When you're house shopping, does interior paint color stop you from buying??

[decker96]

Paint doesn't really matter much to me. I know I can just paint over. Besides, color is in now, not many people want white or cream walls anymore. I could maybe see his objection if you had painted it hot pink or bright blue or something, but pale yellow and sage green? Those are not overpowering colors by any means. The next buyer may like those colors and be glad they don't have to paint themselves. When we were looking for our last house we were most concerned with the layout and condition the house was in. The one we bought had some funky color carpeting in some of the bedrooms (dark burgandy in DD6's room and a weird green color in DS3's room) but we just replaced those. Plus UGLY wallpaper on our three season porch which we just painted over (sage green by the way!! LOL!!) It's really not that big of a deal. We looked at a house where the whole downstairs except the kitchen was painted kind of a brick red. We didn't really like the paint job, but didn't buy the house because the bedrooms were really small, not because we didn't like the paint.

 

[mommytutu]

I depends on how much I LOVE the house. When we bought our first house, it had awful wallpaper, but we knew it was only cosmetic and could be changed. No big deal. When we sold that house we repainted all the walls and ceilings white. White makes the rooms look bigger and briter. And that wallpaper was long gone. Our house was move-in ready. We sold the house in less then 4 months.

I think cosmetic changes aren't a big deal and if the folks looking at the house have a big problem with it then they can ask for a paint allowance in the contract. You'll be surprised at some things buyers ask for in contracts. Our buyers said the toilet flushed to slow and we need to make it flush faster. HUH? Since when do they time potties? We never could convince that 35 year old toilet to flush faster and in the end it didn't matter.

 

[HollyJoy]

Wall color doesn't stop me, but Wallpaper would! (including borders). The house we live in now has wallpaper up that we are currently taking down, and I tell you, IT'S A PAIN! There's a chance that we may be moving in the next year, so I'm starting my list of things that I don't want to have to deal with... wallpaper is one of them. Paint color is easy to redo.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Paint color and wallpaper would not stop me, but if all the floors needed to be redone as well, I might stop and think about it. To me it is far more important that the kitchen cabinets be nice and not need replacing. Paint and wallpaper are minor things in comparison.

 

[Sonya]

Paint wouldn't stop me but wallpaper would. In fact we told our realator we wouldn't even think of buying a house with any wallpaper in it. We went in one and really liked it, but it was covered in very ugly wallpaper and I cried!

Before we moved we took down all our wallpaper (we didn't put it up, it came that way) and painted. We even painted out bedroom deep blue! We had 5 offers so it must not have been too bad!

 

[Amberle3]

I think, if I were a realtor, I'd invest in some good 3D home design software. I'll tell ya why:

I downloaded a packge from Broderbund called something like 3D Design Architect. You can download the full version, but it expires in 15 days. Great product. I used it for planning out where all the furniture would be going in DFi's new house

Yes it's a little time consuming, because you have to measure all the walls etc first. BUT you can get a great 3D model of a house, and you can use the program to do some interior design as well.

You can change the wall colour, add wallpaper, change the flooring (various colours of carpeting and hardwoods etc). Put in light fixtures, draperies, kitchen/bathroom cabinets (and change the colour of those too). It's a great program!

So, you could map out a whole house into the program and generate a preview, and then when people say "I don't like the wall colour, I think it would look better as <whatever>" you can say "Well just a second, let me show you what it would look like if you painted the walls that colour - there you go!"

 

[gina2000]

The house I bought had a pepto bismol pink bedroom with bright green holly stenciled as a border....also red berries. Another bedroom was electric blue. The downstairs was painted brown....woodwork and walls...on top of a ton of wallpaper. The carpet needed to be ripped out and the floors refinished.

I liked the house and could see potential. We bought it.

 

[Disney Princess 6]

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[Nancy]

No not paint color unless it was something that would require alot of work to cover (like black)

Now carpets are another thing...my first house was bought cheap..it was a fixer upper. It had red, black and white leopard print look carpeting in the living and dining room. It was one of those things that we couldn't afford to replace real fast and I hated it. When we were buying our next house one of the first houses we looked at was very Spanish looking all reds and blacks....guess what we didn't buy?

 

[mtemm]

paint doesn't bother me...wallpaper does. Ugh. paint is easy to change.

 

[poohkinandpiglet]

Paint color is not a problem since I usually redo everything anyway. I'm a big do-it-yourselfer and have tried all the lastest glazing and paint techniques in our home. Venetian plaster is my current favorite.

 

[Az Pirates]

I don't think fairly neutral paint colors (like sage and yellow) would deter most people - some might use it as a bargaining tool and ask for a re-decorating allowance though.

I once bought a house with a LOT of stenciling and would think twice about doing that again. It was so dark it would bleed right through the primer - what a lot of work to cover up!

My name for my current house when we were house hunting was 'the wallpaper house' It was done by a decorator and was all tasteful - but there was sooo much of it!
Maybe it was how it was put up - but the rooms with just borders came off really easily for us.

I would definitely buy a house with paint OR wallpaper I didn't like than one where I would have to change out carpet - that's BIG $$$

 

[Kae]

Some people can see potential in house & some can not. What are your DFIL tastes? & decorating style.

Kae

 

[Michie]

As a realtor I say LISTEN TO YOUR DFIL! I have lost count of how many clients that have said " well I don't like the color of this room or that room" Some people just cannot see past paint, wallpaper etc.

I would consider painting my home in neutral colors before putting it on the market though. It's good idea anyway to make sure your paint looks fresh anyway when putting your property on the market.

 

[vernon]

I would agree with your FIL. Colour has a huge impact on how a person sees the ambiance of a house. It's easy to say "oh that doesn't bother me, I'd just paint it" ( particularly easy for me as I'm colour blind ) , but the reality is that subconciously people are already on a downer with that house. They'll look for ( and find) other faults, too near a main road, too far from transportation/shops. Any reason not to buy it, even if they don't say ( or realise) their reason is colour more than anything else. All things being equal, what would you choose a perfect house with a colour scheme you do like or a perfect one that you don't like the colours and would just HAVE to change immediately?

It doesn't have to be white, but neutral colours are likely to cause the least amount of offence and make it easier for people to see their furniture in your house. If a "loud" colour scheme puts of 25% of your buyers, then your top $ buyer may be among that 25%. As Michie says, with a fresh paint job your house will look much newer, sharper, cleaner and is likely to attract a better price, if you're going to try to maximise your earnings it makes sense to do so in a colour scheme aimed at buyers, not at your own taste. You are after all moving on to somewhere else.

 

[crz4mm2]

No. I wouldn't stop me from buying a house I wanted (and didn't when the last house had Neon GREEN kitchen walls!).
But if I like the colors, it would sure encourage me to buy

 

[LadyTrampScamp&Angel]

No, paint color would not stop (and didn't) me from buying a house I really wanted. I'm more concerned with the size, layout, location and condition of a home. If all that's good I can (and did) change the paint, floors, and take down wallpaper. I guess it helps that DH and I are pretty handy do it yourselfers.

However, if the house wasn't really what I wanted I could easily say I didn't like the colors etc to a realtor. I guess it depends on how much a house inspires me.

I'm sure a blank slate kinda house is easiest to sell but I'm not going to live with "adobe white" walls either because someday we're going to have to sell the house! That can be taken care later if we have trouble selling it - I can always paint walls boring off white then

 

[Az Pirates]

Originally posted by Kae
Some people can see potential in house & some can not.
Kae

We were watching one of those designed to sell type shows and one of the couples that came through commented on how ugly the furniture was and said they didn't think they could buy that house.
Duh... the furniture will be gone!

But I guess maybe there are buyers who need the house move-in ready and can't see past what's there.

 

[mom2boys]

No not paint color unless it was something that would require alot of work to cover (like black)

or maroon.

We seriously looked at a house not too long ago. One of the rooms which are boys would have slept in was fushia. It would have to have been painted before we could move in. The other kid's room needed painting because the owner's teenage granddaughter had covered every inch in posters & stuck things all over the walls. I loved what they had done with the kitchen/family room - very tasteful colors with discrete stenciling.

I have an office in my home. Several of my clients are realtors & one is a decorator - they have all commented on how much they like our color choice. Office is a light (but not bright yellow), living room is "tea with milk" - much more attractive than it sounds.

 

[NotUrsula]

I can't believe that no one has mentioned pre-fab PANELING! That is a serious deal-breaker for me now. My current house had it all over the place, and I've gotten rid of a lot of it, but I haven't managed to get rid of the stuff in the basement. Never again will I buy a house with so much as a sq. ft. of the stuff.

Paneling is h*ll b/c it's usually glued to bad walls, and pulling it off causes big holes. You can't paint it easily, either. I ended up using gallons of 'mud' on mine, followed by anaglypta (textured) wallpaper. This wallpaper is meant to be painted, and I have painted it.