“Train-tree” suburbs is what Realtor Shauna Wiet calls those established, leafy towns where residents can walk from home to the commuter train.
“You have the trains, but you have these lovely, mature trees,” said Wiet, a sales agent for Miscella Real Estate in Geneva. “That’s the beauty of what they are bringing to the party,” she said, explaining why towns such as Hinsdale, Wilmette and Elmhurst are among the most sought- after places to live in the metro area.
Homes with mature trees “typically sell faster because they have curb appeal,” Wiet noted.
Woody Nelson, vice president of communication for the National Arbor Day Foundation of Lincoln, Neb., says studies indicate well-placed, thriving trees on a property can increase the value of a home by up to 15 percent.
Mature trees also are one of the ultimate amenities in Chicago-area new-home developments.
Lots with mature trees “are of higher value and they could be $10,000 to $50,000 more, depending upon the number, size and type of trees,” said landscape architect Mike Schoppe, president of Schoppe Design Associates Inc., in Oswego
“Certainly aesthetics” contribute to the premium cost, said Schoppe, who has worked with developers such as Macom Corp., Moser Enterprises, and Wiseman-Hughes Enterprises.
But buyers may be surprised to know that trees also have practical and environmental considerations.
In addition to a visual element in the front or back yard, “a large mature tree can provide shade” which can mean some degree of energy savings, Schoppe noted, and a tree can help in water transpiration, which means taking up water through its roots and giving it off through its leaves, which makes the ground less soggy.
Because of these advantages, Schoppe said developers, builders and municipal officials are less inclined to chop trees down than in the past.
“When the residential builder-developer is buying the land, they are not ” inclined to remove those things that they are paying more for,” he said. “We find developers are hiring landscape architects and arborists on the best ways to preserve the trees they are going to be working around. We would not have seen that happening 30 years ago.”
Although some trees may have to be removed to comply with municipal rules such as street widths and for the installation of infrastructure such water and sewer lines or electrical hookups, he says many municipalities have replacement rules.
Still, construction in and around trees can be tough on these tallest of plants. Heavy equipment on a construction site can damage roots systems, as can worker vehicles parked under a tree for shade. Construction materials such as cleaning products dumped at the base of tree causes trauma which may not kill the tree immediately, but may contribute to its death three to five years down the road if a home buyer is not vigilant. This is especially true in in-fill housing where a home has been torn down to make way for a bigger residence or several residences.
“Not more than three years after they had moved into a house, we would get calls saying “what’s wrong with my tree” said Edith Makra, Community Trees Advocate for Morton Arboretum, Lisle, of calls she has received during her career as an arborist and urban forester.
“Teardowns and utility lines” are really difficult on trees, said Chuck Stewart, founder of Urban Forest Management Inc. in Fox River Grove.
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“At the end of the day, the tree you see is what the root system can support,” he said.
Redoing all the utilities for a home twice as large or multiple units where one house once stood is hard to negotiate without affecting a tree’s expansive underground root system.
If a tree is a key part of a home purchase decision, Makra and Schoppe recommend asking the builder what techniques were used to protect and insure survival of a tree.
“If the builder answers, “We put up snow fencing, told all contractors or subs not to damage trees by dumping chemicals under the tree, parking under it and had penalty clauses for backing into or damaging the tree,” that tells you one thing. If a builder says nothing, that says as much,” Schoppe observed.
In addition, Makra urged a buyers to have a tree inspection done, much as requiring a home inspection before buying a house.
A tree inspection may cost from $100 to $1,000, depending upon how extensive and detailed the inspection according to those interviewed. But removing a diseased or dying 30-foot tree with a 12-inch trunk can run as much as $1,000 and the cost of a replacement of similar size and installation will be almost as much.
There are three components to the inspections: tree safety, health and whether it is the right tree for the right place, said aborist Charlie Keppel with Wheeling-based The Care of Trees.
“We check for whether the roots, trunk and limbs are solid to reduce the risk of storm damage,” he said.
At the same time, an arborist will check for signs of the tree’s health, whether it has any disease, how it has grown, and, in the summer, leaf size and color. Finally, the inspection includes whether it is the right tree for the right place, such as a fast- growing tree in a contained location which might inhibit future health.
While the impact of new underground utility lines, compacted soil and the quality of the soil which might affect the health of the tree are harder to determine, Keppel said the most important ingredient for the preservation of any tree is an involved and knowledgeable homeowner.
Going Green
In a follow-up to last week’s column/cover story on new developments in “green home building,” the House Hunter was contacted by the office of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and First Lady Silda Wall Spitzer, who recently unveiled a plan to make the historic Executive Mansion in Albany, N.Y., into a “green” building.
The effort will be a model for homeowners in the Empire State to illustrate some ways to dial back on energy consumption and is part of a broader initiative by Gov. Spitzer, a Democrat, to reduce New York’s demand for electricity by 15 percent by 2015.
The Spitzers appear to be joining California’s Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in making resource savings and green innovation a key issue for their respective states.
“We have this old historic house that needs to be moved into the 21st Century,” said Silda Spitzer in a telephone interview, of the Queen Anne-style home first used by a New York governor in 1875.
The “Greening the Mansion” plan aims to cut electrical consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by June 2008 through changes such as installing more energy efficient appliances and light bulbs and adding solar panels in three locations on the property to supply some energy.
As a practical matter, Mrs. Spitzer, who is leading a state-wide Green Buildings Initiative, expects the effort will trim the $85,000 energy bill which the state-owned 39-room Executive Mansion racked up in 2006 to less than $60,000.
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What trees can do
Well-placed, mature trees can:
— Add up to 15 percent to the value of a home compared to the same home without trees.
—-Boost business revenues on tree-lined streets by up to 12 percent compared to businesses on streets without trees.
—-Cut air conditioning bills 15 percent or more when trees shade the east and west sides of a home.
—-Reduce heating costs as much a 20 percent by protecting a home from cold east-west winter winds.
Source: Arbor Day Foundation
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