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Before putting your house on the market, a fresh coat of paint will suggest to buyers that your home has been well taken care of. Plus, it can also help boost your home’s closing price.
According to Zillow, certain colors can boost the selling price of a home by as much as $1,360! Neutral colors are a hit between buyers and sellers alike, but before you grab that bucket of off-white paint, there are a few things you’ll want to know.
Read more: 9 things to ask before selling your home
Paint color tips you’ll want to know
White isn’t always best in the kitchen
White kitchens are regularly featured in home decorating magazines — so it may seem like an obvious choice to paint your kitchen a nice clean white. But according to Zillow, painting a kitchen white does not increase the selling price. In fact, homes with an off-white kitchen sold for an average of $82 less than expected. White paint in a kitchen can actually come off as cold and unwelcoming to buyers. Sticking to a creamy neutral yellow paint in the kitchen can significantly increase the selling price of your home.
Keep it light in the bedroom
The bedroom is the most personal room in the house, so it’s hard to keep your opinion from getting in the way when it comes to choosing paint colors. Remember, liking a color doesn’t mean you’ll like it when you’re surrounded by it in a room.
You may think painting a bedroom a dark color, like brown, will make it feel cozy — nope! According to Zillow, houses with bedrooms painted dark brown sold for much less than expected.
So when painting a bedroom, go for colors like light green or khaki, which can increase the selling price by as much as $1,300!
Read more: 7 unique staging tips that will sell your home fast
Use caution with orange
If you’re considering painting your living room orange, you may want to think twice. According to Zillow, houses with terra cotta painted living rooms sold for almost $800 less than expected. That’s $800 you won’t want to lose! Try painting your living room dove or light gray, which can add up to $1,122 to the selling price of your home.
Read more: How to make or break your home sale
Stay away from gray in the dining room
This one might surprise you, but Zillow’s study found that painting your dining room slate gray can actually decease your home’s selling price by $1,100!
On the other hand, the most popular colors are mauve, eggplant or lavender, which boosted the sale price by more than $1,000. You might think purple is a strange choice for a dining room, but according to San Francisco interior designer Jennifer Ott, muted purple colors like lavender can make a room appear sophisticated. And with a possible gain of over $1,000 it might just be worth a try!