender to trust, whether you're purchasing or refinancing, I would love the opportunity to work with you. Over my 20 year career, I've helped close to 10,000 families buy or refinance the place they call home. Despite what you're hearing about interest rates, you might be surprised, as what we can do for you, let's talk. If you're interested in buying or selling your home, call or text me at 954-312-3104 or visit rosemarymortgageteamcom.

Hi, it's Jennifer Ross and you know if you've been thinking about selling your home, you already know that the only agent that I would recommend to you is my friend, rick Kendrick. He's a broker and founder of your home sold guaranteed Realitea Florida. Now what about the listener who would love Rick to sell but doesn't want to deal with the headaches of cleaning, staging, holding open houses and all that other stuff?

Well, Jen, we have the perfect solution. First of all, we always like to make our traditional home selling process stress-free. But for the listener who doesn't want to fix up their place, who is inherited a home or simply wants a fast, hassle-free sale, we can make them an immediate cash offer and for that seller to get the most amount of money for their home.

Come on, you can do that.

Absolutely, Jen. We'll come right over, praise a home, make you a fast, fair cash offer and close as little as three weeks.

Cash in your hand hard to beat it. Call Rick Kendrick right now, 561-901333. That's 561-901333, or visit Rick. Has the buyerscom.

If you're ready to buy or sell your home and would like to schedule an appointment with Rick, call 561-901333 or go to Rick. Has the buyerscom. Now back to the your home sold guaranteed radio show and your host, Rick Kendrick.

Hey, welcome back folks. In our final segment of the show we're going to be highlighting one of our listings of the week. We do this weekly. So, listeners, if you are considering making a move and you have an interest in having your home featured on a radio show, we would love to discuss that with you.

Yeah, so this week we're going to be talking about an amazing listing that we have in Oldport Cove. So if you guys are listening and you're familiar with the North Palm Beach area, there is a condo community referred to as Oldport Cove and within the gates there's actually a thousand condo units, roughly. But this particular unit is once you go through the gate. Off to the right is a small little community referred to as Harbor Village. It's about 100 units. It's a mid-rise building, so each building is only three to four stories. There's 12 buildings, so this particular unit is on the first floor and building E and it's right next to the pool and it has a fantastic view of the marina. So the marina in Harbor Village is only for owners of the units within the community.

So they carry. You know, in that marina they can have up to a 36 foot boat. And by the way, just a little side note, because I'm taking 10 fishing you know this is only 10 minutes to the inlet, so you're out there throwing your lines in the water in 10 minutes from there.

Absolutely. There's no fixed bridges and a straight shot right out the Palm Beach inlet.

Dynamite Three bedrooms, three baths, right.

Yeah, so this unit is a first floor unit, which actually is considered probably one of the more desirable floor plans in the community because you have such a huge outdoor patio area. So you're allowed to have a girl out there, which is nice, and then it is three bedrooms, like Rick just mentioned. And the fantastic thing about it really is the size. These units are roughly, I think, 24 or 2500 square feet, just under 3000 total If you include all the balconies that are included in the property. But it's like living in a house, right, but without all the maintenance. Yeah.

And you're walking distance to the pool and walking distance to your boat, so carry our buyers and waiting. We had nine buyers come in this week and we got them pre-approved, ready to go right. So we got nine buyers, but there's one in particular we wanted to talk about today.

Yeah. So Shana came in this week and she's actually newly engaged and her and her fiance are looking for a three bedroom home up in the Port St Lucie area.

And you know what the thing is. We do have over 20,000 people in our database right now looking for a place. So just to let you know, sellers, I mean maybe this buyer is looking at a place just like yours, if, in fact, I think she is approved for $510,000. Yes, yeah, if this matches your buying criteria, give me a call. I'd love to be able to come by, take a look at your place and if this does meet her criteria, I'd be happy to bring her in there and show it to her. By the way, she's pre-approved, ready to go, just like all our buyers in our database. They're ready to go. My name is Rick Kendrick and my number is 561-901-3333, or you can go to rickhasthebuyerscom. So, carrie, it's been very good. That's been really a great show.

Absolutely. Tim's added some great tips.

Yeah, and I think this landscaping has always been a big factor with us. So, tim earth graphics in a nutshell can do a design one day anywhere in the United States international. You're able to tell them what type of plants and, on top of that, what it's going to cost them at the end, right?

The process is simple in the sense that we have a brainstorming worksheet on our website. If you go to earthgcom, if you've got a landscape plan that you want done, if you've got a pool plan, if you've got just a backyard room making plan, I'd suggest going getting one of those brainstorming worksheets, filling that out, and then we can work from there. Also, a survey is incredibly helpful. In fact. I mean it's absolutely important, especially when you think about fences and where property lines and so forth are. So we'd like to start with that. That's great.

Hey, listen. I appreciate you coming on the show today. Thank you for taking time to listen to us today. This is Rick Kendrick, with your Homesoul Guarantee Realty serving the southeast coast of Florida. Our network extends across the country and Canada. You can call me or text me at 561-901-3333. Again, I'd like to thank Tim for being on our show today. And, Tim, I told you that you can be in contact with him. You can visit him at earthgcom. We look forward to next week. Tune in every Sunday at 10 am on WFTL 850 News Talk Radio.

You've been listening to the your Homesoul Guaranteed Radio Show with broker owner Rick Kendrick Heard every Sunday morning here on News Talk 850 WFTL. Rick's company name is his promise, your Homesoul Guaranteed Realty To speak directly to Rick about buying or selling your home. Call now to schedule an appointment 561-901-3333 or visit rickhasthebuyerscom and mark your calendar to join Rick again next week at the same time for the your Homesoul Guaranteed Radio Show here on News Talk 850 WFTL.