Home buyers look for some key things when they are shopping for a new property. How does the exterior of the house look on first impact? What is the condition of the kitchen? How much money needs to be invested in renovation?

What counts is the following, the more negatives that someone places in their mind about these questions, the less likely you are going to find a buyer that will pay full price or potentially 80% of the offer of the house unless there is a substantial shift in the market place.

That’s right, by having a house which lacks in buyer appeal you could lose up to 20% of your home value especially when it comes to perception of your home’s condition.

So, what are the ways around this and how can you start to see buyers giving you the value you really want for your property?

A good paint job
Well, the big question is, what are you going to get the most value from? The answer, a good paint job. Painting the interior of your home can be one of the best returns in terms of time and investment, but also, a big selling point for new buyers.

With an average spend of $1600 you could get back as much as 18% value on your property, not bad for a few days work and refreshing your living areas.

What are the best colours to paint your home?
There are a few choices you could go for here, but let’s try and keep this as accessible and “normal” as possible. By normal we mean, what would a buyer not be put off by. If you think pepto bismol pink is a shade for a living room, we want to avoid this kind of reasoning, and colour.

White
White is a standard great colour for those looking to do two things. The first, apply a quick coat, perhaps two and let the room and it’s features take over. It could be that you have bright coloured rugs, modern or deco lamps or interesting pictures that you want buyers to visualise in what could be their own new living environment. The second, and simply put, white makes rooms look bigger. Think of museums, galleries, toilets. White walls provide the illusion of grand spaces and blank canvases to work with.

Light Grey
We’ve spoken in the past about the colour grey and how it should be avoided, but this was for the dark grey category. Dark grey is not only a very personal choice, it can make the room feel drawn in. What you want to focus on is light grey’s, for reasons very similar to white with an added condition; light grey is not white. Light grey gives the room a little more of a feature feel and can feel warmer than a plain white shade.

Yellows
Ah yellow. Yellow is a great colour, not only does it make buyers feel warm and welcome but it also triggers mental recalls of spring and summer months which are spent enjoying the sunshine, it elicits happiness more than any other colour in the spectrum. However, it must be noted, yellow can also put some people off. Try mixing and matching, lighter tones in the living room, study, brighter in the kitchen or bathroom.