What Are the Best Paint Colors for Selling a House?

The single most common task to be performed when flipping a house is painting the property interior and exterior. The objective is to to choose a paint type to cover any blemishes and color schemes that help make the house quicker.

Curb appeal is the first thing the potential buyer will see and the first impression is what interests the buyer to look at the interior of the house. Therefore the colors used in painting the house exterior , bedrooms, kitchen and bathrooms perform an important role in satisfying the homes ‘move in ready’ appeal.

What Are the Best Paint Colors for Selling a House? A white or off-white, like an eggshell color with a gray or blue-gray contrasting color is great for the exterior and provides a nice clean curb presence. The interior kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms can be Gray, Beige, Blue and some Off-white colors.

Paint quality is not really as important as most paints require a 2nd coat anyway so why pay more for higher quality. A flat paint will hide most imperfections in the existing wall.

What Is the Best Color For The Interior?

Interior paint colors are most important in the kitchen and the master bathroom. This is because most time is spent in these rooms and they will be scrutinized higher than other areas in the home. All rooms in the house should be well lit and painted in inviting colors as most people do not like “dark” rooms.

From a design point of view there are many different combinations that the house flipper could brain storm. The intention is to appeal to the largest number of people so the property does not need to stay listed too longer. This article is focused on the most common ideals in color schemes and colors that help to sell the house.

What Is The Best Color for Kitchens?

Disregarding the kitchen can be a big deal breaker. Kitchens are usually one of the busiest rooms in a home so a light and airy color will brighten up the kitchen and contrasting colors will add spots of color here and there. The main color can be white or ivory with some green, blues and grays as accent color.

The kitchen is a hot-spot for changes and upgrades for any house flipper. It’s a good idea to purchase and install any new appliances and fix or reface items like the cupboards before choosing a color scheme. If the new appliances are all white then it might be better to go with a different contrasting color for the cupboards. It’s also common to paint the trim and doors with a gloss white.

Most of the suggestions recommend the stainless steel appliances as they seem to fit well with most colors and layouts. A good suggestion is to work with what is there unless making more expensive changes will help with selling and the pricing of the home.

What Is The Best Color for Bathrooms?

The master bathroom is another potential deal breaker if left unattended. This room also sees daily traffic and is best when well it and painted using bright airy colors. Use a light-blue or gray with an accent color like green. There are also some nice tans and blue-green combinations that will look great.

If the master bedroom includes a master bathroom it would be fair to say that the colors should match or at least blend together. Most likely a buyer will enter the master bedroom and go right to the bathroom to check things out.

What Are Some Sample Colors

Recently zillow.com published a blog posting about interior color schemes and which ones sold for more money than similar houses. This a summary list of colors from that article, click through to Zillow to see the amount the homes sold for over average using these colors:

Kitchens: Blue (light blue to soft gray-blue)
Bathrooms: Blue/purple (light powder blue to periwinkle)
Bedrooms: Blue (light cerulean to cadet blue)
Dining Room: Blue (slate blue to pale gray blue)
Living Room: Brown (light beige, pale taupe, oatmeal)
Home Exterior: Gray/brown (greige — mix of gray and beige)
Front Door: Gray/blue (navy blue to dark gray or charcoal)

What Are Good House Exterior Colors?

The exterior color of the house is a heavy concern as this applies to the homes curb appeal and first impression. Light colors tend to have a larger and more inviting feel to them and if the house is placed away from the curb, this can bring the property more visually forward.

What Colors Should I Avoid?

This article is all about choosing the right colors to help with the sale of the property. There is also what colors to avoid and that could cause most shoppers to turn away before even walking inside. Also, avoid painting the entire house a single color such as all White. Adding some accent colors (like the shutters) to an all white house will go a long way.

BLACK

This might seem obvious but I know of at least 2 house in my neighboring streets that are black or dark brown. Learning from others mistakes is part of becoming an expert. An alternative is to paint the house a medium to dark gray and use the darker colors for accents.

GREEN

Although there are multiple shades of green this color tends to blend the front yard and foliage with the house and therefor ruin the curb side appeal.

PINK

Pink tends to appeal to a much smaller percentage of shoppers, where it looks quaint as a farmhouse, its not so much in suburbia.

Which Color Sells Houses Best?

The majority of homes painted a shade between light gray and beige tend to have the best curb appeal in most locations. The darker colors, brown and taupe, seem to be less desirable among house shoppers. One suggestion is to paint the door a darker contrasting color.

Most siding is vinyl, then there is aluminum and galvanized steel but they can all be cleaned and painted.

One technique to find the most common paint and color used is to speak to the manager at your local Sherwin Williams and ask “what is your best selling gray and beige paint last month?” He probably knows immediately. You can probably do this same thing at Lowes and Home Depot to compare results.

Lastly, google images offers plenty of exterior home images to inspire anyone stuck on colors to use for their fix and flip project.

Save on Paint Types and Sources

Obviously there will be a need for gallons of paint for either the house interior, exterior or both. The wise flipper takes steps to reduce the cost and I found a few suggestions that can help. For the average flipper it is cost effective to purchase paint by the 5 gallon bucket as opposed to just 1 gallon.

Using the same brand, color, and sheen is not necessarily a guarantee of a perfect match in paint. Multiple gallons should be grouped together to retain quality and touch-ups can be done with the leftovers.

At Home Depot sign up for their Pro Xtra program and you’ll save on bulk purchases including the paint program.

At Sherwin Williams ask to meet with the sales representative to open a cash or charge account and they will apparently beat Home depot prices prices. It is probably wise to signup with multiple sources and ompare their prices under each program.

Most paints require 2 coats regardless of the cost and quality. This means that I cannot buy 1 gallon of high quality at a higher price to avoid buying 2 gallons of the lower priced paint. To save money you can use the lower quality and price paint since it will require 2 coats anyway.

Should I Hire An Interior Designer?

It cannot be overstated that the final look and layout of the flipped home affects the purchase price and the amount of time the property takes to sell. The paint colors used affects curb appeal and the interior colors affects the feeling a buyer has about the property. There is an uncommon suggestion that hiring an interior designer to consult on a flip may help with choosing the right color schemes for a flip.

Bringing in an interior designer might not be budget friendly for the fix and flips that will show a lower return, As the average house flipper career continues there will be larger properties in the 6 figures where a great design may return a better percentage on the house sale.