Please welcome guest writer, Damien Justus.
Paint Colors that Boost Home Sales
When a potential buyer approaches your home, they notice its color first. Real estate agencies and consumer advisors have studied the effects of color on home sales. In 2016, Zillow Digs examined pictures of 50,000 houses sold that year. The company found that rooms painted certain hues resulted in higher selling prices, as much as $5,000!
Conversely, other shades downgraded home value by up to $1,112. Both the interior and exterior colors of your home create a lasting impression. Here are tips on how to paint for the greatest profit.
Exterior
While you want to distinguish your house from others on the street, you don’t want it to clash. Exterior features to consider are bricks, stonework, and roof color. Other influential factors are the greenery on your property and architectural style. Earth tones complement wooded lots. Colonials are dashing dressed in white. Ranches are captivating with more color.
The consensus is that for most homes, white is a safe and popular exterior color. It makes your house look clean and spacious. You can also enhance white with a colored door, shutters, or trim. If you plan on replacing your roof before selling, consider crowning your abode in red, tan, or green.
Kitchen
Zillow reports that a yellow kitchen can bump up a home’s price by $1,360. However, the shade of yellow is important. Stay away from the high saturation of sunflower. Instead, choose a mild shade, exhibiting warmth, such as butter.
This color speaks to buyers since they prefer a bright kitchen. Cooks want to clearly see the food they’re preparing. Light colors add luminosity to objects by bouncing off them.
Alternatively, feature light olive. Zillow notes that a white kitchen degrades selling price by an average of $82.Admittedly, this isn’t a significant difference, but why not choose an optimal hue? Every bit of appeal boosts your potential profit.
Living Room
Light neutrals are preferable for this room since they complement all furniture styles. They also enlarge a room. The best colors for your living room are muted beige, light gray, and creamy white. They can increase your home’s value by $1,104. Least desirable are orange and terracotta, causing prices to plunge by roughly $800.
Dining Room
Here’s an impressive finding! Shades of purple increase home value by roughly $1,122. Favored tones are lavender, eggplant, and mauve. Pair them with wood finishes to create a cozy ambiance. Conversely, slate or dark gray knock off an average of $1,112 in home sales.
Bedrooms
The colors you choose for bedrooms should confer relaxation. Soothing tones, such as light green or olive, are ideal. They jack up selling price by $1,332, on average. Other options are light yellow, beige, gray, and eggshell white.
Bathroom
Since bathrooms tend to run small, you want expansive colors. Again perfect for this purpose is white, along with tan, oatmeal, and beige. These neutrals increase the price by almost $300. Dark brown, red, and blue make bathrooms feel cramped. Note that a dark brown privy can devalue your home by $469.
Painting Estimates
Are you especially eager to post that for sale by owner sign? If so, consider hiring a professional painter. If surface prep isn’t required, it averages eight to nine hours for a painter to complete two rooms, including two coats on walls and one coat on ceilings.
Kompareit advises that hiring a painter for a 12×12 room costs roughly $200-$500, including paint and materials. For a cost calculator and to locate professionals in your area, use the Kompareit tool.
If you prefer to do the work yourself, the cost for one room runs between $200-$300. Typically, two gallons of paint are required per room, with the cost ranging from $30-$60 per gallon. There are many references available with options on additional supplies you’ll need and the steps involved in painting.
To visualize how different shades will look in your home, upload photos to the digital tools provided by the Zillow Digs App or Sherwin-Williams Color Snap Visualizer. Then, at the paint store, request samples to bring home. To assess colors, apply paint to sheets of heavy paper, and place them against your walls. Also, do a small patch test on a wall to see how the paint appears in natural light.
Envision This!
Are you inspired to try a new color palette? Now you know which hues can send your home’s value through the roof. Just imagine the smiles of potential buyers! Now fancy the thrill of getting your asking price!
