One of my favorite tips for selling your home is paint. Painting your home inside and out is one of the most economical update you can make. In this video, I tell you which paint colors are most popular with Atlanta home buyers today, to improve your return on investment.

Below is a transcript of the entire video, and be sure to download my Tips for a Great Photo Shoot.

Hi there. This is Michelle Hatch with Beacham & Company REALTORS® in Atlanta, Georgia.

Right now, I am helping some seller-clients make some improvements to their property before we put the house on the market. They had a lot of deferred maintenance, and they’ve just been in the house for many, many years. It’s time for them to retire and move to Florida. So they were smart and they hired me right on the outset to help them walk through this process. And I thought it would be really helpful for you if I did a series of videos that detail the best updates to make to your property in order to get the best ROI, or to sell your property faster and of course, to appeal to the greatest number of buyers.

So tip one, well, really, I preach this all the time. As soon as you decide you’re going to put your house on the market, hire your REALTOR®. I can’t stress that enough. And with good reason because I’ve seen people throw money out the door by making improvements that just didn’t appeal to buyers, or improvements that buyers didn’t care to pay a premium for.

Selling Tip #1: Paint

One of the easiest things to do, and something that I recommend to all of my clients, is to paint. Paint is one of the most economical improvements you can make to your property, both inside and out. And choosing your paint colors are really, really important.

Zillow does this color analysis every few years. And according to the most recent analysis, some of the things you should paint and the paint colors that you should use, were pretty interesting.

Start with the front door

Zillow says to paint your front door black. Generally, in the U.S., a home sold for 2.9% more if their front door was painted black.

I don’t really see black front doors here in Atlanta. But I do know that painting your front door an on-trend color is an eye catcher and a showstopper.

That 2.9% increase in sales price on a $500,000 home, equals a $14,500 return on investment. And that’s incredible for $40 gallon of paint. Well worth the effort and money to paint your front door. If not black, then definitely an on-trend color.

In the living room

In the living room according to Zillow’s color analysis, rooms painted a taupe with a pink undertone, what they were calling pinkish-taupe, will sell for 1.3% more than homes with just white walls.

Now, I don’t see taupe living rooms with a pinkish undertone here in Atlanta. What I know is very popular and really freshens up the property, are WHITE walls. I painted my entire house interior Snowbound by Sherwin Williams because it goes perfectly with all sorts of design styles, especially with the Scandinavian kind of Boho design style that is extremely popular today.

It’s [Snowbound] also a white that has a little bit of a gray undertone to it, and grays are extremely popular still. You might’ve heard of greige, which is a gray with a brown undertone, that is still extremely popular. I see it on cabinets a lot. I definitely see it in rooms. And that’s what’s really on-trend here in 2019 in Atlanta.

In the bathroom

In the bathroom, according to this analysis, if you were to paint your walls a light blue, specifically something like a periwinkle blue, then your home could sell for 1.3% more than other homes.

And I can’t tell you how beautiful that blue is. And in fact, it’s included in Sherwin Williams’ 2020 Color Forecast. They have five color “stories”—palettes—they put out each year, and this type of light blue, even a slate blue, which has a gray undertone, are extremely popular, and, again, forecasted to be a design trend in 2020. So definitely think about that when you’re painting your bathroom.

In the kitchen

If you are going to do a minor kitchen remodel in order to get yourself on the market, this color analysis says that a “tuxedo” kitchen, which is dark cabinets on the bottom and light cabinets on the uppers, is extremely popular. Homes with this kind of two-tone cabinet color sold for $1,500 more on average. And, I absolutely see this trend here in Atlanta.

I did it myself. I have gray cabinets, and the island is a type of navy blue, which I see in a lot of local homes, and buyers really, really love.

On the countertop

Another kind of trend that’s becoming really popular—again, if you’re going to do this minor kitchen remodel and have to replace the laminate countertops—incorporate a butcher block either next to the sink or in the Island. It gives the countertop it a really edgy look, a really up to date look. And it’s also practical.

What was also interesting in this color analysis were two very specific colors that were big no-nos.

Out with red in the kitchen

In the kitchen… red, do not paint your kitchen red. If your kitchen is painted red, then you must repaint it right away. I haven’t seen a red kitchen, and specifically like a brick red or a clay red, in about 12 years. And I’m a little embarrassed to say that my own personal kitchen—about 12 years ago—was brick red.

Homes with red kitchens sold, on average, for $2,300 less than similar homes without a red kitchen.

Repaint a yellow exterior

Another color to stay away from on the exterior of the property is yellow. If your home is a creamy yellow, or what Zillow was calling a flax yellow, which is a yellow with a brown undertone, you must repaint it. Homes with that [exterior] color sold for $3,500 less than similar homes.

And it’s a great investment to paint your exterior. No matter what, because an on-trend color is going to wow buyers and get them in the door a whole lot faster than if you did not make that investment on the front end.

I hope you found this helpful. I am going to make other videos, so stay tuned for those and please subscribe to my blog or YouTube channel for more tips.

Best,

Michelle