Getting House Ready to Sell

According to all those blasted shows on that HGTV network, neutral colors are best.
I would go to Lowes or Home Depot and look in their 'oops' section of mixed paint. Sometimes you can find great deals there.

Light Tans/Beiges/Khakis are always a good choice.
Just plain old white sends a message of 'Help, I need to be painted'. And specific color choices (reds, blues, greens, yellow) can send a message of 'I am too taste specific, please paint me.' Either message means 1) that the buyer will have to paint when they move in or 2) it means that they cant visualize themselves living in the house.
Happy painting!

DECLUTTER!!! we sold our house quickly. The biggest thing was to declutter. Remove half of your decorations, pictures on the walls, plants, etc. and furniture. Only the basics and necessities.
Clean the walls (magic eraser works great) or paint neutral, light colors.
Shampoo the carpets. (you can do it yourself for a fraction of the cost - Lowes or Home Depot rents them) No one wants to come into a house and think "we would have to buy new carpet" It is alot of work, so if it needs to be replaced, do it before. will add alot of value, even a cheaper carpet. Most people just don't want to have to deal with a major renovation like redoing the floors.
No wallpaper!!! Wallpaper is out - if you have some remove it.
Seal the driveway/porches/etc. If applicable. Do all major once a year type of maintenance items. It is a big hassle, and makes everything look much nicer. No one wants to think "I need to figure out how to pack/move/unpack all my stuff, etc. and then will have to spend a weekend sealing the driveway or mulching the landscaping"
Paint your front door. A nice "eye-popping" color that compliments your house that looks fresh and clean just screams "I take pride in my house and the way it looks - we have maintained it - and didn't just put a sign in the yard."
Good luck!!

I just sold my house in 4 days. My house literally wasn't even on the market for a week. Most of the rooms are done in creamy off white colors. The big thing is to get everything cleaned off and make sure there isn't an odd smell. Make the closets orderly and leave some space so people can imagine that it is spacious even if it isn't. I had the advantage of having a house that isn't overly big or expensive in the first place. I sent the kids out of the house for a day and cleaned and made everything orderly. It was spotless when I was finished.

- Beige/tan is what our realtor had suggested. Something that looks intentional, but is very easy to cover with their own paint choice.
- Declutter EVERYTHING. People cannot see beyond what is actually visible, despite what you may think.
- Take down family pictures. A few framed photos here-and-there are fine, but tons of framed pictures lining the hallway makes it feel closed-in and overly personal to you.
- Take down and store "knick-knacks". You want ALL surfaces to be clutter-free and open.
- Put away all non-essential appliances (stand mixer, toaster oven, blender, etc). Counter space is a huge selling point.
- Open your shades- natural light makes a room feel bigger
- Take magnets and calendars off of your fridge. They look messy.

A nice muted yellow/gold or buttercup is in fashion these days. White shows up all flaws with a wall, if present. I would stay away from that if possible. Also, we decluttered and got a storage unit. Our realtor's wife was an interior decorator, so she came over and told was what to get rid of, and how to stage. It was a huge plus-we sold the house in two weeks!
Good luck!

I would go with neutral colors, it does not need to be just beiges and don't use white. I would talk to several realtors first and decide which one you want to represent you. They can be very helpful in color choices and furniture placement.

Do not over spend trying to fix up your home. Use what you already have there. In this market you will not get back much of what is put into the home so keep it simple with paint and updated curtains, etc. Be sure that there are no unfinished projects, and if something is not working fix it now.

The first thing you should do is de-clutter and pack ALL personal items (pictures, nick knack’s and those sort of things) and stuff that you do not need every day. You will have to pack eventually so why not start now. Also check out the show on HGTV "unsellables" you can get a lot of info from that show and some of the others.

A boring color is best. A friend of mine put her very very nice house on the market a year or two ago. The Realtor did not like the dark green accent wall in her kitchen and told her to paint it. The Realtor picked out a burnt orange, yes, I said orange.

The bought new carpet throughout the house. It was a nice enough carpet but not what I would have liked. The new carpet cost them about $5000 but increased the value of their home by nearly $20K. It is a 2 story home with about 4-5 bedrooms and a bonus room over the garage.

Around the fireplace she also had them paint that wall the orange color. My friend saw the papers where people signed in for the open house. In the comments area they all hated the orange walls. Nearly every one of them mentions them specifically. It did sell but it was at least 6 months before it did.

Neutral is always better. No one wants to come in and see someone else's personality in their potential home.

Take down everything that is personal. Pictures, books, art, knick knacks, border, trim, bathtub slide things that we stick on to keep the kids from slipping and falling, etc...every bit of personality needs to be gone. They will want a blank slate. Totally blank.

My other friends had a similar house but it was just a one story, they only washed the walls and did not replace the carpet. Their house sold in a few weeks. It was a blank slate, white walls, neutral carpet, beige I think.

Neutral - beige - gray - pale colors - anything but WHITE WALLS!!!

Someone at Lowes, Home Depot or some other paint place like Benjamin Moore - can help you with color if you give them the size of the room and what you are trying to do.

Don't forget to ask if there are any paint cans that were not done "right" - the right color that a customer wanted - they sell those cheap!

Off white walls. If you have white woodwork, give the visible areas a fresh coat of paint as well. My sister is an interior designer - you can't go wrong with the combination of Navajo White on the walls and White Dove on the woodwork. Both are Benjamin Moore colors. The Navajo is just dark enough to provide contrast against the white trim and the White Dove is clean and bright and just pops on woodwork.

ETA use a matte finish on the wall. Benjamin Moore's Regal Matte finish is very nice yet durable and scrub-able. Cheaper matte paints will rub off the wall if you clean a spot. Then use a semi-gloss on your woodwork. The contrast in finishes is another thing that makes the beige walls/white woodwork look less boring.

I would call a Realtor to see what the current market wants. Most of the time when a house is newly painted it is neutrals. When I see bold colors it tends to be in low use rooms where there was no need to paint.

All the shows I watch say declutter and paint lighter neutrals.

Have a yard sale and get rid of clutter even in the closets and garages! Use the monies made to buy high grade paint.

A few years ago we sold our home in Michigan...I left the master bedroom white, but we painted the family room, kitchen and main bathroom...in neutral colors. The family room was like a darker tan....the kitchen...light tan....and the bathroom a grey-green which looked really good with white sink etc. We also put new faucets on the kitchen and bathroom sinks. (more modern looking) The key to getting your house ready is to have it be simple...put away pictures of family, no fake plants, no clutter. And make sure it smells good before you show it. Also, steam clean the carpet....Good luck

Don't do white it showes dirt too easy. I would say bage or something like that would be good.

5 years ago we were very lucky and the 1st people to tour our house bought it. We had worked hard to get it in good selling condition for the market.

1st we got rid of everything but the basics, we rented a storage unit and packed a whole lot of stuff away even some of the decorative things. We took down all of our personal photos and packed those away too. We refreshed the paint on a few walls with what we refer to in our area as "Johnson County Beige". You want people to walk in and immediatley see there own things in that space, not your stuff.

I also would burn vanilla candles so that smell would linger in the house.

Good Luck!

Light colored neutrals. I remember when looking at a house, you knew you were going to paint the walls no matter what to suit your taste, but if the wall was already a light color it would make it easier for me - you wouldn't have to prime etc.

Something light and neutral. White can be to stark. But hey that is what they will get at my house. LOL You want them to be ableto visualize thier own colors and furniture.