Color our house beautiful with the perfect paint job
According to some real estate experts, only one in 20
homebuyers will look at your house and see its potential down
the road. The rest will see it for what it is right now. That’s why it’s so important that your house look its best when it goes on the market.
And when it comes to improving home cosmetics, painting may
be the best way to make your house look better kept and more appealing - inside and out.
When choosing an exterior color, there are several things to
consider, including:
The things you can’t paint - Choose a color range that
complements the permanent colors on your home, such as
shingled roofs, unpainted brickwork, and stone facades and
foundations.
Your neighbors’ homes - Even if you’re leaving town in a huff,
you should be kind to your neighbors and repaint your home in a manner that "fits" with the neighborhood decor. And if you
still feel like sticking it to the neighbors and going with a garish
color, remember this: most homebuyers will want .to fit in
rather than stand out from their new neighbors.
Historical accuracy and integrity - If your house is an old one,
you may be able to increase its appeal by maintaining its
historical integrity and repainting in accordance to its pedigree.
If it’s registered, the local historic society may have a say (or at least demand one) in the colors you choose. For example, the Exeter Historic District Commission recommends color
selection based on architectural style and the era in which the
home was built. (See www.exeternh.org/hdc/hdccolor.html.)
Your landscape - By painting your house to complement your
landscape, tying in colors from your garden, trees, ponds, rock
walls, etc., you’ll create a seamless and pleasing setting and a
charming curb appeal.
The size and placement of your house - If you want to make
your house look bigger to growing families, you should go with
a light color. Light colors also can make a house appear closer
to the front of the lot, which may appeal to gregarious types
who don’t like to do a lot of mowing.
If you want to make a tall house look shorter to appeal to
retired couples, you should go with a darker color. Dark colors
create the illusion that a home is smaller and set farther back.
The general homebuyer preference - Finally, divorce yourself
from personal preferences and try to ascertain what the buying public wants. Popular interior paint colors are like fashion trends and can quickly change. But for exteriors, the old standbys have been popular for centuries.
According to a national survey by Sears Weatherbeater Paints,
more than a third of Americans would choose white as the
primary color for their homes’ exteriors. In order of preference
according to Sears, the choices are white, gray, blue, tan and
brown, cream, beige, green, yellow, and red.
As a seller, consider conservative and light colors. Light-
colored paint can help maintain a bright clean appearance.
Yet, New England may vary from the rest of the nation in its
preferences. The New England landscape is graced with many
darkly painted houses. Many of them are red - perhaps
because in the days of yore, red paint was cheaper and
appealed to New Englanders’ frugality. Whereas light-colored
paint reflects all wavelengths of sunlight and can help keep a
house’s interior cool in the summer, darker paint absorbs light
waves and can help keep a home warmer in winter. So in New
England, both light and dark paint choices may have appeal.
For insight and inspiration, visit the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities at www.spnea.org. Or look up local homebuilders and see what color they’re choosing to appeal to new homebuyers.
And while we’re on the subject of exterior painting, don’t
neglect the smaller things. For example, make sure your
mailbox is freshly painted. A freshly painted fence and a new
coat of paint on the front door can do wonders for curb appeal.
For the most part, however, exterior painting is no small task. If you plan to do it yourself, you’ll need to invest a multitude of hours scraping, sanding, priming, painting ... and probably
cursing. If you elect to contract the job to a professional, you’ll
invest thousands of dollars. So the question still begs: is
painting the outside of your house worth it?
It very well could be.
Chances are you’ll get a quicker offer. And that could color you a winner.
