Color me sold!

A client of mine needs to sell her studio condo. She is disabled with limited resources and the place shows a lot of the usual wear and tear of every day living. She had only a few hundred dollars to spend and wanted to know whether to make some repairs or paint the interior. Here is how I advised her:

Despite the fact that paint is one of the easiest things to change, it always makes an immediate impression. I have been working with a buyer for several weeks trying to figure out what he likes and what he does not. Color, I realized is very important to him even though he never mentioned it. The house has one strike against it if he does not like the color when he drives up and another when he enters the house and does not like the interior color. Even when I find a house that's well suited to most of his needs, he just can't seem to get past the pastels.

A word about painting. Choose neutral colors, a little on the warm side. Don't just get a frosty white. Prep the walls by dusting, washing, and patching all the little holes. Use plastic tarps and proper masking tape to keep the paint off the places where you don't want it. It's easier to keep it off than to get it off. And now here is the good part: ask for help and have some fun. Tell all your friends that you need a couple of hours of their time to get this done. Ask them to help with any of the tasks, including moving the furniture away from the walls, even choosing the color if they have good taste in those matters. Call it a painting party. There are probably lots of articles on the net about "how to paint your home". Approach this systematically and with some extra hands.

Paint, clean, de-clutter, and wash the windows are the best cheap fixes anyone can do to make a home more presentable. After painting, you can address the other issues. You can just disclose them or make selective repairs if you still have some money.