To Carpet Or Not To Carpet....that's The Question
I want to turn a house as quick as possible as I need the cash. It has ugly carpet that is livable but doesn't make the house look good. The rest of the house in in great shape. Should I lower the price by offering a carpet allowance or should I go in and replace the carpet now. Money is tight and replacing would strap me financially, but could be done. The carpet allownance gives the buyer the ability to pick his/her own and I don't do the work.
Most important thing is that I want/need to sell fast.
THanks
Jason
If the carpet is reall bad you might tear it out and sell with bare floors and a carpet allowance.
For the best sales price you'll want to replace the carpet with a neutral (light brown) builder grade carpet. It'll cost you about $10 yard installed. Can you put it on a CC until the sale or get interest free financing from HD Lowes' or etc.?
(agrees with Dumdido) Can you put it on a credit card? Bad carpet does make a difference to potential buyers. Depending upon your market, decent carpet may up the price more than the cost of the carpet was in the first place - because you are not asking your buyers to look beyond soiled carpeting.
Ask around and you may find someone who can install carpet pretty cheap. I have an incredible guy who installs for 2.00/sq. ft. - he lost his license due to a DUI but he does a great job installing carpet.
I would say that carpet allowances work pretty good on higher priced houses, but not on lower priced ones.
i would recarpet now. first impression when selling is the best....km
If the rest of the house is in great shape as you say, then I would go ahead and replace the carpet. Like the other posters have said, it's good for first impressions and you can't beat the smell. Smell is one of the most important factors often overlooked by sellers.
Buy your carpet from a small carpet busniess (Not the big high overhead retailers). You can get a pretty decent quality builders grade frieze (go neutral with color flecks) installed with a good pad for just under $2/sqft. The large retailers will charge $3/sqft for the same product. You could go ultra cheap but I wouldn't recommend it. Experienced home owners from the buyer pool will know the difference and want to replace it anyway and will not want to have to pay for your cheap choice of carpet. If you select a popular style at a decent quality level, you will likely come out ahead.
I assume it's a lower cost home that would also attract first timers in the buying pool. First timers generally like homes in move in condition and don't like to have to mess with upgrades. This is partly due to the fact that they just don't have any experience in these areas and prefer others to make such decisions.
All they want to care about is what they see and smell when they walk in the front door.
I am also for replacing the carpet. You might try to find some carpet installers to talk to. They are likely to know inexpensive sources for reasonable carpets.
I say change the carpet. First impresiion, smell and all that rot.
You can save $$$$ if you do the unskilled work.
Tear out the carpet and pad.
Nail down any loose floor deck.
Sweep, sweep, sweep, and vacuum.
Then have carpet laid.
The first three are almost free, and should save you a buck, or more, a yard on carpet installation by a pro.
And most carpet layers will not prep the floor as well as you might. It's amazing the stuff you find under old carpet.
Good luck!
[addsig]