How we pick colors that sell!!

Aug 7

Written By Brandon Nelson

Let's talk about paint.

It's one of the highest returns-on-investment of any upgrade you can make to your house, inside or out, before a sale.

There are some tried and true colors that we default to again and again.

Interior: Benjamin Moore's Simply White still holds up. (It just works with about everything).

Exterior: That's a little more challenging, because exterior styles, settings, roof colors, and siding types have a lot more variability than interior walls.

Recently we used a digital artist to explore color schemes on two listings that we really wanted to have an aesthetic advantage as we hit the market.

Two totally different house types...

Two vastly different price ranges...

And the digital mock-ups were CRITICAL in choosing the end products that we went with.

In today's newsletter I'm going to share the images of:

What we started with...

What we mocked up to consider...

And the photos of the actual houses after the painting was complete!

Along with the sale results.

Alrighty then... Let's explore some options!

Age-Old, Brown, Blah...

This house just outside of Fairhaven had SUCH a cool interior remodel...

But the exterior had been left original, and the paint hadn't been redone in what looked like 20 years.

It also had an out-of-control Christmas tree that blocked much of it from view.

Here's what we were handed:

I sent the photo to our artist and said, "I don't even know where to begin, just give me three different color schemes to get my juices flowing."

She sent these back:

The white and the olive green did nothing for me.

But the blue got me going a bit.

I didn't love the patriotic red door, but we were close.

I sent the pics around to a couple other agents and got some input for a revision or two.

After another round, we had these two to consider...

The darker blue and white trim were speaking to me, finally.

The "natural wood" door wasn't quite right... I wanted a bit more brightness there so I went with a soft yellow.

We had our scheme, and the last thing we did before turning the painter loose was to cut the tree and diseased rose bush out of there.

Then... with the blue foundation more visible, we felt we needed one more pop of color / texture difference to make it a little more interesting.

So we added the cedar lattice panels, then (after the photo below was taken, but before we hit the market the next day) we planted vines, a couple small maples, and hung some flower baskets from the porch beam.

Here was the end result that we brought to market (minus the plantings):

We listed the property at $785K and it sold in that first few days on the market for $825K.

The buyers and sellers -- and the neighbors who watched the entire transformation take place -- LOVED the end result of our work.

A Luxury Home Face-Lift Before Listing

The property below, situated overlooking Bellingham Bay and the Nooksack River Delta, is a thousand times more gorgeous than its previous photos would have you believe.

Here's an original:

There is nothing wrong with green roofing and trim, but we didn't feel it showcased the home in its best light.

The interior is positively timeless, and we wanted to bring the exterior up to a similar aesthetic that struck a tone of "modern and current."

We sent a photo to our artist, and asked for a Charcoal Gray roof replacement, and white trim.

Here's what we got back:

I immediately liked it better, and felt it had more of a classic Cape Cod look and feel, which works because it sits overlooking the Bay.

We wanted to take another stab, though, and try a charcoal trim package.

Here's how that came back from the artist:

Oooohhhhhh!!!! WE LOVED IT!

The sellers agreed, and we put the roofer and painter on it immediately.

Note that it DID in fact need a new roof. That wasn't something we would've done just for color.

A few weeks later, we photographed the house for the market.

In real life, the colors came out a little lighter than the artist's rendering, but we loved it nonetheless:

We are currently under contract with a buyer on this gorgeous home -- one of my absolute favorite's that I have ever had the pleasure to list and sell.

If you need a similar service...

If you're considering a paint job and want to play with paint colors digitally before you pull the trigger, this type of artist is available for mock-ups.

Prices can range from $50 to $150 for the service depending on how many options you try, and how easy the initial photo is to alter.

When I'm hired to list and sell a home, this service -- and the service of general contracting the painters and other tradespeople -- is always rolled into my Realtor fee.

I hope you're getting all your summer projects done!!!

If you need any services, resources, or referrals, you know how to find me!

Have a great next couple of weeks and I will be in touch again soon!

Cheers!