You may be deciding to sell and wondering how painting could improve your home before you put it on the market.
Well, this is an interesting question because you may be in a hurry to sell or have limited resources. If you can tidy up your place as much as possible, declutter and style it as nicely as you can to keep within budget, then you will have a better chance of getting a higher return. Painting is the cheapest way to prepare your place for selling. It forces you to move everything out of the room for a start and you can store excess furniture and belongings at a friend’s house or in the garage. Don’t bring it back in the house for the open inspections!
So the minimalist look and painting are at least two items you should consider before selling. If you have trouble cleaning your house ready for sale then check out Klover House Blog to see how Kristi cleans her whole house in one day!
Klover House – Clean a house in one day
Next painting- you want to paint in neutral colours as much as you can where you can. Red wall into white walls, purple into white – get rid of those bright colours – they are not conducive to selling, not matter how much you love them. Check out my blog on which white to use. Spread your drop sheets out and paint, pain, paint. Or pay someone to do it for you. You will get your return on investment for painting, that’s for sure!
The wall on left was previously painted dark blue. Moody and interesting but not good for selling!
The before and after photos of the beach house below helped to take it out of the ‘denotating’ range, and make it worth ‘renovating’ for the purchasers. The property sold recently in just three weeks! The agent originally wanted to pitch the house as a ‘detonator’ for investors who would pull the fibro cottage down and rebuilt….but as you know investors want a bargain and will try and bargain you down. Serious first home owners want a house they can love and is liveable-one they can renovate slowly over time. Most purchases don’t have the imagination to look past what they see in front of them. Most purchasers pay attention to what is written in the agent’s pitch. So what you need to do, is create a mini competition at the open inspections, so that owner/purchasers compete with investors. Then you will get a better price for your home.
This house was pitched to first home owners and gave them a little insight into what their home could look like with minimal work. There was a lot of wood panelling, all over walls and ceilings, but I advised to only paint what they could afford like the lounge and dining areas and one ugly purple built-in wardrobe in a bedroom. There were a lot of dated floral curtains which were replaced with white blinds, flowing net curtains or white curtains. The bathroom was brown tiles and green bath, but we left it as it was and decluttered it. With the addition of nice fluffy, white towels and some aromatic defusing oil, it looked and smelt fine. We replaced all the bedroom linen with white or white/blue/red (coastal themed) bed linen, lots of pillows, cushions and throws.
Even the wooden kitchen cupboards are painted and make such a difference
Here the old dresser was removed and the wood panel walls painted white.
Bright red wall was painted white and furniture moved around or removed
Bright red wood panelling? Can easily be painted white!
The built in wardrobes were painted purple!
You want the best price you can get. Display your house as a home would-be purchasers, young and old, would love to live in. They need to find your home inviting, comfortable and cosy. That is why painting the walls can make such a difference. I once had a friend who would not buy a particular house in a beautiful location (had sea views) because the kitchen walls were red! That was her first reaction when entering the kitchen – ‘horrible colour, could not live here’ – like many first home owners, she was emotional about purchasing. But what is interesting she ended up buying another house which was more expensive and in a dreary suburb, but it was presented well. For less money she could have purchased the first house and had the kitchen repainted. The vendor could have won her over had the kitchen been painted a neutral colour like the one below. These wall have a pink tinge, but they are still restful to the eye. The small lounge/kitchen looks inviting and comfortable (though I would recommend removing the books from under the table and at least two of the pictures on the wall).
Happy painting! And good luck with the sale.