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Our house is on the market. The basement has a guest room, office, bathroom which are all 99% finished. However, the main, central room has bare concrete floor with a few paint splotches and marks. Don't have budget to install flooring--would it be worth it to paint the floor?
Also, one wall is messy, marked foam covered concrete blocks--should that be painted to show a bit better?
If I was looking at a house and the basement floors were freshly painted I would suspect that that the fresh paint was to cover up evidence of leaks. I'd leave it as is.
I agree with the others; I wouldn't bother. An unfinished floor isn't a big deal in a basement, at least not to me. I'd rather be able to see the floor clearly and then decide myself how I wanted to finish it, if I even wanted to finish it at all.
One thing my husband really wanted in a house was an unfinished space for a workshop... it was harder to find than we thought it would be!
I was going to ask what the norm is in your area, and if they have finished floors, I'd go with that.
But Graycee has a point. You don't want to appear to be concealing something. We sold our house with an unfinished basement, and TONS of stains (mostly paint, and obviously not water) on the concrete floor. We just removed any dirt and debris and scrubbed it well, but left it. It was an unfinished area and I don't think anyone cared. We were absolutely meticulous in our cleaning and repairing and freshening of the finished living areas, but the basement is a basement. We decluttered and cleaned as best we could.
As for the wall you mentioned - I'd say the same thing. We had a walk-out basement so we had a combination of tall concrete walls, and short concrete walls with studs and insulation and untrimmed windows above. We left as-is. I think how well an unfinished portion of a basement "shows" has more to do with whether it's decluttered and as clean as it can be, given what it is. I wouldn't want the wall you mention to be painted - I'd rather finish it (or not) myself.
What others have said - I'd suspect water seepage or moisture problems. It's a basement - as long as it's clean, speaking from the perspective of a buyer, I'd prefer to see it 'as-is'.
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