Do Mature Trees Add Value To A Property?

[Unplayed Videogames]

I have a mature willow oak tree that is nothing but a hassle for us. It's around 5 feet in diameter, and close enough to the house to have limbs spanning the entire roof, 5 feet above it. We live in a 1274 square foot single story ranch, on a circle / loop, with no sidewalk and very little street traffic.

I have gotten a couple estimates on removing the tree, and the last guy, a "master arborist", was adamant that the tree adds $10-$15K of value to our property, and that cutting it down would be a mistake. Here are the reasons I want to cut it down:

- The tree takes months to lose all its leaves, which are very thin, about the size / shape of a finger, and get in to everything, easily clogging both mine and my neighbors' gutters. My neighbor has told me my tree's leaves are worse for his gutters than his own tree, which is the same size as mine, but a different species that loses all its leaves in a week (and its leaves are bigger). And I don't exactly like spending hours on a ladder.
- Lots of birds crap on our black driveway (I spend 2 hours a year hosing it off, wasting water)
- A bird or squirrel drops dead out of the tree about once a month, and cleaning it up is gross.
- The tree drops sticks, branches, and other crap that requires cleaning up.
- Squirrels dig holes in our yard looking for nuts.
- carpenter ants live in the tree, and are the reason we got service with OPC, which is $250 a year.
- I have to get it trimmed every 5-10 years, which costs half of what it would cost to just have it removed.

I'm spending roughly 20-30 hours a year dealing with this thing.

I just want an honest answer from professionals that actually appraise properties. I'm in Louisville, KY. If it just added $1000-$2000, I'd still remove it, but for $10000-$15000, no way.

Edit: I should also add that I have a friend that is a realtor that thinks the arborist doesn't know what he's talking about. So I wanted to ask multiple appraisers.

 

[Tom D]

don't get a squirrel to appraise it, might come in high. wait for it to fall on your house, insurance money will help you remodel. i'm a big city boy with only smart urban answers.

 

[Mr Rex]

I've never given any additional value for a tree, if anything one that overhangs the roof is a potential insurance claim/late night wake up. Also if the limbs overhang the house, the roots go under the foundation as in most cases the roots of a tree try to mirror the limbs above. So a potential threat to your roof and foundation add $15k? I think not.

 

[J Grant]

In general appraisers don't include an individual tree as a value item, as a a package nice landscaping is considered. If you enjoy the tree keep it. If it bothers you it will likely bother a future buyer so get rid of it.. Many borrowers now want properties easy to take care of if that helps.

 

[J Grant]

I would not listen to the arborist. He may appreciate the tree, but it can scare off buyers who are concerned about roots growing under house, branches falling in a storm etc. Sounds better off getting rid of it and put in nice landscaping instead.

 

[Meandering]

Trees are worth what you can sell them for.

I've never had a person by a house because of a single tree.

I've also never had a person not buy a house because the property was missing a mature tree.

I have however had people refuse to even look at properties that had trees they were allergic to.

If your tree is special, like it was the one the town used for hangings, there might be some historic value that may contribute to the overall value of the property. Or if your tree is iconic like the sole tree in the desert they used to use in commercials, so was recognizable, then it might contribute overall.

Otherwise, you could hire an appraiser to due an in depth analysis of any contributory value of the tree to the overall property. But out here, we would just laugh and take your money.

.

 

[RSW]

Hey Rex, what does a willow oak tree sell for per board foot? That would be considered personal property wouldn't it?

 

[CindyR]

You have a lot of very good reasons to get rid of the tree. But you say you will keep it if it really adds $10 - $15K to the value of your home. So the question is, are you planning to sell your home? Soon? If you have no plans to sell then the tree could die or blow over in a storm or whatever before you would actually recover that mythical $10 - $15 K. And if you do plan to stay for 20 years, how much will you spend cleaning, and trimming, and all that other stuff. And is there not a cost for hating the darn thing? And what is the cost if it causes foundation damage or roof damage?

And I would concur that while landscaping in general can add value to a property I too have never identified a single tree and considered it to have any market effect. For sake of argument, the arborist is saying that we would see that big tree on top of some comparable sale house and match it up to a house without a big tree and make a $15,000 market adjustment. That is just not likely to happen.

The arborist might be considering the cost of such a tree, as in, if you were a billionaire and you wanted your house to have a gigantic tree just like the one you remember from your childhood, you might pay someone $15,000 to add such a tree to your front yard. But it still would not increase the value of your house.

 

[MRL]

When you bought the house did you pay more because the tree was there?

 

[Mark K]

I have gotten a couple estimates on removing the tree, and the last guy, a "master arborist", was adamant that the tree adds $10-$15K of value to our property, and that cutting it down would be a mistake.

"Master Arborists" might be good at something, maybe treating a sick tree or suggesting where/what to plant, but in my experience, they know nothing about how trees/plantings contribute to a house value.

Most of my work is in the right of way area, road projects, etc. This is one area that always comes up when they widen a road or put in a sewer or water line. Owners sometimes hire these clowns to write up nonsensical estimates of the contributory value of a tree or trees.

One example where the arborist caused a few chuckles from the jury in a condemnation case was when he swore under oath that one tree being acquired, out of about 10 trees in the front yard, contributed over $10K in value to a $50K house. According to him, every tree in the front yard was worth $10K each. $100K tree value for a $50K house. They are often so far out of touch that its laughable. They quote their book that has tree size, species, and condition and give a number that has no basis in reality.

Cut down the nasty old tree. A wooded lot or a lot with several mature trees might bring a premium but removing one tree will seldom affect the overall value.

FWIW, I have a lot of large trees in my yard but my next house won't have one within 100 yards if I have anything to say about it. Cleaning up after them is a PITA.