I have a townhome with each level approx 750 sq ft. House is 8 years old. Currently it has hardwood in the foyer (very small), carpet in living room and dining room. and then vinyl flooring in kitchen and bathroom. House is worth about $115k. My question is that should I get the floors replace with laminate flooring before I put it up for sale? I know that it would look much better but not sure if it's a smart move. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Instead of spending the money and risking selecting flooring that one potential buyer hates but another buyer loves, have you considered lowering/adjusting the price or offering a flooring allowance to a buyer?

What's the market like - how many units on the market? What do the comparable listings/sales have for flooring, and do the ones with updated flooring get a higher contract, or go under contract sooner?

What Mark said is an option. Another option is to hire a stager. A good stager can tell you how divert the attention away from the floor and to the positives of the house. I was skeptical the first time I used one, but the results were incredible.

Buyers almost always look down to watch where they are going and then the eyes travel up.So the floors are one of the first things noticed to date a property.

I DISLIKE laminate so much I would rip up or not buy based on it.It basically is saying the seller is a cheap #ss and then wants to overcharge for the property.

Laminate unlike hardwood can't be sanded down or re-stained to suit a buyers taste.

Hardwoods are good for people with allergies over carpet or that have kids for easy cleanup and maintenance. For pets they can scratch up the woods pretty well but you can re-sand and finish later.

If you are going to do anything do hardwood.It might not net more money but would help sell faster.If your carpet isn't a funky color that's buyer specific or heavily stained and nasty I would leave it alone.

No legal advice.

I agree with Super, I Hate laminate. Whatever you do, make it neutral or make it clean!!

Putting hardwoods (which are a lot more expensive) in a $100k townhome that I want to sell doesn't seem to make much sense to me. Especially considering that the market is bad. I have search other townhomes for sale in the subdivision and most do not have hardwoods/laminate. My thought was that this would set it apart and in the meantime look a lot nicer considering it will take quite a while to sell due to foreclosures in the area.

"(which are a lot more expensive)"

Well if you think buyers will be stupid and not recognize quality versus crap upgrades then by all means spend the money.Doing cheap upgrades is worse then leaving things alone in my opinion.Now the buyers have something they hate and will immediately want to take out because the upgrades aren't to their liking.

Sellers also make the mistake of installing themselves and the quality many times does not equal the installation and finishing by a professional.

If you are trying to hit a number higher than what foreclosures are trading at you will have a very difficult time.I am not there so can't give a recommendation to if you should even sell or not right now.

If you have a small areas in bath and the kitchen then a nice tile wouldn't cost much and would look upgraded.You can update cabinets with paint or stain and then update lights and add a back splash in the kitchen etc.

You won't get more money buyers will just say this is the nicest house for the same price as the other so we will buy this.They WON'T say this is the nicest house out of the ones we have seen so we will pay 20k more.

It simply does not work that way in today's environment.Also don't count mechanicals as UPGRADES.Buyers see these as maintenance issues that should be maintained by the owners through the years.If it's not the buyers deduct from the value not add to it if it's done as it's expected to be taken care of.

no legal advice

So apparently I need to just rip up the flooring all together. Then I won't have to worry about what kind of floor a perspective buyer would want. Since laminate is completely worthless why is it even for sale at all the big box hardware stores? They should stop carrying it.
When people first walk into my townhome they can see the entire first floor from the door. And there is laminate in the foyer, carpet in the living room/dining room. and linoelum in the kitchen. Just thought that it might look better with a simple laminant throughout - you know all one color/pattern. But apparently the best plan of action is to rip up all of the flooring. Thanks for all the help!

The reality is that most consumers and agents do not know the difference between laminate and hardwood flooring, as evidenced in an earlier thread on this forum and in my conversations with agents and in the way agents list it in the MLS.

Laminate flooring is not as good a product but I doubt your buyer or their agent will even know the difference.

They notice it in my area all the time.Yours must be different.

They notice here as well.....how can someone not notice the difference?

Bigtoe - that was one of my thoughts as well. Unless you are in the business or currently have hardwoods in your home I doubt anyone would notice. And given the value of the townhome ($100k) most of the potential buyers will be coming from a rental home or an apartment which typically don't have hardwoods - in this area anyway. This is a small town - not NYC or LA.

I don't have a dog in the hunt either way. Ultimately you will make a decision based on your rationale which might work for you or end up costing more money for nothing.

Either way it's your choice to make. Good Luck

Hardwood laminates look like hardwood because the laminate is hardwood. The only way to tell the difference between a hardwood laminate and solid hardwood is to physically check out what is underneath the top layer of wood.

How do you tell the difference?