Monday 23 November 2015

Why Bother to Paint Before Selling Your Home



It’s sometimes amazing how people trying to sell their property simply can’t see the wood for the trees so to speak. The trouble is, there really isn’t a lot of point tidying up the inside of your home and doing odd jobs like putting up new drapes to try and make it look better during viewings, if from the outside it looks as if it has just gone through a major conflict.

It is often overlooked that the first thing people see when thinking about a new house are the photos in the ad – and they quite often start with a shot or two of the externals. If people see photographs of tired paint work with staining and flaking, then there’s a fair chance they will quickly move on to the next property details in their pile. 

Of course, with smart photo work it’s possible to make an image of something look a lot better than it may do in reality. The problem there is that your creativity with photo software only buys you a little initial interest from potential purchasers and that will quickly dissipate as they drive by your property without stopping having seen the paintwork in reality for themselves.

Now it is perfectly true that a smart external appearance alone is not going to sell your property. However, your first battle is likely to be trying to persuade people to come and view it seriously and having a tatty exterior isn’t going to help you achieve that. So, the obvious solution is to put aside a little budget for a bit of professional house painting and overall exterior image work before you even put your property on to the market.

Why use professionals? It’s simple:
  • The first obvious reason relates to the quality of the final product. It’s usually perfectly possible to tell at a glance whether the exterior paint work of a house has been done professionally or on a DIY basis – and one thing you won’t want to start your viewings with is an apology for your own less-than-exemplary efforts to paint the outside of your house;
  • Secondly, if you are trying to give your house a thorough overhaul before sale, you may need to ask yourself if you have the time to do the exterior painting as well as any jobs that need doing internally. It might make logistical sense to allocate your time and skills onto smaller and more easily manageable jobs, leaving the professionals to deal with those that are going to be both very visible and perhaps demanding in terms of the skill levels required.
The problem with trying to sell a property with faded external paintwork is that it might communicate entirely the wrong message about you and your property. Remember that outside paint isn’t just about appearances - it is helping to protect the basic structure of your home and the financial investment you have in it.

If it is poor quality or obviously hasn’t been maintained for some time, then potential buyers might start to ask themselves questions about how well other aspects of your property had been looked after over time. So, for all these reasons, think about getting your house professionally painted before you start trying to sell it!

For Vancouver residents there is a simple solution; hire Heritage Painting & Decorating  These guys are local Vancouver house painting contractors who take meticulous care to make your home look wonderful. There is a very good chance David Forrester and his team of experienced painters will do a fantastic job for you.

Choosing Colors When House Painting

Beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder and that also holds true for what are or are not acceptable colors for the outside of your house.

It’s Your Decision

Broadly speaking, how you choose the colors for your property’s externals is pretty much up to you but there are two things to be taken into account:
  • There might be local regulations which theoretically restrict just how excessively exuberant the colors used on the outside of your property can be. Whether these are just examples of archaic dumb laws or not doesn’t matter and they may rarely be exercised but It might be an issue in conservation areas so do a bit of research;
  • If you live in close proximity to neighbors, painting your house in 1960’s style psychedelic designs just might cause friction and generate objections. Keep in mind that poorly-maintained external paintwork or color schemes that are massively eccentric just might have a knock-on effect on their property values.

Design Sense

Entire libraries are full of specialist works governing the science and ascetics of color combinations. Most people will have their own views about what is right or wrong in this area but when you are speaking about the external paintwork, there is one important factor to consider. Typically, it’s harder to change the colours of your external paintwork if you realise you’ve got them wrong than it would be in the case of your internal colour schemes.

Many people quite sensibly choose professional painting services, particularly for external work, and you’ll probably want to avoid the expense of calling them back in if you change your mind. So, perhaps going for an inherently conservative and reasonably neutral colour scheme for the outside of your house is likely to be the most sensible.



Look around at the other properties in the area and the environment you are in. Try to select colours that look balanced in those two contexts. Of course, there is no reason why you can’t inject some individuality and the thought of looking exactly the same as other properties in the vicinity might not be one that appeals to you.

Hire a Professional


Many professional painters have not only huge practical experience but also a lot of knowledge of color design. They might well be able to share some very useful ideas with you. So, even if you are naturally flamboyant, try to think practically when selecting your external colour schemes. Don’t forget that one day you may wish to sell your property and designs you believe to be individual might well be seen by a potential buyers as being eye-wateringly jarring!

If you live in the south west corner of BC you might consider hiring a house painting contractor.

Heritage Painting & Decorating
Phone: (604) 818-5485
5845 Culloden Street
Vancouver, BC V5W 3S1