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Does anyone have any factual information about neutral colors and selling a home? A survey done by a neutral party?
I'm feeling like everyone is parroting neutral colors, but I'd really like to see the data.
I don't have any cold hard facts data but I do know what I've experienced in selling homes that had rooms that were not "neutral".
First house we personally sold we had put in chair rail moldings in the formal living room and painted below it a nice hunter green. Every looker did not like it. Then put up a note on the wall right where a potential buyer would see it that said, "seller will repaint buyers choice of color". Then we had someone buy it on condition that we paint it and the color THEY picked was a light taupe.
Second house we sold I had done a lot of painting in. Formal dining room was a dark eggplant color but had TONS of light and did not look dark at all and was actual a color I saw in several higher end model homes. One girls bedroom had white beadboard on the bottom w/ a real soft pale pink on top. Other girls room had the Laura Ashley periwinkle blue (LOVED that color). Master bedroom had a VERY POPULAR color that you see in many model homes that cost way more than this house did that was a soft gold. Nothin doin. The buyers just don't like it.
What I find strange about them not liking it is that they will go into a model home that is out of their price range and LOVE IT!!! Part of the reason they love it so much is the fact the colors are not "blah" or bland. They have the red paint on the walls. A pink girls bedroom. A blue boys room. Gold or the popular sage green walls in living areas. But when they want to buy they don't want it. Having worked in design enough to know there are just some people that will ALWAYS be known to us designers as the "beige people". They don't want ANYTHING with color on it at all.
The other strange thing I see I touched on briefly above. These colors are commonly found in UPPER END HOMES! For some reason the higher end the home is the more accepting a buyer is of the bold colors. Don't ask me why it is just something that I've seen so many times I still don't get it.
Does anyone have any factual information about neutral colors and selling a home? A survey done by a neutral party?
I'm feeling like everyone is parroting neutral colors, but I'd really like to see the data.
People want neutral colors in the homes they buy because mostly they both have jobs and kids and really don't have the time or desire to redo a house. If everything is neutral, all their furniture will look fine and they can just settle in and live their lives. One thing I heard recently on TV really struck me. They said something in the house should be a showstopper--perhaps a great kitchen or bath or some beautiful architectural feature, etc. Something that will make your house stand out and help them remember it. Just a thought...
I agree. You can't possibly please everyone, so why try? My 15 year old house is for sale and I just figure I'll give an allowance for replacing carpeting.. It saves me the trouble and if I were the buyer I'd rather get what I want.
I am replacing faucets and any dated light fixtures, and getting rid of all wallpaper.
People likes and dislikes are so individual it would seem impossible to guess which neutral color will excited someone into buying. As an artist I have people asking me all the time to help pick colors. Own my own home I put on a green metal roof and painted a soft green shade. A friend in another town - not having seen my colors - decided she would paint her home a soft green shade. I hated the color she used when I saw her house in person. You can't tell colors without considering the lighting and various other issues. I would think if you had your home clean and uncluttered then people could paint the colors they want and pick their own carpet.
I vote for realtor #1. Replace knobs, outdate lights, neutral everything. Why? Because not all people are able to enter a house and see beyond that.
They don't have the vision of what they can do with it.
Also my realtor told me that his last house sale, the lender would not allow carpet allowance. It had to be removed from the papers.
I have pink carpet (no I did not put it in) and I have to carpet the entire house with neutral because once again people can't see past it. To them it is old and needs to be updated. Some people see old and needing updating as being dirty and not taken care of (which it is not but people think how they think).
In this market, I think you have to make things POP to make your property rule over others. Yes you can lower the price and not repair but many times it is far lower than you want to go. I think you get more money when you do stuff to the home in advance. Too bad we do not do that stuff when we are living in it and can enjoy it.
the more open and room you have the better you are!
In most cases, laminate flooring looks tacky. Either carpet or go hardwood. Most buyers want something move-in ready. They don't want to have to paint and recarpet before they move in. And for many buyers, they don't want to spend the extra money on walls/flooring but when its included in the purchase price, it's rolled into the 30 year loan.
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Neutral Because People Are Busy
