Atlanta Real Estate | Atlanta Housing News for Real Estate

Totally agree!!! I have sellers all the time that ask for my opinion and I simply tell them a fresh coat of neutral paint. I also help declutter their home. I sell alot of homes when they listen. Only if other agents would encourage their sellers to do more before marketing their home. It would be a better place. I tell my folks to get into the groove of HGTV or HGTV.com

I have been watching a home being repainted about a mile away.  I figure it must be going on the market.  It has gone from lavendar with purple trim to beigey gold tones - thank gawd.  It looked like cotton candy before.

We knew a person many years ago that had a color obession.  Even had the color name in their email.  The home looked like an Easter Egg basket.  It was listed with may agents before we took the listing. The problem was the previous agents had the home featured in one of those Vantiy Press real estate books, where you pay for the article!  The home owner that that it was better than being featured in Better Homes & Garden!  It took months to have her chenge everything, enite interior paint, and yes even the carpets.   By that time one agent in town would come out to show it.  It was like Pavlov Dog experiment that went bad. As soon as you mention the home most agents would...well you get the idea.  We could not get it shown, so we let it expire.  It sold some 2 years later.

Jim,

Did you copyright this stuff, or can I swipe it:

"Buyers want to buy a home, not buy into a project.

I cannot help it if the word paint contains PAINt!"

 

This time last year I was asked to give my opinion on a home and what it would take to sell it. I went out and looked. The home was on a heavily wooded lot with lots of shade. The shade had killed off the grass in most of the backyard, the front still had lots of grass. The trees had dropped lots of leaves that had settled on the roof and in the gutters. The home needed painting inside and out and the carpet needed replacing. But the home looked great, it had lots of wood and ceramic floors. I told the seller to clean the leaves off the roof, clean out the gutters clean the yard up, and if she wanted I knew a painter and carpet company that would do the work and not charge her until closing.

Another agent told her to just place new sod down on the yard. This would have made the backyard look nicer but remember there was lots of shade and it would have only killed the sod. A fescue grass is needed on heavily shaded lots and this has to be seeded and patience while it grows. The seller didn't have time for this.

Nonetheless I won the listing and immediately called the painter and carpet company and by weeks end the home had new carpet and had been painted inside and out. We sold the home in about 25 days. For full listing price. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike  You can use it for personal use on your own presentations, not commercially.  I don't have any problem with that, but I do have enough competition in the speaker arena! Since I do write a lot I hate giving up claim to those clear moments I get from time to time!  LOL!  Now that the pain is gone I can see clearly again!  :)  I have a few of my friends in Virginia were telling me they loved the project line I use.

Danny Success really is in the details isn't it?

This is a big pet peave of mine also.  I have a big 5 gallon jug of neutral paint on hand at all times just in case I can't get my clients to see the light.  Usually they will give in if you give them the paint.

On rare occassions I've seen sellers that won't repaint.  Those are the ones that really are still emotionally attached to the home and not ready to mentally move out.

It makes a big difference!! 

 

Great advise, it is very similar to a article I wrote awhile back for my print newsletter as advise to sellers to paint your way to profit.

Todd

Paint can make a huge difference.  There is a beautiful Craftsman in town for sale.  The yard is landscaped, they have completely redone the inside.  The problem is they only painted the front.  The sides and the back are wood siding with little paint left.  I guarantee it would look great if it was painted but until it is buyers will see the house as a fixxer upper even though ut really isn't.

Rita 

Don't you hate it when they cheap out on the paint?  You go into a home and the dabbed  a few spots on the wall with a paint that does not match.  They have a semi-gloss on a flat wall.  The paint even cast shadows when it is done in a half heartedly!  I mean I grew up poor, if I wanted an excuse I could have one, but hey these sellers are just cheap, lazy, and selfish!  They are moving because they trashed the home, and someone else can tidy up behind them!  Now, ask me how I really feel!  LOL!

Doing the right preparation work for the paint is equally as important, especially when trying to remove stains from cigarette smoking in the house.  Use KILLZ or something before painting.

Declutter and Paint!! Wow, what a NEW concept! :)

It amazes me that more people don't realize this.  If the walls are disgusting and the people won't paint, I will not list there home....whats the point?

I won't either.  Like I said... it is not about social work, it is about sales.

One more biggie of mine.  Even if you are not going to paint all of it--paint the front door and surrounding trim.  I can't tell you how many times the first words out of Buyer's mouth are the "shine" on the front door.  It ranks right up there with cleaning the windows. 

Great comment and observation!  Trim paint is also a good concept!  Some people are just LAZY!  That is the long and the short of it.  They want the next owner to do it.

If spring ever comes around here, there are going to be a lot of homes painted.  Lots of people needed to last year, but all it did was rain.  I think we had 4 days all summer without rain and this winter we broke all records for snow (it's snowing now).  Granted, SE Alaska is a rainforest, but enough already.  Fortunately, when the weather patterns are explained to new buyers they are being more understanding.  I'm glad I'm getting on a plane in 10 hours.  Maybe I'll have a better attitude when I get home next week.

Thanks Debbie.  Enjoy your trip!  Spring = Paint!  I hope you have some nice weather soon!

Jim

So much truth in such a good post.  I agree with you 100% but it seems that some sellers think we own stock in the paint industry I guess.  They really fight painting their wonderful purple dinning room! :)

You are soooo right  a little paint goes a long way and is the best return dollar improvment one can do.

We recently had a call from a pushy seller of a high end home.  The seller was really kind of abrasive, and demanding. You could not tell them anything, after all they owned a very expensive home. They wanted us to come over and list their home, and out procedure is to drive by and assess before we take an appointment.  As we drove by the first thing we noticed was the FSBO sign, and that it needed a lot of work.  It was obviously over priced by several hundred thousand dollars.  Between the attitude of the seller, the home needed entire exterior paint job, the neighborhood stats, price, and appearance... we passed on the appointment.  Sometimes it is not a good thing to get a tooth pulled without Novocaine.  I guess instictively we realized it was not worth the effort, not would we unleash this seller by way of a referral on our other associates,