Real Estate Information Header

The Secret to Maximum Real Estate Profits: Lighting


Lighting is the most important detail of interior Design Psychology for selling houses. Lighting influences a prospective buyer's feelings within a space more than any other interior design element. Therefore, it's worthwhile to give extra thought to lighting when selling your home.

Consider your selling season and local climate when choosing light bulbs and staging the natural daylight inside your home. Both factors will relate to your overall lighting design plan. Try to envision your final product as either a cooling desert oasis or a warm, sheltering refuge.

Selling Season

Calculate the time you'll need to get your home ready for sale, and then add on a few extra days for unexpected delays. Estimate your selling season, which is the time of year you'll be marketing your home, since this timeframe will establish the basis for your decorating choices and help you plan your lighting scheme.

Natural Day Light and Seasonal Lighting Patterns

Nature's natural daylight influences your selling season; people feel most comfortable in homes where the lighting mimics the natural outdoor setting. But natural daylight also changes the appearance of colors inside your house.

Northern light, mostly cool or downright cold, shines directly into your space for a limited time during the middle of summer. Warm colors, such as red, yellow or orange, counter the coolness of that light, and blues or greens make the room appear even cooler.

On the other hand, Southern light is warm and sunny, so you can get away with darker colors to create feelings of coziness and intimacy. Make south-facing rooms feel summery all year long with sea blues and greens.

Eastern light changes throughout the day. East-facing rooms have sunny mornings and muted mid-days, with no direct afternoon sunlight. Since most buyers preview homes later in the day, use warmer accents to counter the afternoon dreariness.

Western light provides late afternoon and evening sun, and your color choices depend on the selling season. Use neutrals or cool colors in western rooms to suggest relief from the heat, or use warm colors to enhance feelings of escape from the harsh outdoors.

Let the Sun Shine In

Because buyers feel happier in rooms with plenty of natural daylight, pull back all window coverings when you show your home. Closed-up houses feel stagnant and dark, which stifles the buyers' desire to look at your home for any length of time. For summer heat, light-filtering window treatments work better than room-darkening, heavy window dressings.

To enhance natural daylight, add daylight-mimicking light bulbs. Turn on all the lights when showing your home in the winter, and double check the feelings generated by the lighting in the summer. You can add blue or cold white light bulbs for feelings of coolness. Dimmer rooms give buyers feelings of refreshment on hot days.

Because lighting affects the way buyers will feel in your home more than any other design detail, you should consider the lighting in your home carefully before beginning to show it to prospective buyers. A little extra time and effort will net you more money at closing, and will sell your home faster.

(c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.

Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, Joy to the Home, and other books teaches Real Estate Investing and Design Psychology. For more articles, tips, reports, newsletters, and sales flyer template, see http://www.doghousetodollhousefordollars.com/pages/5/index.htm


MORE RESOURCES:

Target rejects Pershing's proposals on real estate structure
MarketWatch - 23 hours ago
Ackman had proposed that Target spin off the land it owns into a real estate investment trust in a bid to boost the company's value. ...
Target Corp. Won't Pursue Pershing Real-Estate Plans Wall Street Journal
Target rejects Pershing's real estate proposal Reuters
Target rejects Pershing's real estate proposal Bizjournals.com
WELT ONLINE - Reuters UK
all 414 news articles


Real-estate agents to buyers: Can we talk?
Seattle Times, United States - 12 hours ago
In the rapidly changing real-estate world, savvy agents say they're busy, not necessarily with customers, but with keeping up with the changes so they can ...
Slow housing market means more hours, more expenses for agents Seattle Times
all 2 news articles


Web sites offer real estate agent rankings
The Associated Press - 15 hours ago
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Word of mouth is one of the most common ways homebuyers and sellers find a real estate agent. Now, there are several Web sites that tout ...


NAR, REAL ESTATE CHANNEL Create Online News Partnership
MarketWatch - Nov 21, 2008
RealEstateChannel.com) is pleased to announce today that the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS(R) has become a regular content contributor to the REAL ESTATE ...
Realtors content on Real Estate Channel Bizjournals.com
all 12 news articles


Real-estate investment firm fights to stay afloat
Arizona Republic, AZ - 18 hours ago
22, 2008 12:00 AM Last week, Phoenix-based real-estate investment firm Right Place Properties spent investors' money to purchase multifamily housing units, ...


Washington Times

Hypo Real Estate Gets EU20 Billion Guarantee From Rescue Fund
Bloomberg - Nov 21, 2008
21 (Bloomberg) -- Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, the German property lender bailed out by the German government and financial institutions last month, ...
Hypo Real Estate to receive euro20 billion loan The Associated Press
1-Hypo Real gets 20 bln euros in govt guarantees guardian.co.uk
DGAP-Adhoc: DEPFA Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG: SoFFin grants EUR 20 ... Ad-Hoc-News (Pressemitteilung)
all 119 news articles


Reuters

Citigroup says commercial real estate bigger issue now for banks
Reuters - Nov 21, 2008
(Reuters) - Commercial real estate is becoming a bigger issue for US banks after the Treasury decided that funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program ...
United States: Potential Real Estate Opportunities Under TARP Mondaq News Alerts (registration)
That Money Isn’t Leaving the Vault New York Times
all 37 news articles


Real estate group backs sick leave law challenge
Bizjournals.com, NC - Nov 21, 2008
Fearing a flight of businesses from the city of Milwaukee, leaders of a major organization of commercial real estate professionals have voted to support the ...


Real estate trophies on hold
Bizjournals.com, NC - 19 hours ago
A host of high-profile commercial real estate projects are having trouble getting off the ground in Houston. The economic downturn and national financial ...


Real estate recovery not seen until 2011
Seattle Post Intelligencer - Nov 21, 2008
By AUBREY COHEN That was the main message of the Seattle Urban Land Institute's Emerging Trends in Real Estate breakfast Thursday. ...
Seminar to give development overview Bizjournals.com
all 5 news articles

Real-Estate - Google News

General Real Estate Information HomeHome ContactContact
Real Estate Information © 2006