Do I have to?

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by mike052082

If you are loosing that amount of money I wouldn't be doing the door and knob thing. Paint and cleaning yes, but all the extra stuff no. Remember, you bought the house the way it is so I am sure there is someone else that would as well.

Agents are always going to tell you to paint something neutral. That is how they have been trained to think. But rember, have you ever been a model home that was painted neutral? I know I haven't.

When I was studying to get my license, and when I first got it, I was told "neutral, neutral, neutral!" Being the kind of person I am, I asked, "Why?", because I'd been on forums with consumers looking for houses saying, "If I have to walk into another beige house with beige carpets I'm going to throw up!" I was told, "Resale is in competition with new build, and people who buy new homes choose neutrals. Fine, that made sense.

Then I toured the model homes in the various communities in the area and noticed that, without fail, they all had very nice BRIGHT designer colors. So I asked the people who sold the new homes. They told me that, yes, people buying new homes bought them painted in the basic neutral color that was offered, that they COULD get the designer colors, for an extra $10,000 or so as an upgrade.

So, yes, people were buying the stock neutral colors in new homes and then saving a few thousand dollars by having the designer colors put in later. But they were buying the homes based on the way the model homes looked, without neutral colors.

It was an interesting perspective on actual motivation of the buyer, once I started digging past the "neutral, neutral, neutral!" mantra.

[mike052082]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

When I was studying to get my license, and when I first got it, I was told "neutral, neutral, neutral!" Being the kind of person I am, I asked, "Why?", because I'd been on forums with consumers looking for houses saying, "If I have to walk into another beige house with beige carpets I'm going to throw up!" I was told, "Resale is in competition with new build, and people who buy new homes choose neutrals. Fine, that made sense.

Then I toured the model homes in the various communities in the area and noticed that, without fail, they all had very nice BRIGHT designer colors. So I asked the people who sold the new homes. They told me that, yes, people buying new homes bought them painted in the basic neutral color that was offered, that they COULD get the designer colors, for an extra $10,000 or so as an upgrade.

So, yes, people were buying the stock neutral colors in new homes and then saving a few thousand dollars by having the designer colors put in later. But they were buying the homes based on the way the model homes looked, without neutral colors.

It was an interesting perspective on actual motivation of the buyer, once I started digging past the "neutral, neutral, neutral!" mantra.

Kinda against what I said earlier, but if I were selling my house I would go neutral on everything as well. The only exception would be if I got the design skills up to par and actually took some time to "build" a room then I would go with the nicer (bolder/brigher) colors to make the room look better. So I guess it depends on how much work I would be willing to put in.

I did see on house hunters one time that a woman said that everytime she saw a house with white walls that she automatically didn't think that the owners took care of the house b/c that is one of the first improvements that people make before they do the bigger things. Kinda makes sense.