To carpet or not to carpet? A house selling question.

[TNDemo]

We will probably put our house up for sale after the holidays. We have lived here for 16 years. The carpet in the den is about 8-10 years old and the carpet in the bedrooms is about 6 years old. The den carpet was a better grade and so is worn to about the same state as the bedroom carpet. It is basically okay but is starting to show its age a little and I am sure has absorbed some odors, but I guess Febreeze could take care of that. So my question is whether we ought to invest in new carpeting now. I know it will help sell the house but will it be enough to recup (recoup?) the cost? What else should we take into consideration?

[trotsky]

1. STEAM CLEAN

Hire Stanley Steemer or another reputable outfit. Works wonders.

[blm]

2. Carpeting eliminates allergy-prone homebuyers.

Hardwood floors are a great selling point for almost everyone.

[bratcatinok]

3. Steam Clean

and if the carpet is really bad, you might consider including a carpet allowance in your sales price. That way the buyer can pick out their own carpet and you don't end up shelling out the money to pick our carpet you don't get to enjoy.

Your realtor will be able to guide you on how to do this and whether it's really needed (depending upon condition of current carpet).

[Catshrink]

4. I'd wait

Instead of recarpeting, give it a good cleaning and see how it looks. If your real estate agent thinks a new carpet will help sell, think about offering the buyer so much toward new carpet. That way, you don't have to deal with having carpet put in while you're living there. And, the buyer will get a choice of color and pattern which may be an attractive selling point.

My carpet also needs to be replaced and I'm considering laminate. I have cats which isn't good for carpet. It's a fact of life: cats puke.

[izzie]

5. Having owned and sold 7 houses I would say always make it look good.

Sells better. It does not need to cost alot just look good. They will do their own thing but in the mean time they can move in and live their in confort.

[flamingyouth]

6. We recarpeted our condo

And we got our full asking price on the day it went on the market. I don't know how much the carpet itself played a role in our lucky break, but I would try to do it, if at all possible.

If you can afford it, just get some basic beige carpet. We invested $2000 in our little condo, but I feel it was worth it.

Good luck!

[realFedUp]

7. What do the floors look like underneath?

If they are in good shape, remove all the carpets, shine
up the floors and put area rugs around that you will
take with you.

Old carpeting is a drag. Paint the walls a neutral color...
new paint always smells good.

Remove all your little personal decorative items
to make it look like anyone could make the house theirs.

[Corgigal]

8. depending on the size of the rooms

you can also get nice neutral remants (?) for those rooms. I got my kids bedrooms done that way and they look wonderful. Both bedrooms were done, and installed for under a grand.

[morningglory]

9. Offer $x.000 allowance for carpeting in the sale price.

Buyers see new carpet in there they know you got the cheapest deal you could find and you picked the color. They might take the money and pick their carpet out.

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. As an appraiser, I tell people to only put in base value to sell. Don't

spend a lot on the spruce up because you won't recoup it (in most markets) Carpet is not a major consideration (like new furnace,windows) in selling a home. Any extra money put into carpeting would only be considered super adequate. The only real exceptions are hardwood or ceramic flooring. Make it look as nice as you can for as little money. Most buyers are going to do their own thing when they get in anyway. Good luck.

[OneTwentyoNine]

11. Well...I've installed for 32 years...

Here's the way it usually works around here. People will go ahead and install new before the house is put on the market. In fact I'm starting on one on Monday. They do it because of curb appeal inside the house. When people come in and look at trashed out carpet but are then told that it will be replaced or given an allowance they usually can't make the connection or just don't like the way the house looks and many times move on. Or..they might want to buy but want to subtract a ridiculous amount from the asking price for new carpet,pad and labor. If you do it ahead of time it takes that out of the equation.

The carpet to buy is a tough choice,don't want to spend to much just to wave goodbye to it, but putting in cheap builder carpet won't get it either. You have to find a middle ground.

Put in a neutral color and do all the rooms the same. Check the pad before you cave in and buy new--salesmen will always recommend new,of course thats why their salesmen!!

Unless you've had serious pet accidents,floods or whatever chances are the pad will be in pretty good shape unless its been down forever. Leaving it down can save you about $3.00 per yard or more that you can pocket or put toward better carpet. If the stairs get lots of wear then buy enough pad to replace those--usually only about 6 yards or so.

Good luck

David

[VOX]

12. If you've got hardwood floors underneath, that's a strong selling point...

...that you might not want to conceal with carpet.

If you're on a slab, you've got to have something on the floors. If the old carpet is mildewed, I'd say replace it.

One way to recup your carpeting expense is to simply list the house at the price point you had in mind, plus what you laid out for the new carpeting.

[Nikia]

13. If you do, replace it with good stuff

We looked at a house that put in new carpeting in the bed rooms. I don't know what was there before but the new carpeting was thin and stapled in. It looked horrible. If we had bought it, we would have probably torn out the carpeting anyway.

[Coventina]

14. Hi TNDemo!

:hi:

Hope all is well with you.
I'm feeling better!
I still don't have any news for you though....
Still waiting for the final word....

[radwriter0555]

15. Right. Steam clean, pretend you dropped the price enough to cover

replacement of the carpet. That way the new owners have a decorating option thing, which people LOVE.

So jack the sales price up enough to DROP it to cover the cost of replacement.

Plus, some folks LOVE hardwood floors, and if they want to install new or restore the current ones, the new carpet you would choose won't be a hinderence to their objective.