What upgrades and renovations should you make to your house before you put it on the market? The consensus among real estate pros is that you should do only those things that add value to your house, that offer a good return on the investment. And painting is one of those. Painting is fairly inexpensive, can have a huge impact on the appearance of your house, may help you get more offers quicker, and can help you sell for more. You know you need to repaint those green walls in the living room and that neon orange kitchen, but what colors should you use? Specifically, what colors should you use to sell your house in Downey?
General Principles of Paint Colors to Sell Your House in Downey
There are some general principles for painting to sell your house in Downey that have been proven time and again. For example:
- A top online listing site found, after inspecting 135,000 photos of old houses nationwide to see how color affects sales, that houses with charcoal, smoky, or jet black doors sold for more than expected – for as much as $6,271 more. When painting doors costs only $100 to $400, that’s a remarkable return on investment.
- They also found that houses with kitchens painted in a tuxedo scheme sold for more. A tuxedo scheme is one in which the upper cabinets are painted one color and the lower, another color.
- Throughout most of the house, buyers prefer cool and neutral wall colors.
- Many houses that sell for more have light blue bathrooms and taupe-colored living rooms.
This same site also found that houses with walls painted in dark red or brown “sold for as much as $2,310 less than expected. So if you really do want to sell your house in Downey, avoid these kinds of brash, outrageous colors. And homes with creamy bright yellow exteriors “sold for $3,408 less than expected.” For more information on colors to avoid, contact your local real estate agent at 562-881-9811.
Specific Paint Colors by Room to Sell Your House in Downey
Specific colors work best in certain rooms to sell your house in Downey, for example:
LIVING ROOM
For your living room, go with light beiges and gray-browns. According to real estate experts, “It will help the room feel more cozy and welcoming. It also could tack an average of $2,000 to the sale price of your home.” They also recommend accenting the beige with a white fireplace and baseboards, as well as using some natural wood accents.
DINING ROOM
In the dining room, you’ll want to use subdued blues tinged with gray to give the room a “more formal and stately feel.” Homes with dining rooms painted in bluish gray or grayish blue sold for almost $2,000 more than homes with dining rooms painted white. And, again, the advice is to work some white in on the baseboards and furnishings.
Bedrooms
The pros unequivocally state that bedrooms “painted a matte soft cerulean netted an average of $1,856 more than expected.” (Cerulean is actually a range of colors that can vary from teal blue to sky blue to bright blue to azure. Most of the time, though, it is used to describe a kind sky blue.) And they add, “Try pairing the blue with white baseboards and stage the room with natural woods for an added appeal.”
KITCHEN
One highly popular, white kitchen updates are now falling out of favor. Although a white kitchen looks new and shiny, it can be a real pain to keep clean. Better to go with gray-blues on the walls, which, according to the experts, can raise your sale price more than $1,800. Real estate pros also recommend using bold-colored cabinets to accent the walls.
BATHROOM
Like the kitchen, the bathroom should be painted a subdued or light blue. A bathroom painted the right color can help you sell your house in Downey for up to $5,000 more.
EXTERIOR
The consensus on exteriors is that they should be painted a color known as “greige.” This is a portmanteau word made by combining “gray” and “beige,” and, as the name suggests, the color itself is a mixture of those two colors. Painting in greige can help you sell for nearly $3,500 more than expected.
Don’t Forget the Front Door
The front door is one of the first things potential buyers will see when they visit your home. As we mentioned, when it comes to painting front doors, dark colors are what you should use to sell your house in Downey. A navy blue front door can add up to $1,500 to your sale price. Still, it takes a lot of experience and knowledge of the local market to get the colors just right for your house and your area, especially if you want to sell for as much as possible.