Image by Daniel Case

Are you trying to sell your home?  This is definitely a buyers market but trying to sell a home is on the trickier side these days.  I recently heard a few experts say that the best way of raising your chances to sell your home is to apply fresh coats of paint in every room.  Even painting the outside is advised if your house allows it.  Wow, that’s all right?  Something as easy as a cosmetic makeover such as a fresh coat of paint can go along way in trying to sell your home!

How could a fresh coat of paint sell your home?  According to Debbie Zimmer of the Rohm and Haas Paint Quality Institute; “This relatively inexpensive investment can enhance your home’s curb appeal to prospective buyers.”

You can choose to do this major project yourself or you can hire a professional.  The ball is really in your court so just making a decision quickly is definitely to your advantage.  If you do decide to paint your home yourself, you need to consider purchasing the highest quality paint.  If you are unsure of what is considered the highest quality paint, here are a few tips to help get you started according to homeimprovementtime.com.

High Quality Paint

  • 100% acrylic latex paint (Is known to last for 10 years or more).
  • Going with white and neutral colors is the best choice and the safe choice.  Very appealing to prospective buyers.
  • If you want the best appearance possible, it’s important to make sure the surface is properly prepared.
  • Don’t put your house on the market until you are completely finished with the painting project.  Incomplete work will just be an instant turn off.  You want to have a positive first impression when selling your home.

After you have painted your home and it looks attractive and appealing, go ahead and put up that for sale sign and wait for that first bite.  You may be surprised how much more quickly you get responses based on your curb and indoor appeal.

Image: Filomena Scalise / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Obviously you don’t want to paint when it is raining, foggy, soggy, or moist.  This should be common sense as painting wet surfaces only result in sloppy work.  If you are unsure of what the forecast holds for your painting project it would be best to find that out a head of time so you can make proper plans.

Here are some things to consider before painting the outside of your house providing you have nice dry weather present.

Outside Painting Tips

  • If you plan on scraping off old paint to its original surface be sure to cover the bare with a coat of primer in case rain drops make their appearance.  If you paint wet wood, it will not be effective and definitely will not be long lasting so keep this in mind. 
  • It’s important to remember that paint takes more than just a few hours to dry.  It usually takes 24 hours or longer to dry completely.  Fortunately in FL, warmer temperatures are an advantage for paint to dry as colder temps only prolong the process.
  • Try using Latex rather than oi based paint as latex dries faster than oil based paint. 
  • Try not to paint in direct sunlight.  Painting in mild overcast is highly recommended as sunlight can dry only portions of wet paint.
  • Avoid seasonal rain if possible when making plans to paint the outside of your house

Do you have any other tips to share that you found worked for you when painting the outside of your house?  Please share your experience, we would love to hear from you.