Paint Your Home To Get It Ready To Sell

Painting is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to get your home ready to sell. You'll also enjoy a big return on investment. Surveys show that the average price to paint interior walls is $500 to $750, but that can increase a home's value by an average of $1,500 to $2,000.

But the colors you choose are critical. A bright red accent wall, or your teenager's black-walled bedroom, needs to be painted over in order to sell. Beiges, warm beiges and yellows are the best choices for wall color and making a space look more impersonal. These colors will also make smaller rooms appear larger.

It's necessary to remove all the personal touches you've made within your home in an effort to make it as neutral as possible. This enables potential buyers to better envision how their personal taste can be implemented into the house. The right paint job helps accomplish this.

The last thing you want is to have a buyer's interest in your home derailed by wild, off-putting paint colors on the walls.

Patterned wallpaper is also a deal-breaker. The point is that you do not want any attention called to the color of your walls. The more neutral the color palette throughout the home the better…and neutral doesn't mean white.

Surprisingly, white is a color to avoid. Interior design experts say that the color white is too bright and "institutional" looking and this can make people feel uncomfortable. Stick with softer, light colors and you'll be better off.

One good rule of thumb is to pick a couple of basic colors and then use different shades of that color throughout the house.