Love at first sight is a concept that also applies to the real estate market. So, what is the best house color to sell your home to a love struck buyer?

When you go to social events, do you make an effort to snazzy yourself up? Of course you do. The simply fact is attraction is a key factor in forming relationships and the same applies to your house. When you put the house on the market, you need to make it look good for ‘a date’ with potential buyers. The color of your house can make all the difference.

 

First, there is no absolutely correct answer to the best color. Instead, the decision depends on the makeup of your home and the surrounding landscape. Let’s take a look at some issues:

 

1. Whatever color you choose, make sure it doesn’t clash with the other homes in the neighborhood. An otherwise appropriate color could end up making your house an ‘eye-sore’.

 

2. The Roof. What color is the roof on your home? If it is a red tile roof, off-whites for the walls are probably going to be a good choice. Dark green will not. Unless you are going to invest money in a new roof or paint it, make sure the surrounding paint color doesn’t clash with it.

 

3. Highlights. If there is a particular part of your house that should be emphasized, let’s say an outdoor water feature or an open fire place, you could use light colored paint around it to draw attention. But be careful with too many ‘feature walls’ inside the home. A blue wall might feel cozy to you, a red glass splash-back in the kitchen makes you feel like a master chef or a yellow painted en-suite symbolizes ‘happiness’ to you, however, the future buyer might just think the complete opposite !

 

Now we get to the fun part. After considering the above issues, make a preliminary list of colors and buy small cans of each color. In a private area of the house start applying samples strokes. Try to paint examples in both shaded areas and those exposed to the sun.

 

Do not immediately judge the results of your experiments. Instead, wait a few hours for the paint to dry and then start comparing. Dry paint takes on a very different appearance than wet paint.

 

Once the paint is dry, take a long look at each sample. You will typically find the colors look much different than you thought they would. You may find one color is perfect or you may find something does not fit at all. In my experience, neutral colours will fit most homes and will leave room for the buyers imagination what to do with this ‘empty canvas’. If in doubt ask friends and family what they think or contact me for an obligation free consultation and feedback.

 Buyers who are “downsizing” or “moving up” often have a dilemma. They need to decide whether to put their home on the market first or go house hunting to find the next home and determine what they can get for their budget.

If they put their home on the market, it might sell quick and then they might find it impossible to find another home in a short period of time. Alternatively, if they find a home they’d love to buy, they realize they could lose out because their current home won’t sell quickly enough or the sellers won’t wait.

What is the best approach? In my experience there is seldom a “right” answer for everybody and every situation, but let’s just look at a few options.

Let’s say you decide to put your home on the market first because you want to be sure of the amount of money you’ll have to work with. You and your Agent can negotiate a longer settlement for your contract in order to give more time, once you have an unconditional contract, to go house hunting for your next home. Thirty days is typical for a contract in Queensland, but I’ve seen periods of time at lengths as long as sixty, ninety, or even one hundred twenty days.  As long as all parties agree there is no time limit for a property settlement.

Check with your Bank or Mortgage Broker if you could apply for a home equity line of credit before you put your home on the market. If you have a significant amount of equity in your home, this can provide you with the deposit for your new home. You can then shop around and sign a contract maybe “subject  to the sale of your current home”. If the seller does not accept the clause or if you are in competition with  another buyer who does not have a “sale of home” requirement, you could choose to remove the clause and exchange it to a “sunset clause”. Check with your solicitor first before signing a new contract for a property to make sure the contract conditions suit your needs.

Let’s explore another possible scenario. You decide you’ll do some preliminary shopping for your new home “just to see what’s out there.” However, you “fall in love” with a beautiful home but the seller will not accept any contract clauses .

Is there any way you can avoid losing out on the purchase of this home? It isn’t cheap, but if you have  good credit and a lot of equity in your home, you can probably get a bridge loan to buy the home you fell in love with. Generally bridge loans have a high rate of interest and are for a period of six months. Speak to your Bank- manager first, to see, if this could be an option for you.

As always, there are many choices and I only mentioned some of them here.  If you like to start the process by finding out “How much is your home really worth”, please feel free to contact me direct  on 5476 2772