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How A Simple Paint Job Can Increase Your Home’s Value

One of the easiest and cheapest ways to upgrade your home and create greater curb appeal is a simple one.

Paint.

An investment in exterior paint can often maximize your property value.

It makes sense given that paint is the first thing that catches your eye whether you’re approaching a home from the outside or simply entering a room. As such, paint is one of the easiest ways to increase value as well as entice buyers when the time comes to sell.

Considering that your primary residence is most often your biggest investment and asset, it makes sense to invest in your home. Some homeowners of course treat it simply as a place to hang their hat for a number of years and rarely make improvements. But, those real estate owners will never realize the same gains as those of us who view it as an opportunity to increase the home’s value (and therefore our own net worth) through various home improvements.

Prep work begins.

The good news is: paint is cheap.

Labor? Not so much.

I am a do-it-yourself type of guy and enjoy rolling up my sleeves, getting my hands dirty, and taking on projects with my own sweat equity. Assuming, of course, that I know I can handle the project and will have the time to complete it.

When I was in my 20’s, I owned a 2,000 sq. ft. house that was in dire need of a paint job.  I fully intended to hire a professional painter to complete the project, expecting to pay thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars.

In preparation, I purchased a high-grade paint to sample colors on the siding. When I went to apply the samples, I was surprised at how quickly and smoothly the paint applied to the surface. Within an hour or so I had one coat over a large area.

Consider Painting the Home Yourself

At that point, I decided to paint the house myself.  After one week, I finished two coats on both the siding and trim. My job was complete!  My only expense was my time, paint and supplies.

Painting your home yourself is an extremely cost-effective solution for someone who has the time. If you can take a week or two off of work or just paint on weekends. It’s a highly rewarding process both physically and mentally, given the sense of accomplishment you’ll feel. And, of course, it’s highly rewarding financially. I painted my home in a week and my only cost was the materials. However, I added thousands in value. Not bad for a week’s work!

Don’t Have the Time? How To Hire A Good Painter

Nowadays, Cait and I have a bigger house and a lot less time. As much as I’d like to do the outdoor painting myself, it’s necessary for me to hire painters for the exterior. When looking for a good painter, I recommend the following:

  • Be highly selective on price and quality.
  • Understand the local market in which you live. After all, the price of a painter often depends on the health of a particular economy, the price of the real estate, etc.
  • Ask your friends that are in a trade such as builders, plumbers, electricians, etc. for the painters they recommend. This has proven to be my best method for finding excellent painters that don’t charge an arm and a leg.

Check out the house! This is the back of our home and it’s not yet complete – but, I’ll tell you this, it’s made a world of difference. This is money well-spent.

Almost done!

Do you have ideas on exterior painting projects and how to extract maximum value for minimal investment?  Share your comments below!

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