Rental Units - Best Sheen and color of Paint

[Shaun Palmer]

BP'ers I am getting a few rental units and I am wondering what sheen and color paint landlords are using in their units. I plan on holding the units for 20-30 years and want to make the best of them. Currently we are using the same color for all units (flat Valspar paint, color = Polar Star). The reason we are using this color is because it is easy to paint a line between the trim white and walls and I think it looks great on units. I am curious about using flat vs. a different color sheen. Another item of concern us that the color never covers in one coat and time is money, especially if I am painting the unit myself. I will have to put multiple coats on. Any thoughts to a better paint fit one coat coverage? Feel free to add into this post if I am missing anything. I appreciate any feedback. Thanks Shaun

[Mark Gallagher]

As a former Sherwin Williams store manager, I always find this conversation interesting. 

Flat is the cheapest paint, and hides the most imperfections in the walls giving the most "clean" appearance from the get go. 

Satin or Semi on the walls won't keep a tenant from punching a hole in the wall. It will however keep filth from building up in certain areas. However those filth areas are usually near the trim which typically gets semi-gloss. 

Flat is the easiest to touch up which if you're going to paint at turn time, you'll have the best chance at touching up. 

Bottom line flat is cheapest and easiest to touch up. But generally speaking I'd say it comes down to personal preference. Also, prepackaged colors will touch up better than in-store tinted cans. So if you go to a store like Sherwin Williams, Porter, etc. they will typically have a packaged color that you can use on all your units for consistency.