[Ally-Mac]

For us it didn't matter. We had some of the ugliest paint - I pretty much painted all the bedrooms once we moved in. I loved doing that because we had rented for so long where we couldn't paint so to be able to paint made it really feel like ours

with that being said, I have to agree with Liz. I've watched enough House Hunters to realize that in this market, every little thing counts. For every person that doesn't care about paint, there are probably 5 that do and really look at those things. A $20 can of paint can make a world of difference and with that $ spent you may get a buyer who would've overlooked it.

...when you are looking to buy a house how important is paint to you? Some of the corners on our walls are missing a few spots of paint and my Agent suggested we touch it up. I can't remember what shade the paint is and I am not repainting the entire living room / dining room area. I already have to repaint Grace's room because it is two shades...a light pink and green. Caleb's room is blue...it's staying blue too. UGH... seriously would the paint job or color be your deciding factor?

I am so nervous that our house will never sell. LOL

[Lilly Bella]

We repainted most rooms in our house before we sold it. We also had the carpets cleaned, redid the bathroom, and touched up anything we could. Our house sold in 3 months in the worst off place in the united states (seriously kokomo, indiana is like the lowest cost of living place ever) for exactly what we asked!

[Jule'sMomInOR]

Ditto the others - you'll get your investment back several times over. On the other hand, I know you're swamped right now so it would be tough to fit it in.

[starrsgirl]

Eh. I guess I figure a lot of people are dumb and decide on superficial things. No, but seriously, I do think in a bad market, you need to dot your i's and cross your t's to stand out. There are so many houses for sale and it's annoying to have to do a bunch of little projects right when you move in so people will go for that move in ready house most of the time I think. My 2 cents anyway.

[Daffodil]

From watching HGTV too much (or at least I used to, I miss tv! lol), you'll make it back and a lot more if you paint...if there are chips in the paint or other little things wrong, people usually offer less when buying.

[sweetliberty]

We're house hunting starting in January and honestly paint isn't important to us. It's something that can be easily changed, and even if it is ugly colors and you can't change it right away it's superficial and you can live with it for a while. However, that may be just us, I don't know. Good luck! I hope it sells fast!

[shockandawe]

Originally Posted by Ally-Mac

For us it didn't matter. We had some of the ugliest paint - I pretty much painted all the bedrooms once we moved in. I loved doing that because we had rented for so long where we couldn't paint so to be able to paint made it really feel like ours

with that being said, I have to agree with Liz. I've watched enough House Hunters to realize that in this market, every little thing counts. For every person that doesn't care about paint, there are probably 5 that do and really look at those things. A $20 can of paint can make a world of difference and with that $ spent you may get a buyer who would've overlooked it.

Truth is we invested $2K in having the inside painted and some odd simple jobs done to spruce up the place and make it so that someone coming in felt they were getting an even bigger bargain. This included carpeting our stairs to dampen the squeaks from the original hardwood, and putting down some new cheap vinyl floor tiles. Even still, some came through and opted not to buy our 40+ year old home because of the squeaks in the upstairs floor. Ridiculous I know. We painted 5 rooms, and re-staged furniture. Stored a lot of stuff in a pod offsite, and I set the stereo to classical music softly in the background for every single showing. Kept fresh flowers in the kitchen, dining and living room, and left all the lights on in the house for every showing. The place was immaculate, and we have eaten out every single day to prevent any food smells from impacting potential buyers. We still took much less than we originally listed for, but like I said in a previous post, there were some demographic challenges at work in our area as well. And we were motivated to get the heck out.

I would say if you were to do three cheap things to get the biggest return on your investment they would be:

1) a real good scrubbing and cleaning - get help in if you need to in order to keep it up. When we were looking, I could tell which ones were lived in by the soon to be exhusband, and it turned me right off. All it needed was sweeping, but it gave me the heebie jeebies knowing I'd have to clean up his mess before I moved any of our stuff in.
2) paint. Like Ally said, it's so inexpensive, but can make a difference of up to $5-$10K on your sale price depending on your market.
3) staging/flowers and the finishing touches. Seems ridiculous, and it was a heck of a lot of work, but it's free/cheap (grocery store flowers in a vase still make a huge impact), and it makes every single person coming through the door feel welcome. WHICH MEANS they can immediately feel like this could be their new home when they walk through the front door.

I'm the first one to tell you...selling as a process s u c k s. I have a long list of expletives I could use to supplement that statement. But when it's all over, and you have this burden off your shoulders and can focus on making your new home your goal, it's totally worth it. I honestly shudder to think what the offers would have looked like if we hadn't taken the time/effort to do what we did before we listed it.

[kellyg282]

Girl I was in your shoes last year. We were trying to sell a house and move at the same time, but with a four month old. I know it is hard trying to move with a LO and retouch a house at the same time, but your agent is right. A little touch up here and there would not hurt,but don't go over board.

Personally though if it were me I could care less. I like to make things my own. When we bought this house I did not like any of the colors but I loved the layout, so I painted. Alot of people are not like me though. They see colors that you have and say next. lol.

[CutlassDiva]

i have never had to do the house hunting thing (DH owned our house when I met him) but for me paint isn't a huge deal....most likely I would repaint upon buying a place to add my own touch....the only thing I would do would be to prime/paint neutral any dark colors or Reds...as those are a pain to paint over and as a buyer I may consider that aspect of it.....

[Wren]

We have gone through this twice in four years. It depends on the condition of the rest of the house. If one room has some paint flaking off, I wouldn't really care, but if I see a list of 20 things I am going to need to do (refinish floors, repaint all the rooms, etc.) I would be more hesitant to buy. It is hard when you are selling a house to get a sense of what condition other houses are in that are in your same price range, whereas the buyer is looking at a whole bunch right in a row.

I guess I'll paint. Our house will be empty when people come to view it. It is only 10 years old, has a brand new roof (it was just put on two days ago), a water heater that is only 6 months old, we are offering one year of insurance on all appliances (we are leaving every appliance). The only room that will not be a neutral color is Caleb's..it's blue. Grace's room is two colors but I plan to paint that. I'm just mad because even if we sell the house for exactly what we are asking we are still coming in $5K short of what we owe on our mortgage. I'm sure we will break even when we go to buy because the area we will be buying in got hit harder than the area we are selling in but still....

[shockandawe]

Not sure what your agent told you about empty houses, but it's been my experience that an empty house indicates a desperate seller. If there's anyway you can stage your home and move some stuff later, it might help you keep your final price more closely aligned with your asking price.

Good luck with the move and the painting. I'm hoping it doesn't take you long to sell!