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Preping house for sale

dullard

dullard

Elite Member
I'm preparing my house for sale in this wonderful market (luckilly I have two neighbors with similar houses that bought at the same time as me and they sold for $6k more than purchase price). I want to keep the costs minimal, but I do know that new carpet is necessary. The previous owners had 5 different carpets: one hideously ugly, one obviously as cheap as possible, and one covered in permanent paint stains. Then my cat did his best to destroy them as well.

So, what color is the trend now? I was leaning towards a warm beige/brown for the carpet and a similar but lighter shade for the walls. Is that a bad idea? Have the house selling rules changed recently?

Yes, I'll contact a realtor soon enough. I just want to get some ideas going first.
 
White paint and an off white color for the carpets. It will make the rooms look bigger than they are and white is neutral enough to not turn anyone off completely.

Edit-I would keep the improvements to a minimum. You won't get any of that money back, you're only goal is to make the house more appealing without spending much money.
 
How much would carpeting cost vs a laminate? If HGTV is any indication, people would prefer the latter in general.
 
Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
White paint and an off white color for the carpets. It will make the rooms look bigger than they are and white is neutral enough to not turn anyone off completely.

Edit-I would keep the improvements to a minimum. You won't get any of that money back, you're only goal is to make the house more appealing without spending much money.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Hopefully I can get cheap carpet that doesn't look cheap. I'm thinking of replacing 60% of it and dealing with the rest. $1000 or so spent here. Then two 5-gallon buckets of paint: must be under $100. Finally repairing a few siding boards: a few hundred there. The rest is clean up. I don't want to spend more than $2k for the whole thing. The problem is some rooms REALLY need new carpet and at least touch-up paint.
 
Originally posted by: torpid
How much would carpeting cost vs a laminate? If HGTV is any indication, people would prefer the latter in general.
Click to expand...
I've put some laminate in the house (master bathroom). It was leftover from a 700 ft^2 flooring job I did in a previous life. Cheap but good looking laminate is about $2/ft^2 + padding. Cheap but good looking carpet is about $1/ft^2 + a bit more expensive padding. Labor is extra since I really don't have the time. The problem is that the bad carpet areas are adjacent to real wood floor areas. I'd really have to go for hardwood to match if I were to go all wood.
 
Originally posted by: torpid
How much would carpeting cost vs a laminate? If HGTV is any indication, people would prefer the latter in general.
Click to expand...

Waste of money. Carpet is cheaper and a much better option.

Let the new owners do the upgrading.
 
Usually everyone always says "go with neutral colors" etc to make sure you don't turn anyone off.
I believe in this market, in order to secure a buyer, you need to impress them with at least SOMETHING that stands out or that they will remember.

If you have 1 room that painted in a more colorful way that would look damn good, then let it stand out, as it may be all it takes for somebody to fall in love with the house ....

 
Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
Usually everyone always says "go with neutral colors" etc to make sure you don't turn anyone off.
I believe in this market, in order to secure a buyer, you need to impress them with at least SOMETHING that stands out or that they will remember.

If you have 1 room that painted in a more colorful way that would look damn good, then let it stand out, as it may be all it takes for somebody to fall in love with the house ....
Click to expand...

No you don't. And you'd likely turn off as many potential buyers as you'd turn on. A blank canvas is better than one person's idea of a masterpiece, at least if you want to make the place show as well as possible and keep costs to a minimum...and you'd be a fool to throw a bunch of money into a house prior to selling it unless it absolutely needs it.
 
Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
If you have 1 room that painted in a more colorful way that would look damn good, then let it stand out, as it may be all it takes for somebody to fall in love with the house ....
Click to expand...
I think the master bedroom, master bathroom, and kitchen will be untouched by this painting. They look pretty good. Although some people may be turned off by a purple bathroom with one wall a dark plum. I'm debating doing that particular room more neutral.

 
Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
Usually everyone always says "go with neutral colors" etc to make sure you don't turn anyone off.
I believe in this market, in order to secure a buyer, you need to impress them with at least SOMETHING that stands out or that they will remember.

If you have 1 room that painted in a more colorful way that would look damn good, then let it stand out, as it may be all it takes for somebody to fall in love with the house ....
Click to expand...

Neutral is the way to go. If you want to add interest, stage a few nice pieces of furniture with color. Ultimately though, clean and neutral is your best bet.
 
Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Originally posted by: torpid
How much would carpeting cost vs a laminate? If HGTV is any indication, people would prefer the latter in general.
Click to expand...

Waste of money. Carpet is cheaper and a much better option.

Let the new owners do the upgrading.
Click to expand...

In the OP's case, with hardwood floors elsewhere in the house, carpeting may be a better option. In general, though, carpets are not a better option than a decent wood laminate. There really aren't a lot of redeeming qualities of carpet. It's soft and you don't get cold when you step on it in the morning. That's about it. It's less durable, harder to clean thoroughly, uglier, etc.

That's why I asked about cost.
 
Originally posted by: MrChad
Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
Usually everyone always says "go with neutral colors" etc to make sure you don't turn anyone off.
I believe in this market, in order to secure a buyer, you need to impress them with at least SOMETHING that stands out or that they will remember.

If you have 1 room that painted in a more colorful way that would look damn good, then let it stand out, as it may be all it takes for somebody to fall in love with the house ....
Click to expand...

Neutral is the way to go. If you want to add interest, stage a few nice pieces of furniture with color. Ultimately though, clean and neutral is your best bet.
Click to expand...

Another thing I did before selling our condo years ago was buy a bag of refrigerated bread dough in the supermarket and bake it before you hold an open house. The smell of freshly baked bread is very warm and inviting. People remember things like that subconsciously when they try to decide which house they liked most. 😉

Besides, what's the worst that can happen, you have a fresh loaf of bread to eat and your house smells nice? 😀
 
I had friend at work that used to flip houses. He couldn't sell this one house he had, so he put in off white carpeting and it sold a day later. Then he went by the house a week later and saw the brand new carpeting sitting at the curb for trash pickup.

 
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