"Buying a House with Large Trees in the Yard"

 Ron Stultz

16 May 2010

Summary: large trees in a yard, around a home, are stately but come at a cost.

There is no doubt about it, large trees in the yard make a property look "stately" but if you are considering a home with large trees, please consider the following:

- Large trees are expensive. Unless you live in an area that never gets storms, there will always be storm damage that has to be dealt with. Limbs removal is expensive but even more expensive is entire tree removal and like everything else, trees do die. Sure it depends on where you live but tree work can easily run into multiple of thousands of dollars.

- Home owner's insurance. Probably depends on the insurance company but it has been my experience that if a tree falls and it hits something, the insurance company will pay to have the tree removed from whatever it has hit but will not pay to have the tree cut up and removed. If a tree falls and does no damage to property, you have full responsibility for tree removal.

- Large trees can be dangerous. Certainly it depends on the type tree but limbs of any size can drop suddenly without warning. A storm does not have to be present or even high wind for a limb to suddenly fall. Large trees in close proximity to a house pose an other danger as excessive rains and high winds can easily topple a tree in the direction of a home.

- Large trees are messy. Beyond the leaves in the fall, there is always small twigs or limbs that fall all year and if you want any sort of grass yard at all, these have to be picked up. Nut trees can be particular bothersome and in a fruitful year, large trees can drop hundreds of gallons of nuts. Again, if you want grass, you have to get these nuts up out of your yard.

- Getting grass to grow around a large tree can be a problem.

- Large trees can have large roots and these can damage a septic system, city water or sewer pipes and asphalt driveways.

- Large trees can become home to all sorts of living creatures. This is not a particular bad thing but "they" sometimes can be a nuisance.