How Does Color Affect Your Home’s Market Appeal?

 

You’ll consider many elements when it comes to selling your home, such as securing an agent, staging your residence and setting a list price. All these components serve essential purposes, but do you know how significantly color can affect market appeal? Yes, that’s right — color influences buyers’ decisions on whether to go for your house or head to the next one down the block. Specific shades can determine whether you gain or lose thousands. Fortunately, there’s no secret formula for devising the perfect interior. All you need to do is check out the latest trends in interior design and see what’s drawing people’s attention. Here are five style choices homebuyers adore.

1. Neutral Is Best

Few prospective homebuyers want to walk into a house and be struck with lightning yellow walls. Yellow used to be fashionable for both exterior and interior design, but that trend has faded. This hue can now make your home less appealing to potential buyers. Neutral is where it’s at for interior walls. If you want to ensure a good sale, use colors like tan, gray or off-white. People prefer these tones because they make the room appear bigger and allow the buyer to envision themselves living in the home. It’s best to keep it neutral in the living room, halls and kitchen area. You can choose lights or darks, but light colors are preferable — they prevent the room from feeling boxed in.  

2. Accent Colors Add Variety

Don’t worry — you don’t have to give up your purple and green dreams yet. You can use brighter colors throughout the home as charming accents. These will stand out phenomenally against the monochrome quality of the walls. When incorporating accents, use the 60-30-10 rule. Pick from three colors and assign each a percentage of 60%, 30% and 10%. The dominant color constitutes 60% of the room, such as walls and floors, and should preferably be a neutral tone. Your secondary color accounts for 30% and consists of rugs, curtains and medium-sized furniture. The remaining 10% is where your accent colors come in — small objects like pillows, lampshades and decorations. You don’t have to follow this rule to the letter, but it provides a helpful starting place.

3. Homebuyers Love Tuxedo Kitchens

Contrasting kitchens have risen in popularity, and this trend is here to stay. Play with tones by implementing white cabinets with a black oven or kitchen island. The most common method for creating a tuxedo kitchen is pairing dark floor cabinets with light wall cabinets. Of course, you don’t have to stick to just black and white. Mix up the finishes with matte black appliances and glossy granite countertops. With so many colors already filling the space, you’ll want to keep the walls reasonably calm. Red and brown walls in your kitchen lower the value by $2,000. As a homeowner, you probably appreciate a quality wood theme, and so do homebuyers looking for sophisticated kitchens. Wood gives off an intimate, homey feeling. Home is where the heart is, and the way to one’s heart is through the stomach — so it’s ideal for a kitchen. No matter what type you choose, finished varieties look sleek and provide a lovely gleam.

4. Make Your Bathroom an Ocean Oasis

Blue soothes the soul, and homeowners love it in their bathrooms. People adore the color blue for its dependable, steadfast aura — ever notice how many companies use it in their logos? It’s a common color, but it’s far from boring. Houses with blue bathrooms increase in selling price by $5,400. As with other interior walls, you want to lean toward a light and airy hue, although darker shades of blue don’t hurt. If you’d rather not paint the walls, you can always change your current tiles to a beachy blue color. Teal or aqua tiling with tan wall paint creates a picturesque nautical theme, mirroring the feeling of a day by the sea.  

5. Bedrooms Require Tranquility

The bedroom is a source of relaxation, and it should reflect this accordingly. Bedroom color doesn’t impact marketability as much as kitchens or living rooms, but it still matters in the grand scheme of home buying. Go for the same neutral color as the rest of your house or switch it up with something different. Whatever you do, don’t neglect your walls. Homes with plain white walls or no interior paint job sell for $4,000 below their market price. Doing a DIY paint job doesn’t have to be expensive, and you’ll be glad you put in the effort to bump up your house’s value.

Use Color to Increase Your Home’s Value

Trends change often, and you want to stay on top of them when they do. Bust out the paint cans and use your creativity to produce an interior anyone would hate to pass up.     Holly Welles is a freelance writer specializing in real estate. She’s the editor behind The Estate Update, where she shares weekly updates on making the most of any home.

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