I am trying to sell my house and the yard looks awful. Any ideas on why I can do to fix this up?

Xdmryan,

Welcome!!!

In my opinion I would get out all the grass up to the steps and across so it's all even.

I would plant some sort of tree in the bare grass area and put like bark all the way around it.

Perhaps plant some pretty plants that will be pleasing to the people who are looking at your house.

When we were looking at our house we didn't really care about the fox tail lawn. It was inside that made us choose it. To me it doesn't really look that bad. The only thing that distracted me was the grass in front of the steps and across horizontally.

Just my opinion of course.

Good luck!!!🍀

Mindi

Ditto on shade tree.
Georgia summers are brutal, everybody needs shade!

Putting in a flower bed will do wonders for curb appeal.... I've seen houses sell immediately after a flower installation.

If you don't mind my asking, how long have you lived there?

Edit:
Popular Georgia shade tree choices include red maple and poplar... I'm a big fan of mulberry as well, as a fast growing shade tree.

Popular flowering trees include redbud and dogwood. Suggest avoiding callery pear (Bradford).

You might consider creating a tree island with multiple trees, this will give you the chance to dig and remove a lot of the patchy turf.... Put wood chips/pine needles for mulch in tree island, you can reuse the turf in bare areas.... Or not....

Just tried enlarging your pictures...
Is that a tree take-down I'm seeing at edge of drive?

Always hate to see that...

It's amazing what a few easy cheep things will do ! Like just mowing lawn, and weeding flower beds. Google 'Free wood chips', and Put chips in flower beds.

Spend a little money. Get some bender boards, if budget tight, use strips of chip boards. Make a contoured bed edging. Put in a few well placed stands of annual blooming 6 PAC's of flowers, and, or ! Plant some zinnia, and marigold seeds, they grow fast.
I'd go a little further, and seed some grass seed, at least to bare areas.

Ohh ! Trim shrubs, if needed.

You'll have the best looking yard in thr neighbor. 👍👍🙊🙊🙊

Be careful, NOW ! You might not want to move out. 😀😀

Outside appearance makes a huge difference, when selling a house.
As most people hate yard work.

Have fun, creating your work of art. 👍👍
Ttfn
😎😎😎

I would dig out a crisp edge to your foundation beds, then plant colorful annuals all along the front with some sort of compost/mulch (2-3" thick) to give it a rich look. I'd stick with just a couple types of annuals so it's not too busy looking. Petunias fill in well and would go nicely with the color of the house. I'd give your edge a gentle swoop rather than straight lines. Play with a garden hose until you get a line you like, then just dig inside the hose. I'd just leave the side yards as they are with the shrubs, but mulch it all well. To me, leaving some 'blank' space would be inviting for a prospective buyer, let them imagine how to fill it in.

I wouldn't put a lot of time/effort into establishing a formal edge, the new folks may want to redo the whole yard (or not). It seems more important to me to keep the lawn cut, the edge crisp, and the beds weeded (the mulch will help that immensely).

Add a planter or two full of blooming flowers to the porch, maybe a wind chime or hanging basket to balance. It looks like a fairly small porch, so be cautious about too much. Clean and simple is better for me, and makes the space seem larger.

I agree that planting a tree and mulching around it in the bare spot would be a nice touch, although getting one big enough for impact may be spendy. You could think about moving the porch bench to the bare spot, site it at an angle, add a tall blooming planter, and mulch all around the balance of the bare spot. Again, I'd just cut in a crisp line and wouldn't bother with any sort of hardscape installation.

Maybe toss in some solar foot lamps, they are inexpensive and add a nice touch.

Good luck with your sale.