It is popular to use the do-it-yourself home home improvement approach these days. In fact, I have been doing some of that myself this past summer. Painting is one of those projects that most people think they can save a dime on by doing it themselves.


Being a full time Realtor, you can imagine the number of homes that I have been in. I have pretty much seen it all. I’ve seen a lot of self painting jobs that are poor quality, but where the seller thinks they did a great job.


If the painting isn’t done perfectly, you will notice brush or roller marks or if the color used can be seen through then you didn’t do a good job. If you used shiny enamel on the wall then you may have messed the wall up making the littlest of imperfections stick out. If you used cheap paint you will find out that you just wasted your time. Although painting isn’t a tough job to master, it does take some skill, experience, and knowledge. Getting help from your local home improvement store may help, but more than likely you will be better off hiring a professional to do the job.


If your house is on the market, a buyer will see a poorly painted room and say that the house needs some work. They will want to lower their bid by thousands of dollars for a house that they feel needs painting even if it’s only a few hundred dollars worth of work. If you are painting your house in preperation to sell it, stick with neutral colors. This will sell quicker than what’s known today as “designer colors”.


Don’t waste your time doing something that needs to be redone, and don’t ever think about just covering it up with wallpaper instead of paint.