You can use the ‘Power of Paint’ to sell your home for top dollar!
When you are getting your home ready for sale you want to make it look the very best it can, and painting is the way to get the biggest bang for your buck when selling your home! I like to say that paint is “money in a can”, because it has the highest return on investment and is the most cost effective way to improve the value of your home.
WHY IS THE COLOR OF PAINT SO IMPORTANT?
Because the walls are the largest single space in your home and will have a strong influence on how your home is perceived. Does your home look well maintained and up-to-date…. or does it look like nothing has been done to the home for a long time? Buyers look at homes where the decorating isn’t current as homes that haven’t been well maintained. Of course, doing important home maintenance and decorating are not at all related …except in the buyer’s mind.
Also, paint that is more than a few years old doesn’t look as fresh and clean. Surprisingly, even if you can’t see chips or fingerprints on your walls, there is dirt and micro-damage to your walls and a fresh coat of neutral paint will make the room look much brighter and cleaner as well as up-to-date.
While it is important to choose an up-to-date color, it needs to be a color that will harmonize with your furnishings. The right color will make your home look more spacious as well as looking current
WHAT IS THE RIGHT COLOR TO PAINT A HOUSE FOR SALE?
There really isn’t “one” perfect color, but light warm gray neutrals are the biggest trend right now in paint color. Does that mean you have to paint your whole home gray? No, but you should choose a color with a lot of gray in it.
Many people think that gray is cold –but like most neutral colors, there are warmer or cooler shades of the same color. If gray is not your cup of tea, then a color with ‘grayed’ look is the way to go!
Plain beige looks out of date, but a color that is a mix of beige and gray (greige) will look wonderful. Benjamin Moore-Revere Pewter or Benjamin Moore- Edgecomb Gray are two very popular greige paint colors. As you can see when you look at many grays together; Revere Pewter and Edgecomb Gray look more beige than gray, but if you looked at them next to beige you could see the gray in both those colors of paint. To see more examples visit: The Creativity Exchange.
The bright red accent wall, or your teenager’s neon yellow bedroom, needs to be painted over in order for buyers to appreciate the space. Colors in the red area of the color spectrum are known as warm colors and include red, orange and yellow. Not only are they out of style, but these colors make rooms look smaller AND they are difficult to photograph.
A house that is free of clutter and personal items and painted in a neutral color helps buyers make the important emotional connection to your home and see themselves living there. You may think that people can look past your personal paint colors and see how nice the house could look with new paint. But unfortunately less than 10% of people can see beyond what is directly in front of them as they look at your home. That is the reason to paint, declutter, and depersonalize your home when you are selling it. If you have a lot of personal touches in your home, or if it is painted in a color that is bright, dark, or unusual, then 9 out of 10 buyers will not be able to see past that distraction and appreciate the house.
These before and after photos of a dining room show the power of paint (and of a good photo)! The furniture is the same, but the color of wall paint is different. Not only does the room look more up-to-date and welcoming, but the space looks larger!
I can help you find the perfect color to showcase and sell your home. Call Pittsburgh Staged Homes at 412.427.2675, and find out how to make your home more desirable to buyers.