Can you take a few photos and post them? What color is the flooring, what color cabinets? What age is your target buyer?

The general answer is a neutral, and that makes most people think about a light beige. But for someone younger, the perfect light gray could be the answer. Gray is very trendy right now. Sage green can be a neutral as well.

I will link to two threads here on gray that you may want to read. The first one is a discussion on gray that leans purple - that might be too edgy for many people, but the discussion is interesting.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gravender

And this discussion and photos of Julianne Moore's apartment.

Here is a link that might be useful: More gray

BM Edgecombe Gray. It can read more biege in some lights and more grey in others so you can use one color and have a different feel or affect in various rooms.

First tell the realtor that the paint and labor are coming out of her commission. Unless the carpeting is mauve or purple, smart buyers--especially in this economy--know they can paint over. That paint job will cost you a couple thousand at least--I just had a small master bedroom, adjoining bathroom, another bathroom, a little laundry closet and the home's exterior done and it was about $1700. When I sell my townhouse (not even thinking of it yet!), the lime-green walls in the powder room and kitchen stay. I'm not going to the effort of repainting anything for buyers who are just too lazy to see beyond the color. (Heck, I bought this place with APRICOT walls! And mine was not the only bid.)

Thanks! I don't live in Champaign, so I won't be back there until I drop off the paint. It's a condo suited for a grad student or first time home buyer. 1100 square feet with the original 70s kitchen. One of the bedrooms has a smaller north window, and the other bigger south windows. The downstairs is one big room. It has 1 1/2 baths, and neither has a window so they could get too dark without the right paint. I like the idea of a paint that seems different in different rooms so it doesn't look boring. I tried a gray in my house a couple of years ago, and as soon as it went on the wall all I saw was purple. The painter told me that gray is difficult, and I'd like to avoid any purple cast. I appreciate all ideas - I have never been able to look at a chip and figure out what it will look like on the wall!

Pammyfay, on the other hand, in this market, a condo that does not have very many distinguishing features and is likely to appeal to a first-time home buyer or another grad student should probably be freshly painted and appeal to someone who wants move-in ready. Unless you are going to lose money by painting it, it can only improve its chances in a saturated market. Even if the new owners *do paint themselves, they may be less committed to a unit with bright colors they don't like when there is one down the street that they don't feel needs immediate intervention.

My daughter was a vet student, and the friend we rented it to after my daughter graduated was a veterinarian. My daughter has dogs, a cat, fish, lizards and snakes. Her friend had a larger dog. Although they were reasonably careful, the condo looks, for a nicer term, "lived in." it really does need painting.

Either spend the money painting and get more when you sell, or don't paint and have to settle for less money. Sometimes it is a wash moneywise.

But............. having it 'move in ready' will most likely get it to sell faster and you will save money by not having it languish on the market for months.

Real estate agents will not pay for improvments on a property out of their commission. I don't know how anyone ever got that idea. Any leaky faucets or nailholes in the walls are the responsibility of the owner.

The realtors around here love to suggest a particular strip from Sherwin Williams when selling your house. It is the one w/ Kilm Beige, Nomadic Desert, Latte, and Hopsack. I have Latte. A really pretty, neutral khaki. Have seen all up and are beautiful. Work well w/ crisp whte trim too. Very fresh and warm.

Benjamin Moore Shaker Beige mixed in BenM Super Spec Eggshell. Great paint for move in/move out. Wouldn't necessarily choose it (the grade of paint not the color) for my forever home tho.

Here is a link that might be useful: Super Spec

If your target buyers have been renting, they're probably fed up with white/beige walls and are looking forward to being able to paint. It's helpful to remind them that this is possible by having some walls painted in colors even if it's only a backsplash or a bathroom. Also, think carefully about how the colors will look in digital photos online. Buyers will be looking there.

I've also noticed that people in their late 20's and early 30's seem to like a lot more color than I do. When I owned a condo in a 1907 building, I was amazed at the colors my young neighbors used. One fellow used dark, dark earth tones. The woman who was an interior designer painted their dining room a vivid orange (gave me a headache to be in that room), living room lime green and foyer blue. It actually worked with their furniture, but egad. I thought it would hurt resale, but both units sold to other young people who loved the colors and haven't changed them. I certainly wouldn't go that route, but I would use some color. BM Beach Glass works well in bathrooms with white fixtures. BM Palladium Blue photographs well, if you are more adventurous. BM Shaker Beige and BM Lenox Tan photograph well. BM Manchester Tan is a great light neutral, but doesn't look all that interesting in photographs. BM Linen White is a warm cream with a lot of yellow undertones, if you decide on a very conservative approach.

Furnished rooms photograph and sell better. To stage each bedroom, I made a bed foundation out of cardboard boxes and wooden slats, covered it with a dust ruffle then topped it with an air mattress and normal bedding. Cheap and effective. Fortunately, no one tried to sit on the "beds"!

I sold my old house myself in less then 30 days, multi full price offers. Now it could have been luck, though I don't have much of that. The colors I used besides white trim (doors ect) in a cheap satin from HD, the bedrooms Ralph Lauren in Stony Mountain, guest bath had alot of wainscotting so it was all white with a blue chandelier. Masterbath had wainscotting in white..subway tile ect so I used RL in Plantation. The kitchen had white cabinets, wood floors, black granite counters so I left that white satin trim w/matt walls. Living room RL Starched Apron which I didn't like, it looked yellow but heck I left. Foyer was also done in the white combo. The dining room which had custom wainscotting (white), cove ceiling, I used Farrow & Ball in Light Blue. Even people who thought the house was a little too small wanted to know what that color was. The house wasn't staged, I actually never really showed it but 2x (trusted people), had my own lockbox, but everything was freshly painted & very, very clean. Because the house was vacant in the white paints I used Paint Pourri (additive) in vanilla & some Air Wick plug ins. Kept it smelling fresh! Electric window candles kept the house from seeming too vacant.
Best of luck to you!
KAT

Painting everything white or off-white may seem b-o-r-i-n-g, but it solves the problem of the existing jarring paint and it does create the all important "move-in" ready state.

The odds of finding the right colors that will appeal to the most likely buyer is pretty slim. And with your challenging lighting conditions, the odds of you finding the right colors that will fulfill your goals in each room is also pretty slim.

All one color will keep the costs down too. White will make every room feel bigger and space sells!

New buyers will eventually want to re-paint the chosen colors anyhow no matter what they are. At least white/off-white makes it easier for buyers visualize whatever they have in mind with no distractions.

Having said that, I recently painted my Mom's apartment BM Blond Wood. It was not beige but not yellow, fairly light but considerably more than off-white. She likes it and gets a lot of complements. And she doesn't have a lot of natural light, so it is bright enough too.

I'd go for basic off white too. It's a fresh base for whatever colors the new owners want to paint it.

The whole white wall debate is interesting. Has some fascinating stats, data, various studies and experiments to go with. For instance one states that only 80% of respondents said they even "liked" white. With the other 20% conclusively saying they disliked white.

Yet there are other instances where people claim to like the color white per se, but in environments they said it left them with feelings of starkness, institutional, unwelcoming, uninteresting, hard to see, disorienting, utilitarian and.... there's more but I'll stop there.

Point is, white does not get an overwhelming mark of acceptance when used in and on the built environ. Arguably, it has as much baggage as an acid green. The perception that it's a safe, all-around, neutral color is as undocumented and unproven as many other urban color myths floating around out there.

As far as white making the room look bigger - that's entirely subjective. One person might think white expands the space and looks crisp and wonderful in a clean slate kinda way. Yet the person standing right next to them will feel a complete loss of sense of shelter because whiteness exists where, according to their tolerance, there should be cozy boundaries set in place by color.

I don't think white or off white is a good plan. Subjective arguments aside it does do one thing consistently. It sets the expectation that it is a blank slate and will go with everything. Unfortunately, the next layer or level of that expectation are feelings of it's just a good starting point. It naturally alludes to the idea that the white space is simply a prelude to more work; something will have to be done down the road to truly make that space homey because the white is serving the utilitarian purpose of a transitional wall color. It's only temporary and *some day* it can be corrected/changed.

The prelude to more work is the psychological hot potato when selling a house. No one wants more work. They want move-in ready. White isn't move-in ready, it's move-in tolerable.

If you can select the right paint color with the right pitch of nuance that harmonizes with inherent light sources, and reads neutral enough to 'go with' a wide range, that's what will enhance and best feature the space you have to sell. Unlike a white, it has really good odds of reading to many people as 'good bones' already in place just waiting to be used in the completion process of setting up a household and making a home. Which is very different from white's "it will go with everything until we get around to changing it"

It's a slippery slope of considerations and weighing pros and cons, no doubt.

A color with some chroma that shows as warm in the space sets a completely different stage than a white. It's sets a stage of cozy, homey, welcoming, and most importantly shelter. White simply does not evoke those associations in a high percentage of color tolerances -- that's just not what white *says* to most people.

I would keep it the way it is and offer paint budget to the new owners. I would have loved that when I bought my house.

Wendyb - FINALLY! Someone has mentioned BM Blond Wood! It only took me ten years to decide what color to paint our master bedroom with its old, off-white pinkish walls; during that time I accumulated easily 40 splotches of various colors on the walls, plus numerous painted panels, haunted every paint store in town, and read thread after thread here, looking for the perfect color. Then five weeks ago I returned to the BM store again, again with the fabric swatch for our curtains, and a new decorator came and looked at the swatch, turned around, reached out, and handed me Blond Wood, and said, "This color enhances almost everything." And it does! It's not beige or yellow, it's a rich light tan. We installed a lot of trim - crown moulding, baseboards, etc., painted the ceiling flat BM Alpine White, the trim semi-gloss Alpine White, and the walls eggshell Blond Wood, and it's beautiful.

The only pictures I have (which I haven't yet learned to post anyway) don't do the color justice, the walls look gold-ish, which they are not. A condo painted this color would look cozy and welcoming. It would enhance almost any furniture and decorations, except perhaps in yellow or orange. Almost all neutrals, blues, greens, pastels and even red look fine against it. It's the white trim, however, that makes the room.

Take it from a realtor, away from these forums, most people have little to no imagination: PAINT THE PLACE.

Do not tell the broker that the paint is coming out of her commission (she is advising you how best to move YOUR place and get the most money in YOUR hands. She'll get her dough whatever you sell it for)

Do NOT paint white if it is unfurnished - too stark, too sterile. Empty looks worst in white.

Gray without accents or funiture can 'feel' cold and industrial.

Best colors for an empty residence are the popular, fairly neutral but warm BM colors: Shaker Beige, Monroe Bisque, Manchester Tan, Putnam Ivory, Powell Buff, Dunmore Cream.

Personally I've also had pretty good response with Wheeling Neutral with adjacent areas in a shades directly up or down the color strip.

If it's taking longer to sell than you can live with, you can always rent furniture for the space. It is ALWAYS easier to sell when people can see how furniture fits and can imagine themselves in the space.

Furnished or not, include a few (*artificial) plants here and there, to sofen the edges (*artificial if no one is living there to care for living plants. But nice artificial plants OR no artificial plants. Not cheap,sparce or otherwise flimsy, obviously fake greenery. That's just yuk!)

Good luck.

Beautifully written, Funcolors. It's a shame neither this forum nor the Buying and Selling Homes forum have a FAQ section, because that response is pretty much the definitive response on using the color white when selling.

SW Macademia
Kimberlyinva gave some good tips with the vanilla additive and airwick plug ins.
I have 18 rental properties and done multiple flips. Don't waste too much time deciding on colors.
The other thing to look at is your fixtures - if they are dated, it is worth it to switch them.

A discussion board is a good place to get ideas and hash the pros and cons out. Everyone can learn.

Keep in mind that some people gag at artificial scents. Gag! And that some people just hate certain scents like vanilla, or maybe pine, or whatever. I count myself in this group. Some people hate certain scents due to accociation - lavender, although popular with young people can remind middle-agers of their grandma. Lavender sachets tucked everywhere around the house, combined with dated light fixtures and W2W carpeting create an image that is hard to shake when viewing the place.

I've read from realtors that it is best not to put scents into a place that is being sold as it makes people think the scents are there to mask something unpleasant like pet odors or musty mold. While throat burning 'Springtime Wonderland' is being wafted around the place with plug-ins and candles, the potential buyers are wondering what really lurks in the air that is being covered up.

Clean is best. Make sure the house has no residue on the walls and woodwork, especially the carpeting, that creates an odor. Cigarette smoke, cooking odors, pets, stinky feet, that urine smell that bathroom grout can get, ect. are going to turn off buyers. Clean the place until it sparkles. Open windows to get fresh air in before showing the house. Skip the plug-in air freshners IMHO.

Don't have time to read all of the comments, but I can speak highly of Sherwin Williams Kilim Beige. I'm in the process of preparing our home to go on the market (this week, I hope) and chose Kilim for my LR/DR and hallway. Painted my MB and below DR chair rail Latte. Nice thing about Kilim is it's not too anything...green, gray, yellow, brown. It's just a very nice clean neutral that goes with anything. The realtors love it and so do my family and friends who have visited since I painted. I did it myself and only cost me materials. I bought a 5 gallon bucket of Behr eggshell finish (still have lots leftover) and the other materials...total well under $200. With several houses on the market in my neighborhood, I want to be heads and tails above them as far as appeal. My house will be move in ready without anyone feeling the rush to paint, while some of the others are dingy (sp?) and wallpapered or painted ugly colors. In my search for a new house, I'm walking away from anything that will require immediate painting as there are just too many in inventory that are ready to move in.

I agree that a clean and fresh appearance is most important. If the walls need repainting to freshen them up, then definitely go with something on the pale, warm end of the spectrum. I read somewhere that most people prefer warm tones in their living spaces. Make sure that the color you choose looks good with the existing flooring, cabinetry, and woodwork. Sometimes experienced painters are a great resource for color consults, and if hired, may even give your their opinion for free. When we built our home, our painter was a huge help in choosing our interior colors, as she had so much experience painting. She just knew how the colors would look in our home and lighting, etc.

A friend painted her kitchen SW Kilim Beige before she put her house on the market and it looked great. Not too dark but warm and inviting. And it's very neutral.

You could also look on Craigs List for used furniture if you want. For under $1,000 you could get enough furniture to do most of the house.

If you go to furniture by owner and mark that you only want the ones with pictures you can look through them and hopefully find some decent looking stuff.

Just make sure everything comes from a non smoking house. Ask about pets, too. If you buy a bed without a mattress you can use a blow up mattress on it.

Thank you graywings. If there were a FAQs page here it'd be an honor to have a post included. :)

I feel like I left something important out tho. I think it's important to acknowledge the other, more positive response side of the white debate.

We (I) have to be careful not to condemn a preference for and positive response to white in the built environ. Just because white does not have great odds of garnering a positive reaction across a large percentage of people in the context we're discussing, selling a home, that doesn't automatically mean those who do respond positively to white are *wrong*.

They're not wrong. They're just very likely in the minority in this particular architectural application of white wall color.

There's nothing wrong - at all - with having a preference for and wanting to live with white wall colors.

Lurkers to this thread would do themselves a favor taking these two quotes to heart:

White isn't move-in ready, it's move-in tolerable.

It's the white trim, however, that makes the room.

Could not agree more!

Especially about the trim. Cream just looks dirty! White looks clean!

I think a general consensus is that white walls are boring, so go with the best neutral for the room - depending on lighting, flooring, cabs, tile, etc.

I also agree, you could do a lot worse than Kilim Beige for the entire home.

A friend of mine has always had white walls. She carries it out beautifully because it is a quiet backdrop to wonderful artwork and antiques.

But an empty condo needs something more.

Thank you for all your help. I chose Shaker Beige and it looks blandly nice! There is no furniture or anything else to break up the expanse of beige, but everything flows and it looks good. It's interesting that the electrical outlets seem to fade into the wall with this color, and I like that, too.

pai325, glad you chose a neutral color which is how I fell in love with my home. We'd love pictures if you have time.

First tell the realtor that the paint and labor are coming out of her commission. Unless the carpeting is mauve or purple, smart buyers--especially in this economy--know they can paint over.

The realtor is just making a suggestion to get the house sold - which is her job. Why would you penalize her for doing her job? Smart sellers know that there is tons of inventory on the market and that they need to do everything possible to make their home stand out and eliminate negatives. There will be plenty of condos to choose from that the buyer doesn't have to repaint before moving in.
I also agree that white or off white is a bad choice, especially for a vacant space. A color that makes the space feel warm and welcoming will be much better.

"I chose Shaker Beige and it looks blandly nice!"

:~D Love it. I could live in an entire house painted Shaker Beige. Personally I think it's really pretty in a similar yet just a little different from the omnipresent Duron's Tobacco Road.

Shaker beige has been one of my key front runners.............and hearing funcolors endorsement of it above ....well that just about clinches the deal:)

I am a realtor with 20 yrs experience and we have had great success with pale yellow with white trim for repaints.
It is cheery and neutral enough without being bland, especially in a vacant place. It looks great near hardwood floors.... It is a much friendlier color than off white or white and is easily painted over as a base coat if the new buyer wants to put their own stamp on it.

dianalo, do you have any specific yellow shade recommendations?

I am in complete agreement with Dianolo...a warm creamy neutral looks much better in an empty place, particularly a "starter" condo that usually does not have a lot of trim or architectural interest. The neutral greyed beiges that look lovely in a furnished place with plenty of windows can turn very quickly into what my DH calls "VA Hospital Bleahge." They can look rather too dark with nothing else in the room, and can put people more in mind of an afternoon at the dreaeded DMV than a fresh new place to live.

For this purpose, I like BMoore's old faithful "Linen White" (70), which is a buttery cream, or among the new Affinity colors, "subtle" AF-310, which is a little more sophisticated but equally pale and warm; and if you want to go more toward gray, "fossil" (AF-65). "Decorator's White" (04) is a can't-miss clear white for trim.

And of course everyone is right to urge you to clean, clean, clean. Polish the bathroom tiles, the floors, and the mirrors. Clean all the light bulbs. Wash all the windows. Shampoo the carpet if it has any dirt or odor.

I also urge no scents...just sweet fresh air. And that goes for the spray stuff which shall remain nameless that is supposed to freshen the air, but which carries an awful residue of its own that many of us cannot stand. Smell is our most emotional and evocative sense, and you cannot know what effect a particular scent, or even the presence of any scent at all, will have on someone else, particularly if they have asthma or allergies.

And that's the end of my nagging!

brownysmom, THANK YOU for speaking up against the dreaded air fresheners!! OMG!! This has been one of the worst things about house hunting yet. One house had so many "fresheners" in it that I could only see one room before running back out the front door. I ended up with a severe headache and quite nauseated. Definitely a nice clean home with no scent to remember is one that might make it to my short list.

I am sorry that I don't have particular names, but every paint line has several choices. I like using bright white for the trim and a yellow that is yellow enough to read as separate from the white, yet still be light and airy. The contrast makes the white whiter and the yellow happier.
I once read that traditionally, a yellow house will sell faster and better than any other color. I think that it is an inviting color in general.

I 100% agree about "fresheners"... they are awful and distracting and have the opposite effect as intended. Freshly cooked bread or cookies is the only "scent" I'd add (and only the real deal). Otherwise, clean with no smell is the way to go!

This whole thread was interesting and fun to read. My first response to the initial question was "Shaker Beige". It's not a color that I would likely use in my home, but it's a great choice for selling, since...
A. It's neutral and lends itself to most schemes.
B. It's not white.
C. It helps a buyer visualize the space as their own.

Then, I saw that funcolors suggested it and I hoped that would make a difference.

Now, I see that you in fact did choose the beige and I hope that it works out well for you. I love the grays right now, but they aren't for everyone.

Red

I don't know if this was mentioned already or not, but BM paint is very expensive. You can still get pretty close to their paint colors by using a less expensive paint and the BM paint chip - the paint store can match it up fairly well. Depending on how many gallons you need, you'll probably save $20 or more a gallon. Good luck!

Every brand has several price points.

Ben Moore's Super Spec is not expensive. Saving $20 or more per gallon with respect to Super Spec would mean Ben Moore would be paying you $2 or $3 to take it home with you.

Dianalo, the color you seem to be describing when you say, "a yellow that is yellow enough to read as separate from the white, yet still be light and airy. The contrast makes the white whiter and the yellow happier" sounds like Benjamin Moore's Philadelphia Cream to me. What do you think? Interesting that you find yellow (of the right hue) to be helpful at selling time!

I have a friend who has the most beautiful high-end home -- you might say Country French. Every wall on the first floor (living & dining rooms, hallways, kitchen, keeping room and family room) is painted BM Traditional Yellow -- half strength. It is soft and gorgeous and reads as a neutral. It's an older color but can still be found on their website. If I didn't have this darn dark-red oriental rug in my LR, Traditional Yellow would definitely be MY color, too. However, the rug has no yellow in it, just some soft aged gold, teal, olive, etc. Anyway, I fell in love with Traditional Yellow the moment I saw it in her house. She had the same feeling when she spotted it in one of L'ville's Showcase homes several years ago and asked for the color.