Seller Tip #3 Paint Yourself Out of a Corner
Seller Tip #3 Paint Yourself Out of a Corner
Our seller tip #3 is to paint yourself out of a corner. “Wait, I thought the saying was to nor paint yourself into a corner” The twist for home sellers is to use fresh paint to move your home out of the corner of a buyer’s mind and onto the front burner of their home buying decision.
Fresh paint has so many psychological affects on a home buyer. First of all the smell of fresh paint is a powerful buyer aphrodisiac. The whiff of fresh paint causes a buyer to subconsciously think of new construction and cleanliness. I would equate it to a “new car” fragrance. Smelling fresh paint causes a buyer to start thinking “fresh” and “attractive” thoughts about a home.
Visually fresh paint covers a multitude of sins. Holes in the wall are suddenly gone. Fresh paint on the surface makes the door or wall or wood trim look like it was justpurchased at Home Depot and installed last week. Home buyers don’t think about the fact your home was built in 1960. What they see is a fresh and clean environment for their family to enjoy for many years into the future.
My favorite items to paint before listing your house for sale are as follows
Front Door: This is a must. You want anyone entering your home for the first time to have a great first impression. A showing agent will take 2 or 3 minutes to get the lockbox open while the buyer and family are standing in front of that newly painted front door. This delay causes the buyer to soak up every detail and believe me they will notice if your front door needs paint. While you are at it – new door hardware does wonders.
Walls: Those designer colors you selected 10 years ago are no longer “in”. And besides that years of dirt, scratches, scrapes and banging into walls has taken a toll on them. Fresh neutral paint will take away so many buyer objections.
Hallways: Same as walls except more so. Walls gets really beat up in hallways.
Exterior: Yup, should have been painted 5 years ago but you didn’t have the cash to do it. Exterior paint is not something anyone takes pleasure in getting done. But as a home seller exterior paint is pretty much a requirement if you have delayed maintenance.
Seller tip #3 is to paint yourself out of a corner and put yourself at the front of a home buyer’s mind when they tour homes for sale.
