Is white too bright? If prospects squint when viewing a newly painted apartment home, chances are they won't sign the lease.

Does the comment, "I like the apartment, but there is just something about it," sound familiar? Sometimes, without leasing agents realizing it, the color of the walls is why a prospect chooses to look elsewhere. If the apartment home is painted white or off-white, a person's eyes might squint from the brightness as the walls play with the general lighting. Believe it or not, this can be psychologically offensive.

Physiological effects of color can affect a community's occupancy rate. Whether it is the exterior or interior wall color, office or clubroom color, or the color of the staff's apparel, people react to color in different ways. The perception of value created through color can affect a community's bottom line. It is among the most powerful marketing tools available. Community management teams should not overlook the affect of color, especially when it applies to choosing a color other than white or off-white.

Working for a national paint company from 1995 to 2000 that specialized in multifamily communities, I conducted a study of room color. A trend emerged when asking owners and managers about occupancy: Communities using basic white interior paint had higher turnover rates and lower closing ratios.

This dispelled the notion that by painting apartment homes white, they would sparkle and look clean. In reality, residents typically stayed only for a one-year lease term because after they moved in, their furniture immediately began to look old. White ages the decor around it, depresses people because of the sterile environment and is harsh on the eyes. Leasing agents for these communities probably would have greater success on a rainy or gloomy day because the color of the white would appear darker.

A good color choice is a chameleon color scheme, which has the ability to change with the decor that is placed in the apartment Any type of furniture or decorations could be placed in apartment homes with these schemes without the color of the wall diminishing the appearance of the decor.

Among the first comments given when hearing the suggestion to use chameleon colors is that it is too expensive to repaint all the apartment homes. But considering the financial loss to vacancy vs. the cost of paint change vs. long-term renewal--the new paint scheme easily pays for itself.

Given this suggestion, one owner who participated in the study tested the strategy only to find that eight apartment homes were leased during the first weekend.

Exterior Color Selection

Ultra-vivid colors, especially white and off-white, should not be used on an exterior. A community freshly painted white or off-white starts to show age within 60 days because the color of paint is not forgiving to the aged substrates, or underlying material. Due to conditions provided by Mother Nature, among other things, white trim can soon resemble the look of dull primer. Or, a brightly painted trim can give the building the unwanted look of being "striped." This draws a person's eye upward--and not toward the focal point--the front entry. With a brick building, for example, one recommendation is to paint the gutters a color that is similar to that of the brick so the gutters don't "stripe" the building.

When designing an exterior color scheme, it is difficult for some to realize the value of color on outside substrates. It has to do with metamerism, which is a phenomenon that occurs when colors change when viewed under different light sources. When viewing paper paint chips or color imaging photographs or digital images in a room lit by wann incandescent lighting or cool fluorescent lighting, the colors may be exactly what a person desires because the lighting has enhanced the colors.

But once applied to the surfaces of exterior substrates, the actual paint colors take on a new appearance because they have been introduced to UV rays, "along with permanent bouncing colors in concrete, brick, shingles and lanckscaping. The color value of the same color of paint may be different on stucco, pre-primed Hardie, wood or brick as the substrate texture creates an illusion of different colors.

Keep in mind, a color that looks incredible on one community may not work on another community. It has to do with the substrate textures and the permanent colors that surround that environment. Each property must be evaluated, whether it is new construction or part of a repainting project. The degree of color must be determined individually.

Debra Cooper-Stepp is Owner of The Einstein Group, which provides image consulting nationwide, including apparel, promotional collateral and color scheme design. She can be reached at 972/208-7073 or e-mail to [e-mail].