When potential buyers view a house, they try to picture themselves living there. The wrong color scheme can be an immediate turnoff for buyers, even if a house is the right size, has amenities they’re looking for and has been well maintained. 

Colors Affect Buyers’ First Impressions 
If you worked hard to design your home’s interior in a way that appeals to you, and you’ve gotten compliments from family and friends, you might assume that potential buyers will love it, too. You might be mistaken. People’s preferences vary widely.

When prospective buyers visit a home that’s for sale, they think about how their furniture would look in the rooms. If the house’s color scheme doesn’t work with their furniture, they can come away feeling like the house isn’t right for them. Even though it’s easy to repaint walls, it can be hard for people to see beyond what’s in front of them and imagine how a home would look with a different color scheme.

Color has a strong impact on human emotions. Buyers and sellers might not realize how much color affects people’s perceptions of a house, but it’s clear that it does. Studies have found that houses with bold colors, such as red, yellow, mint green and turquoise, sell for less than comparable properties with more subdued palettes. 

Agents Recommend Neutral Paint Colors
Real estate agents generally advise their clients to paint rooms with neutral colors. That makes buyers perceive a house as more of a blank canvas, which makes it easier for them to imagine their own family living there. Neutral colors also evoke positive, or at least neutral, emotional responses.

Colors like white, beige and light grey generally work well on the walls in most rooms. Painting the trim a different, neutral color can provide a bit of contrast. 

There are some exceptions. In a child’s bedroom, for example, a vibrant color scheme can appeal to buyers. 

Exterior Colors Are Also Important
A house’s curb appeal, or lack thereof, can determine whether potential buyers even bother to come inside. Siding that’s a bold color can be an instant turnoff. 

When selecting paint colors for your home’s exterior, consider its architectural style and the materials it’s made of. Some colors work particularly well with certain types of houses.

One area where a bright color might work is the front door. That can provide just the right amount of visual interest and conceal scratches and other minor damage.  

Repainting Might Help You Sell Your House
If you didn’t follow your real estate agent’s advice about painting your house with neutral colors, it’s likely that you haven’t gotten an offer, or that the bids you’ve gotten fell below your expectations. That can be frustrating, but the good news is that some fresh paint might be all that’s necessary to turn things around. Your agent can give you advice on which colors will be likely to appeal to buyers.