Don't paint your rooms pink and watch your words!
In the blog below, Kathy makes some great points. I've always been a firm believer that the way a house is decorated can have a positive or negative impact on a potential buyer. Look at the study done on rooms that are painted pink!
Michael Collins - SFR - Broker - Rock Realty
I read an article today courtesy of Yahoo!Real Estate written by David Rout for Smart Money Magazine entitled The Psychology of Real Estate. Having been a Psych major, I am always intrigued by why we do what we do.
There're are two facts that I found interesting... one I knew, the other, well, a little surprising.
First:
In the article it cites a study done at Old Dominion University regarding a room painted pink. The preliminary conclusion was that even though a few cans of paint would be an easy and inexpensive "fix", the participants were less likely to purchase the home. Granted this was a small study done with students, but think about the results.
Realtors and Home Stagers have been saying this for years. The thinking of many years ago was that all a home needed was to be clean and have a fresh coat of paint. But times have changed. Studies are being done. And some of those studies say that only about 10% of the population are able to see beyond the paint, clutter and over stuffed rooms to the homes full potential.
Add that to the "Gotta have it now"-Twitter-Facebook mentally that we all have and many people don't want to have to buy a home and then spend the first several months/years painting, renovating and updating.
Second: (and this one surprised me)
In a study done in Texas of 60,000 residential real estate transactions, listings that mentioned new paint, new carpet, and/or roof work sold on average for slightly less than those that did not. The article suggested that buyers might wonder why things needed to be replaced or what else might be wrong with the house. It suggested it might be better to let the buyers be surprised when they saw the quality of the home, rather than disappointed by the hype.
Now, I don't know if this included mentioning upgraded kitchens or baths or new appliances but I would have thought that words like these would have attracted a buyer rather than making them think twice. For example, there are some neighborhoods in Boca Raton that are older but still desired by many. If I saw a listing with "newly updated kitchen" or "new hardwoods throughout", I would probably be more inclined to put it on my "short list".
So what to do with this information? Well if you have a seller that has a huge chartreuse room like I had, you might want to pull out this study.
As for the words, my thought is that if you don't choose the right words, the words that are true and yet enticing, then you might not even get the buyer to the house for a showing.
I'd like to hear from Stagers and Realtors.... what has your experience been? How important is a room's paint color to your buyers?? Do you downplay the new carpet, paint etc in your listings.
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