I love colors. They certainly brighten up the home. It really depends on what kind of theme the renter has in mind for the place that they are going to move in. Cool colors look good with a contemporary or modern theme. Warm colors with more traditional theme.

I may be the wrong person to ask, having put two houses on the market with some or ALL of the rooms freshly painted yellow. In both cases, my thought was that the color would brighten up dark rooms, which I think it did, and might even put buyers in a cheerful, more acquisitive frame of mind. Personally, I find those recommended neutrals--gray, beige--kind of depressing; I'd rather have plain white walls.

When it comes to yellows, I completely agree with HPYC that the shade is all-important. In the more recent house sale, we used Lemon Glow from Benjamin Moore (a cool, luminous yellow) for the parlor floor and a straw color (forget the name, also Benjamin Moore) for the bedrooms. No one ever complained. Both houses sold.

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I guess you'd be my perfect tenant! My philosophy in renovating my old apartments without doing a massive gut job is to put in all new fixtures, floors and cabinets, and try to make the rest of the place as presentable as possible, despite acoustic tile ceilings, and trim that has been painted way too many times.

Considering the market has swung back in favor of landlords, I doubt prospective tenants would be too bothered by a daisy yellow living room if the unit is in good shape and the rent is right. If it's a nice, cheerful color, it might actually work in your favor. When I was a renter, the top things I looked at were neighborhood and the condition of the bathroom and kitchen.

I prefer not having tenants paint. Too many bad experiences in the past:

Jimmy Hendrix Purple Haze colored bedroom.

More paint on the floors and carpets than on the walls.

Somehow managing to paint dust bunnies and dirt onto the walls.

Finding out that painting is actually work, so the project never gets finished (unless I help).

I pretty much do the apartments in Sipersteins 'eggshell Chalet White'. Its not boring like plain white, is not too yellow, and pretty much goes with everything.

I think it totally depends on the "yellow." Ever go through one of those paint swatch sets from Benjamin Moore? Yellow could be anything from a very mild, pleasing buff color all they way up to Rubber Ducky or almost neon yellow. I know because we once painted a room "rubber ducky" because the swatch looked fairly muted. We should have paid more attention to the name! A whole room painted bright yellow can drive you insane.

only problem I see, there are tons of people out there who hate the color yellow. Good Luck!

I repainted after a tenant left the place an absolute disaster. Painted it pretty neutral, more of a buff color & used the sponging technique on one wall. Painted the ceilings a darker complimentary shade to the buff because the ceilings are very high. Nothing fancy but clean & neat. Tenant liked it & is keeping it.

Me, I love color. Bagel & Navajo White for the kitchen/dining room. Pecan Sandie sponged over Innocence in living room. Ocean Mist sponged over Silver Sky in bedroom. My apartment tends to be dark so I wanted bright, cheerful colors.

Brewster you are right about the landlord not being responsible for painting between tenants. I assumed the landlord was responsible because the landlord i have known forever...always paints it for new tenants.


I looked at the actual code which was found on the
site of the Department of Community Affairs which proves you right....but under certain conditions..the landlord is responsible for painting it. Worth reading.

http://www.state.nj.us/dca/divisions/ ... s/pdf_lti/habitablity.pdf

i would rent a place with pretty much any color wall as long as i had permission to repaint it if were totally necessary. i looked at an apartment once with orange walls in the bedrooms and me and a few friends decided to rent it based on the living space being absolutely huge. my last 2 choices of apartments were pretty bland, one place still only had primer on the walls when we moved in and we never painted it...left a year later because linoleum flooring throughout was pretty tacky to say the least and the neighborhood was kind of not "friendly." the place i'm in now has wood floors that looks like they haven't been refinished in over 15 years. what it all comes down to is room size and permitting tenants to paint. for this one i opted to buy the paint myself prior to moving in to save the landlord a few bucks in having to paint it all white and then having me repaint it anyway. i did all light earthy colors that will be easily painted over whenever i decide to move on.

sometimes people are turned on by odd colors, i've seen some pretty wacky listings in the past on craigslist where realtors would write "it's ugly, but an awesome apartment!" such as green, pink, purple, red walls. you never know, and i definitely hope you find a nice tenant who will find humor and happiness renting your apartment :) when it comes down to it, i highly doubt paint colors are the main concern these days. a lot of people just look for something comfortable and accommodating to relaxing and resting their head.

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I'm pretty sure you're incorrect that I would be required to repaint a fresh paint job. If I really wanted a particular tenant to rent it I might promise to, but I'm required to keep the place up, not paint to order.

My wife thinks I'm being silly, but then she's on the "insensitive to her environment" side, which I love about her most of the time. Her mother is the opposite, she can't walk into a room without complaining about "too hot, too cold, too loud, too messy, too smelly", you get the idea. Maybe I should ask HER!

According to the "pros" it's best to have it painted in some neutral white or cream color....because it gives perspective buyers a "clean canvas" to imagine their future...if they choose to live there.

How really important is this? I am not sure...but then again lots of things that are marketed at us...work on the subconscious level...so most people aren't even aware.

I don't see the harm in leaving it. And if they have an issue....most will ask to have it painted white/neutral....which would then be your responsibility anyway as a landlord.

I'm painting a vacant unit, and while the colors the tenant used in the rest of the place were butt ugly, the living room was a pleasant daisy yellow and there was a can of the paint in the closet. So I cleaned the walls and rolled a fresh coat, which was much easier than the multiple coats I would have needed to cover it up with the warm off white I was painting the rest of the walls.

But am I making a mistake that will make the place harder to rent? My sense of this stuff is weak, as a hands on guy I have a hard time understanding people who wouldn't rent a place because they didn't like the color and are unable to wield a roller & brush. But I know they're out there. On the other hand, maybe I don't want them as tenants...