Why “Boring is Best” When Selling Your House
Boring is best is something we say a lot to our clients when helping them prepare a house for sale.
But when we say boring we don’t mean fall asleep and snooze boring. We mean mass appeal boring. Still confused?
Good. Then you should read more to find out what we mean!
Often, when you buy your house the first thing you do is go to the paint store and start customizing the rooms to the colors that you love.
The clue to why boring is best is right there.. colors that YOU love.
Those colors are all about you. But here is the thing, now the house you are selling is a product. When selling any product, you want to capture as many potential buyers as possible. In order to do that you need to take YOU out of the house. By neutralizing those personal colors you create a blank palette for the next buyer to customize.
Conversely, when you keep your spaces in a way that is DESIGNED for YOU, you limit the potential buyer to people that have similar tastes as you.
It doesn’t take a marketing degree to know that is a bad selling strategy.
As professional stagers we give this advice customized to each homeowner, every day. Most homeowners embrace these suggestions once we explain the WHY, especially when we have partnered with professional and successful listing agents. Occasionally, sellers choose to ignore our advice. These are the listings that spend many extra months or even years on the market and suffer from MULTIPLE price reductions. Maybe you have that kind of time and money, but most sellers and agents don’t.
If the thought of depersonalizing your space makes you upset, then you may not be ready to part with your home.
AND THAT IS OK.
Bottom line, when selling your home:
Neutral paint colors
(BORING)
Decluttered and depersonalized spaces (BORING)
Less furniture, especially accent pieces (BORING)
Neutral art hung at strategic focal points (BORING)
Results in a product that appeals to the maximum amount of potential buyers (BEST)