Selling a House? Paint is your best Friend

If you are in the market trying to sell your house, listen up. Your real estate agent probably told you a few things about staging your house for sale and how to make it look attractive. But I am still surprised that only a few real estate agents go into details like painting your house from the inside and maybe even the outside. I am actually selling my house right now (or better: I am trying to sell it) and before we even hit the market my wife and I had spent several days of painting rooms, refinishing the deck and to do a few other things. I thought the house looks good until we went to an open house even last Saturday. The owner had done nothing to really stage the house. Ok, they had cleaned up a little bit and removed some clutter, but the house was just crying for attention.

Scratches on the wood, no fresh paint on the walls, and the baseboards were partially in such bad shape – it was a shame. I am not even going to talk about the master bathroom which alone would require a $3,000 – $5,000 makeover just to look decent – not great, but just decent.

The seller’s agent was surprised when I mentioned a few things, but the she mentioned that the seller would give an allowance towards new carpet. When we left I looked at her car and you often can tell by the car how good or bad a real estate agent is (there are exceptions, but often this rule really works). Her car was probably around 8-10 years old and that combined with how the house looked like and what she mentioned during our conversations told me that she was either very new to this job or one of those part-timers that are missing the proper skills. I am not trying to offend anyone here, but as in all professions, you have real professionals you want to work with, you have new starters who are trying to learn and you have some people who are in the wrong profession.

Anyway – I compared that other house to my own and I could easily tell that paint makes a huge difference. It probably cost me around $100 in paint and tools + a day of work per room (estimating numbers here), but it takes away a large chunk of negotiation power for the potential buyer of my house. A house with a fresh coat of paint in many areas looks 100 times better and eventually will draw an offer that is closer to asking price compared to a house where a buyer has to deduct fixer upper expenses first (+ calculate the effort and time to make a house ready for moving in).

So, if you are thinking about selling your house, be smart – spend some time on the low hanging fruit. Painting is easy to do even if you are not a handyman. One weekend per room and within 4-6 weeks the majority of your house looks upgraded and so much better. When I did some fixer upper work on the outside trimming, it was amazing how the refreshed white color made a difference. Look at the outside of your house and eventually do some touch-up work, too. Don’t give away money by being lazy. This housing market is difficult and to attract people to make an offer, your house has to be in the upper 10 Percent of houses in the same range.

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