What Colour Tells Home Buyers About You
Published on 29 August 2022, 07:22:56 AM
Colour tells home buyers more than you may think, and can even influence how quickly your home sells. Next time you list your home for sale, use colour psychology to get that sold sign on your lawn.
That’s Greeyellow to You
Is that foyer wall green or yellow? That’s greeyellow to you, according to psychology students at University College London. They took part in a 1991 experiment about what colour tells home buyers. The findings are intriguing:
- Every colour belongs to one of four groups.
- All colours in a group harmonize with the other colours in that group.
- Each colour hue in a group has a distinct psychological affect.
- The psychological effects of colour are universal.
- All humanity belongs to one of four personality types (A, B, C or D and sometimes X, a bit of all four).
- Each personality type prefers a specific colour group.
- What colour tells home buyers depends on their personality type.
You’re Getting Warmer
Researchers call it The Wright Theory/Colour Affects System. Fascinating though it is, what you really need to know about what colour tells home buyers is that all colours have lightness or darkness, and coolness or warmth. (BTW, greeyellow are the yellow and orange colour ranges.) Cool and warm colours harmonize with their peers. Cool yellows like cool blues and warm yellows go well with warm blues.
Colour You Should Paint a House to Sell
Now you get the gist of it, let’s see what colour tells home buyers when you prepare your home for sale. Realtor.com is an online marketing tool that helps Ontario real estate agents list and sell your home. Its editors asked Atlanta interior designer Lauren Colson what colour tells home buyers when it comes to getting that all-important agreement of purchase and sale. Here’s what she recommends.
Fill Your Home With Sunshine and Light
Funny, sunny yellow can cheer up a kitchen or a hallway, bringing light to dark interior spaces or family places. Why do people like yellow houses? Love it or hate it, a yellow colour tells home buyers you are exciting, high energy, fresh, and forceful. Yellow houses are so aggressive, Colson recommends using it in soft shades “with a warm buttery base.” CIL is on board with that. The paint manufacturer says buttery soft Candlelight Yellow is Canadian’s second favourite colour, after creamy Antique White. Yellow can be fire or earth in Feng Shui, depending on its intensity, and a symbol of freedom in Buddhist culture. Use it wisely.
What Blue Means in Real Estate
Universally liked blue makes a bathroom or sleeping area feel more relaxing by reflecting the peaceful hues of the ocean or sky. A blue colour tells home buyers your house is a restful, tranquil place to be. Graphic design supplier Pantone picked Classic Blue for color of the year in 2020. Small wonder. The hue “highlights our desire for a dependable and stable foundation on which to build as we cross the threshold into a new era,” Pantone says. Canadians choose CIL’s Royal Navy to make dramatic statements in their home. Colson suggests it can make a cosy formal dining room a real knockout.
Mother Nature in The Room
Health, harmony and prosperity go hand in hand with the colour of Mother Nature, green itself. A deep, earthy moss or evergreen colour tells home buyers your den or living room are quiet spaces. Forgot that nauseating mint for public spaces. Thai Teal was a hit with Canadian homeowners. It made it onto CIL’s top 10 paint colours with its “brilliant beach glass hue.”
Shades of Grey
When the luxury of Carrara marble speaks to you, Canadians found Pebble Grey to be the perfect shade for kitchen walls. Beige-based, darker hues are warming, Colson says, while lighter shades with blue undertones can be cooling. Getting the right mix is “tricky”.
The Drink of Champions
Champagne is the “it” colour for 2020, according to Reviewed.com’s editors. Probably because the shimmery bronze is the newest shade to be rolled out for kitchen appliances. Nevertheless, brown and its hues evoke memories of nature, calmness and quiet. Turns out that boring sand on your families’ living room walls was carefully selected to keep the pandemonium to a minimum. Canadians went for CIL’s muted Scroll Beige or buff Mushroom Cap.
Hot or Not
Red and orange may be dynamic, but they make buyers anxious and angry, Colson finds. “I usually suggest to clients to avoid oranges and reds in any type of space.” On the other hand, since red is the colour of fire in Feng Shui, you may want to target Asian buyers by adding some subtle fiery touches. Using that colour tells home buyers your house could be their key to fortune and joy.
Keeping Your Cool
Don’t you just hate that when your neighbours use Amethyst (CIL Purple Passion perhaps?) for their exterior. Try to pick a soothing neutral for your own home, something that blends in well and will offset their mid-life crisis next door. May we suggest a little Angel’s Gaze cream and Huckleberry Blue to take the edge off?
Why You Need a Real Estate Lawyer in Ontario
Selling Canada real estate? Axess Law’s Ontario real estate lawyer services can finalize your real estate transaction. Get legal counsel to close an agreement of purchase and sale anywhere in Ontario, 7 days a week, at your convenience. Book an online video conference by calling toll-free to 1-877-552-9377 or 647-479-0118 in Toronto, or use our online booking form. Our real estate services lawyers can meet you in person at our Toronto, Scarborough, Vaughan, Etobicoke, Ottawa, Mississauga Winston Churchill or Mississauga Heartland law offices.
Click here to learn more about Axess Law’s real estate lawyer services.
Photo by Sushuti|Pixabay.
