I’d love to hear from my readers which exterior house color makes a home hardest to sell. Feel free to leave your comments in the comment box at the end of this blog.
I have listed hundreds of homes in Costa Rica in my real estate career and I’ve seen some seriously colorful houses myself.
I have never walked away from listing a particularly colorful home. Although I always warned the seller that if he/she doesn’t invest in a new coat of paint, it might take a while to sell.
Exterior house color
When you are looking to sell your house in Costa Rica, you should not only look at the curb appeal of your property. I once wrote an article for the Tico Times on that topic. The exterior house color is one of the most important details that can stop your house from selling EVER.
Interior house color
I’ve seen black rooms and pink rooms, rooms of all colors. But it is so much easier for a buyer to just paint one room. Unless you have a good look at some of the photos that were taken in a Balinese style home that has been on the market for quite a while.
This colorful home is either waiting for the right buyer who loves colors, or for the moment the seller decides to re-paint or drastically lower the asking price.
Forest, toucans and other animals
Don’t we all fall in love with the rain forest, the toucans and other animals that made us move to Costa Rica? Also, I love all of that. But not painted on my walls.
Even if you have paid quite a chunk of money to have some local artist do those incredible murals, please paint them over. Most buyers don’t like them. Unless you want to wait years to sell the house, please I beg you, paint them over.
A happy house
On Active Rain, a prominent real estate blog, realtors in the US agree that a pink house is the most difficult one to sell, to be followed by Pepto Bismol color, Smurf Blue, and purple. Some home owners can’t help themselves because they are color blind.
Others do it on purpose because they want a “happy” house, a “trendy” house or an “artistic colored” house. People have all the right in the world to be gay but if your neighbors decide to paint their house in the colors of the gay flag, you’re screwed, excuse the French. I have nothing against the gay flag, but I’m not a prospect to buy a house like that, or one next door.
Realtor’s comments
Here are some comments from realtors found on Active Rain that is not surprising:
Lyn Sims – RE/MAX Suburban – Schaumburg IL Real Estate says “Hardest house color to sell was a Pepto Bismol pink ranch foreclosure that I tried to sell. Damn ugly, that’s what it was!
Annette Thor – Connecticut Homes and Commercial Fairfield City – Westport, CT stated “I had a listing next door to a hideous lavender house; on what would have been a half million dollar street. It took 3 years to sell that house. More than a few buyers commented on the big purple home….ugh”
Everything sells
There is a client for everything though; the following comments from experienced realtors are the proof:
Lawrence “Larry” Agranoff – Charles Rutenberg Realty – Plainview, NY says “We sold a deep purple house with pink shutters that had been on the market with another Realtor for a long time. Our client was from out of the country and thought it was a remarkable house color. Proves there’s something for everyone! “
The Caribbean
There is one important house color exception I should talk about: the houses in the Caribbean. The interiors of those houses, for some reason, look pretty with all those bright colors. It is more customary there to use bright colors for the accessories and accents than painting walls with those colors. But the setting allows for that.
My experience
I always ask the seller to paint the house before I list it. BUT, I am proud to say that I had a very memorable sale some years ago, where the house color was all about color.
Get some ideas
If you’d like to get some crazy ideas on how NOT to paint your house if you ever want to sell it, check out House-crazy.com.
Are you a buyer?
If you are a smart Costa Rica real estate buyer, you can take advantage of the situation if the house for sale is painted in an awful color. You have everything to gain by making a low ball offer and see where it gets you. You have my blessings!
Are you a seller?
If you are a smart Costa Rica real estate seller, you invest $10,000 or less to change the house color. You have everything to gain, as long as you do it before you put the house up for sale.
Either way, contact us now; we are good at recommending you to do the right thing.
Feel free to leave your comments on this blog.
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