The colors aren’t so horrible and the place looks decent, but, it is true, neutral is far better.
The problem, the price per square foot is still tooooo high. Get it somewhere around the $260 per square foot and he might get an offer. I’m not sure what that reduction works out to, but these buyers want a deal.
Also, your friend needs to watch the other condos/homes that are for sale in the vicinity and keep his price (reasonably) below the others in that area, at all times.
Now of course, you are hearing that from someone who does not know the San Diego market at all. So this is probably a worthless read.