It’s well-documented that color has a strong impact on psychology. Not only that, but it also affects our depth perception. That’s why paint is a valuable tool when prepping your house for the market. The hues you choose to dress your home can affect how potential buyers feel in a space, whether that’s at ease and free, or on edge and claustrophobic.

Any seasoned realtor probably has a cautionary tale or two about the strong impact paint can have on a home’s resale value. That’s why we turned to three professionals to learn more about which paint colors could decrease your home’s value.

• Jessica Vance is a real estate agent who specializes in home rehabs and mortgages.
• Alexei Morgado is a Florida realtor and founder of Lexawise, a platform that helps aspiring realtors prepare for their real estate exam.
• Corinne Smith is a luxury real estate advisor and the owner of Legacy Homes, based in Washington state. She has 16 years of experience in estate planning and probate.

Philip Harvey

1. Bold Reds

A few pops of red here and there can do wonders in a room. However, red is associated with intense emotions, so applying it on a large-scale surface, such as walls or a home’s exterior, may play with a potential buyer’s emotions. Some of these strong emotions can be positive, such as love or energy, but others are negative, such as anger or danger. In other words, bold red is not a good choice for a home that is about to hit the market.

Realtor Alexei Morgado points out two additional reasons this color can be a turn-off for home shoppers, particularly in hot climates. “A color like wine red, for example, not only shrinks a room but can create a feeling of extreme heat in states like Florida, with natural light enhancing the intensity of the pigment,” he says.

Adam Albright / Stylist: Jessica Eno

2. Mossy, Dark Greens

Just as we subconsciously associate warm tones with heat, we associate cool tones like green with moisture. That’s not a word anyone likes to hear when looking at a home. “Moss green is often turned down because too many people correlate it with mold or moisture, and in humid markets, this is a sensitive issue,” Morgado says.

Forest green is another color that buyers may associate with moisture, and it can also read as dated. When realtor Jessica Vance comes across a room painted a dark forest green, she often questions whether it has been updated since the 1980s. Additionally, she warns that dark green is not a good color for rooms with limited square footage. “This color absorbs light because it is darker, so it makes spaces feel closed in and much smaller.”

Michael Partenio

3. Brown Tones

Your home’s listing photos make the first impression on home buyers. When painting your home with selling in mind, consider which colors photograph well and which ones don’t. According to realtor Corrine Smith, brown is a color that falls into the latter camp.

This may seem surprising since brown is definitely trending in both fashion and interior design right now, but Smith explains why it’s notoriously unflattering in listing photos. “Browns emit weird color blemishes in listing photos against hard lights, especially if the homeowners painted their ceiling white too,” she says.

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John Bessler

4. Saturated Beiges

Beige has seen an interior design renaissance in recent years, perhaps as a protest against the trend toward cool grays. However, we’re talking about a specific type of beige here: light beige with neutral undertones.

The saturated, Tuscan-inspired yellow-beige (also known as builder beige) is still a no-go in Vance’s book. She calls this a dated and “heavy” beige. “Heavy beiges in particular look dingy and weigh a space down,” she says.

Michael Partenio

5. Peachy Off-White in Kitchens and Bathrooms

Lately, there’s been a push toward off-white paint with warm undertones, since it typically reads as more inviting than stark, cool-toned white paint. However, Smith sees sellers make a common mistake when choosing an off-white: selecting one that looks too peachy. “This color tone makes it feel like you’re walking into your grandma’s house,” she says. “A lot of the older homes used this tone of white. It’s better to go with a brighter white.”

Additionally, warm off-white with peachy undertones can clash with white on appliances such as fridges, ovens, sinks, bathtubs, and toilets. For this reason, avoid applying this color in your home’s kitchen and bathrooms.

Universally Appealing Alternatives

Painting your home is an investment in both time and money. To help you make confident, value-smart choices when it comes to paint, we asked each realtor we interviewed for some paint colors that tend to please the masses and flatter spaces both in photos and in real life.

The three realtor-approved paint choices are:

• Off-white with neutral undertones
• Soft gray with warm undertones
• Light tan