Expert: Lisa Webber - 9/17/2009

Question
QUESTION: We live in a fairly nice area of town, on the Northern corner lot of a very busy road that get's a majority of the towns traffic.  We recently removed some old trees from our lot that were an eyesore and repainted our house. With the trees out we realized just how much available space we have in our yard.  The northern border of the yard has a small hedge. We recently had a child and would like to let him play outside next year and would also like to buy a dog to grow up with him and alarm us should there ever be an intruder.  However, if a security/privacy fence will decrease the value of the home - we probably wouldn't want to put one in.  It's a small house as is, two bedroom, one bathroom just enough for a newlywed couple wanting a simple first home in a good location.  What would you do?

ANSWER: I would absolutely put up the privacy fence.  The likelihood of a first-time buyer (which would most likely be a future buyer for your home) wanting a privacy fence is very high for both reasons you mentioned.  Many first-time buyers either don't have children yet or may be planning on having a child in the future, or may have one now.  If not, many will have a dog and will appreciate a fenced backyard.  If you don't have a fence, then a potential buyer may be wondering how they are going to afford to put one up, which could end up being a problem for them.  I don't think I've ever heard a buyer say that they really don't like a fence but I have heard many buyers say that they wish a house had a fenced yard.  So my vote is YES!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Lisa, thank you for your SPEEDY reply! You said, "backyard" fence..well what about basically the whole yard? If it could tastefully be done it would really increase his play space...

Answer
Yes, backyard fence.  Front yard fence may or may not be an issue.  In our area there are very, very few front yard fences and most communities will not allow it.  If your community will allow you to fence the front as well, you could do that and when you decide to sell it, you could offer to take down the front yard fencing if that is an issue for the buyer and use part of the front yard fencing to connect the back yard fencing to the back of the house. Does that make sense?  It would involve labor costs to do, but that way you would already have the materials just in case it became an issue.