Las Vegas Real Estate Talk!

CH313 · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 9

I have some bold colors in my house. Is it better to paint everything a neutral color before listing the house?

kelkat · Joined: 03 Oct 2006 Posts: 98

If it's nice (not like black walls or neon orange) and shows well, then I wouldn't worry about it for now. You could always offer a paint allowance in the listing for the buyer to be able to repaint themselves.

If the colors cause some folks to run screaming from the building Wink

then you might want to tone it down a bit.

When the realtor does a walk through, ask him to be straight up and let him know you are willing to work on it.

eerie · Joined: 03 Oct 2006 Posts: 185

Even more important than paint is to remove the clutter in a home. I remember (in Vegas) looking at a woman's home that was for sale - and she was a collector of everything. She obviously never threw anything out. There was literally a path going through the rooms of her house - with 3 feet of debris piled everywhere. Needless to say - I didn't buy.

kelkat · Joined: 03 Oct 2006 Posts: 98

You make a good point. But not just clutter should go. It's a good idea to pack up most anything that is not essential for your everyday life. The open spaces make your house seem bigger and lets potential buyers imagine their own stuff in it.

eerie · Joined: 03 Oct 2006 Posts: 185

Yes, including portraits and personal memorabilia - I've heard. I've only sold 3 properties and cleared most everything out while it was on the market.

LeighA · Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Posts: 64

Thanks for the advice Eerie. Had never heard of removing personal memorabilia but I guess it would make it easier for the potential buyers to see their stuff in the house with more of your stuff out of the way.

eerie · Joined: 03 Oct 2006 Posts: 185

Remember the show "Cheers" when Diane and Sam bought a retired couples house? The couple didn't want to move and Diane felt so guilty that she let their family come over for a reunion?

That's the basics for what you don't want to happen. A buyer needs to imagine that he is living there.

Also - what if something about you turns off the buyer? If you love baseball and have baseball stuff all over the house, but the prospective buyer just happens to hate your favorite team? That alone might make him pass on your house.

kelkat · Joined: 03 Oct 2006 Posts: 98

I know a guy in our area that has an entire room (one of the larger downstairs rooms) devoted to his favorite college team (including paint and carpet colors ew!) It's extreme decorating like that kind that really needs to be toned down before putting a house on the market.

wondering · Joined: 02 Nov 2006 Posts: 30

Again, this is an opportunity to see a property as a fixer upper and makes it sometimes more likely to sell. An unusual color could lower your value and give them an opportunity to raise it. It's just important that you figure out how much more you'd gain if you paid for the fix-up yourself.

sweet_mayhem · Joined: 13 Oct 2006 Posts: 42

most articles i've read about visually making your room larger say that painting your walls a light color makes it even larger..

LeighA · Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Posts: 64

Sweet Mayhem that's true...my husband and I used to paint. Light colors make rooms look bigger and typically go with more furniture and carpeting color schemes. Dark colors make rooms look smaller and are a real pain when someone else buys your house and wants to change it.

felice206 · Joined: 09 Nov 2006 Posts: 5

Quite true, dark colours also give the home a more clausterphobic feel to them as well. I think light colours really open things up quite a bit more.

kelkat · Joined: 03 Oct 2006 Posts: 98

But the questions you need to ask yourself is: Will it make the property sale faster? and Will it make me more money than I have to put in? If the answer is yes, then I'd paint in a heart beat. If the answer is no to either, then you have to decide what's most important to you. If the answer is no to both, then don't paint.