Replacing Carpet To Sell

[rps324]

I know what I think on this topic, but I am going to see if my thoughts concur with the general opinion.

I have a vacant house listed that is in good shape overall except it has this really bad shag carpet. Sculpted shag. It is not that the carpet is bad, its that it is horrible! I think it should be replaced even if it is a cheaper grade of new carpet. At least it would be new, and fresh and all that.

With so many people wanting to put down hardwoods or tile, or whatever, do you think people would rather get a better deal as is or do they not have the imagination to get past the ugly existing flooring and visualize it with the flooring of their choice? Would new carpet be a waste of money with so many people wanting some other flooring choice anyway?

I have thought about just ripping it out and leaving the bare concrete, but the owners are old and can't do it & hauling out 4000 square feet of shag is a little much for my delicate disposition as well.

[pineda]

I always think that it is better to replace the old ugly carpet with even the cheapest contractor-grade neutral-toned carpet out there because it IS hard for people to get past it, just like with odd paint color choices. Not everyone can visualize the potential. Cheap carpet and paint in neutral colors seems to do the trick everytime. Spend a little, get a lot! Besides, you don't want buyers coming in thinking "I'll ask for a big allowance for that ugly carpet, and those odd colors, and the list goes on..." Plus, you get that "new house smell" that seems to appeal so much to buyers.

[Subdude]

Pineda nailed it. The existing carpet sounds like it is ugly enough to be a distraction to buyers. A lot of people plan on redoing floors etc., but they may not want or can afford doing things immediately. They might figure that with the neutral carpet they could at least live with it a few years until they get around to remodeling.

[Houston19514]

I agree. It is still surprising to me, but generally house-buyers have NO imagination. NONE. The bad carpet must go, at once.

[UrbaNerd]

Yeah, plus, if the carpet is "cheap", then, the new buyers may think "Oh, this will do for now, until we can change the floorinf in the near future" Instead of "Oh, we'll have to live with this..for a few years, until we can change the floors"...

[pineda]

One more hint I'd like to add:

If you can get the potential buyers interested from the curb appeal alone, you've won half the battle right there.

BUT, if they drive up and don't like what they see, it's an uphill battle from the get-go.

Quick tips:

Make sure the lawn is mowed and edged regularly.

Remove any dead or dying plants.

An empty garden is better than one filled with dead plants.

If you have a lot of low, overhanging branches that can whack someone in the head who is walking through the yard, get them trimmed up quick.

Clean the sidewalk leading up to the front door.

Clean the front door.

If it's ugly, paint it.

Put a fresh wreath on it to replace the old, dusty one.

Make sure the wreath is fake flowers, so you don't attract bees.

Get rid of any cobwebs near the front door.

Get rid of any wasps/hornets nests around there.

Clean any light fixture over the front door.

If you need a new bulb, put one in.

Clean any glass windows near the front door area.

Buy a new (non-descript, not cutey-pie) welcome mat.

After all, your buyers, believe it or not, will be spending a majority of their time at your front door area, waiting for their agent to figure out the combo lock or waiting for the owner to come answer the door and take Fido or Fluffy to the laundry room.

Buy some impatiens (almost impossible to kill, I've heard...) and put them in simple clay pots near the front door area.

All in all, even if the house is vacant, it needs to give the impression that it is (and has been) well cared for.

One last tip that never fails: If the electricity/gas to the home is still on, fire up the oven when you know potential buyers are coming and pop in some of those Pillsbury already cut into chunks chocolate chip cookies. The smell permeates the home and then you can offer some to the potential buyers. Works every time!

Then, after you've handed them the cookies, LEAVE! More sellers shoot themselves in the foot, blowing the sale, because of things they say to potential buyers that might be taken the wrong way or be incorrect. Let your agent do the talking, that's what they're hired to do, REPRESENT YOU! So, make an excuse and leave while the house is being shown. Plus, this also helps the potential buyers feel more at ease to speak their mind freely without having to be polite to you and your tastes...

[Kirzania]

Aside from pineda's list.. CLEAN. For the love all that is good: CLEAN YOUR HOUSE. Buy a bottle of Mr. Clean and a sponge and go at it. No one wants to see dust, mildew, or mold growing around your sinks. No one wants to see your underwear hanging off your bedpost (ok, too many homeholds whose Male Heads wear tighty-whiteys ) and no one wants to see kids' toys and socks and shoes lying around. And perhaps I say this because I was house hunting up in Lexington for awhile and .. oh, man. People up there obviously don't watch House Hunters, Curb Appeal, or HGTV at all.

If you have a zillion pictures, do yourself a favor, take some (if not all), pack them up / put them in the attic, spackle those holes up and do some spot painting. You might not think pictures are big deal, but they are.

If you have a dog, keep the yard picked up too. Ugh. Seen too many of those yards. Talk about a put-off.

I was in 8 school districts by the time I went to junior high, I've done far too much house-hunting for someone my age and I can say that far too many people never bother to keep their house clean while it's on the market. You never know when someone's going to "pop in," so you should be cleaning weekly, if not bi-weekly.

Granted, you've moved out already, so you've probably already given everything a once-over with the sponge. When you leave, be sure to dust off/clean the blinds and windowsills too. That's another thing I see lots of people forgetting about. We all know that as soon as you leave, all the flies decide to die right then and there. So cleaning them off before you go helps make your sills not look so much more like a bug cemetary. Ick.

Edit: Oh, right. And take off that oh-so-pretty floral contact paper.

[pineda]

We all know that as soon as you leave, all the flies decide to die right then and there.

Now, that's FUNNY, but unfortunately, also very true!

[bigguy]

Paint it basic white no colors and clean away years of grime give a carpet allowance . It seems people want a new home if you can copy that track model look fear not it will sale .

[SpringTX]

More advice:

* Too much clutter makes things crowded, makes it hard to get around. A visual cacophony is NOT a good thing. Pack up 75% of the crap and pack it in boxes and store it in the garage or in the closets.

* Signs of vibrancy, health, and growth, biologically and symbolically, are good, like Pineda said. No dead flowers. No dead grass. No overgrown weeds. No dead bugs. No cobwebs. Every little detail should seem to imply: "fertile ground".

* Signs of stability and strength, especially as it pertains to the house. Cracks in anything are bad. Anything made of paper, plastic, or balsa wood is bad. Thick, solid wood is always good. The darker the color of the wood, the more sturdy it looks. Anything stacked that looks like it could easily fall over, is bad. Any cheap or flimsy or broken appliance is bad. In terms of accessories, feature the sculptures made of ivory or marble. Every little detail should seem to imply: "this house and everything in it will last a million years and through ten hurricanes".

* Colors. Neutral colors are sometimes bad. They're too stale and sterile and common. That might be good for a bathroom, but not for a living room, for example. A set of well-done, tastfeul, professionally-matched set of colors is the best. And the wall colors need to match the furnishings. And the colors of adjoining rooms can complement each other. Bedrooms should be cool and relaxing (blues and greens). Kitchens can be a little warmer (yellows). Etc. The house and its colors should give the impression of life, nature and personality.

* Class. It doesn't matter how average the house is, if it's furnished like an upscale home, it's just going to SEEM more valuable. If you have any sort of cheap or junky furniture, put it in the garage immediately. You're sometimes better off with a half-empty room, than with a room full of cheap furntiture. Rent some furniture if you have to. Leave accessories lying around the spell class. Put the hockey stick in the closet and leave out the lacrosse stick instead, for example.

* Fun and relaxation. Don't make things TOO perfect. Leave a couple things lying around "by accident". Add a touch of real life. You can leave a strategically-placed toy or a stuffed animal or balloon out, as long as it's just one, and as long as it looks like it was left there accidentally. There's nothing more boring than going into house after house and seeing them all perfectly clean. Leave out a Napoleon Dynamite DVD on the coffee table. There's got to be a little spice, a little fun.

* Optimism. If you leave a few magazines or books around, pick something with an optimistic theme. Don't leave a copy of "Crime and Punishment" or "Death of a Salesman" lying out in plain sight. Pack up the murder mysteries and horror stories. And don't confuse overtly religious items with optimism. Sometimes overtly religious symbols just look desperate or wacko. Capture the SPIRT of faith, hope, and charity in your decor, but NOT by having dozens of crosses on the wall.

* Photos. Cute photos can be winners. Kids and pets can work well. If you have a very attractive family member or relative, feature that person's photo prominently. If you know you look like you just got hit with the ugly stick, hide your portrait. The photos should also reflect intangibles like good times, strength, achievement, etc. So vacation photots, graduation photos, and so on, are all good. You could even use someone else's photos if you really had to. And don't use TOO MANY photos. No one wants to see 500 different faces all over the walls; that's more like a public building than a home.

* Consistency. Your home's interior and exterior appearance should have some basic themes that can be seen throughout. I've seen a "golf" theme throughout. I've seen a "beach house" theme throughout. These can all be good, if done tastefully.

* Appropriateness. Each room and each object needs to have its own identity, purpose, and importance. A bathrooms could be spotlessly clean, for example. Maybe a kid's bedroom can be a little messy. People will UNDERSTAND these sorts of things, as long as they're easily intuitive. Maybe there's a study cluttered with books. The visitor assumes that a bookworm uses this room. That can be a charming and memorable thing, giving the house personality.

* Temperature. Don't make it sweltering. That leaves the air moist. And chillingly cold isn't good either.

* Smell. Smell is very, very important. Not just to hide bad smells, but to win them over with good ones. Smell is very powerful on the memory. It's part of the whole sensory experience. You need to lure them. Use candles or whatever aromatic devices. The cookie idea is a good one.

* Lights. Leave all the lights on. Never make them walk into a dark house and have to fumble around for light switches. Chances are, they won't find half of them. And even if they do, their first impression is still that of a dark, shadowy room. And if they can't find the light switch, they feel frustrated and dumb.

* Sound. You better have some good, very relaxing music playing in the background. It needs to be very mellow and relaxing. You need to seduce your visitor.

* Free stuff. Free cookies is a good idea. Free water bottles work. Or candies. Or a free DVD containing a video tour. People like free crap.

Here's an analogy. Let's say you have to walk past 2 girls and choose one of them to be your wife. The first is wearing baggy, dirty clothes, no makeup, and a "Monster Truck" baseball cap. She's chewing gum and staring off in the distance, looking uninterested. You suspect she has a really good body, but it's hard to tell. Then there's the second one. She is obviously not as attractive as the first in terms of physical attributes. The second one is just average. But she's making eye contact with you and smiling. And she has hair done up nice, is wearing nice makeup, smells of nice perfume, and is dressed smartly. And she gives you a small gift when you walk by. Even though the first one was a supermodel, who are you going to pick?

[Guest danax]

Wow. A very impressive collection of tips. The wife analogy though...I bought a house that would've been more like the monster truck supermodel; I saw through the ugliness and imagined the potential, and got a better price since a lot of buyers passed it up. A potential wife...I would never expect to change.

4000 sq ft of shag carpet? Years from now people might pay a premium to have original shag. But for now, I would tend to clean it up and leave it. Remember the shag rug rakes? Maybe the sellers have one in a closet. It makes shag look a lot better when it's freshly raked. Is it horrible because it's nasty and worn or just because it's shag and out of style?

Why go through removal and changing it when you can let them pick it out themselves. Maybe mention a carpet allowance to call attention to it. I could be way off on this, but I as a buyer can see through bad carpet, in fact, the imagination is often better than reality.

[pineda]

Seeing all these GREAT tips made me think of one more that really worked for me, and I know it's going to sound REALLY WEIRD, but here goes:

We opened up all the drapes, blinds and window coverings on the front side of the house, because we noticed that many of the potential buyers we were attracting were 2-income families, where both parents worked, and that they had no time to see the house during the day. So, we opened up the drapes and blinds and turned on the lights in every room in the house. Our neighbors commented that they thought we were having a party every night, because when you have a party you do the same thing! But, you know what, the people who eventually bought our house said that they liked driving by the house after work at night with the kids in the car and talking about what they would do with each room, and what kid would get what room. We didn't even know it, but they were driving by and picturing themselves living there a little by little, till they knew that this would be the perfect house for them. Yep, it may cost a little bit more on the electric bill and it helped that we had a den on the backside of the house to hide out in (!), but it worked. Plus, it's always a smart idea to check the house out at night and on the weekends to see the surrounding neighbors and the street traffic there.

[Kirzania]

You know, pineda, it's really odd you mention that. I don't think I (nor my fiance) ever realized I was doing that. We do that with model homes before the sales/realtor shows up - peering into the windows and whatnot. Of course, I also tend to do that with frames. The community I looked at this past weekend was 75% still framed and I was walking around just imagining decorating.

Although, I do it with floorplans too, so maybe I'm just weird.

[Scharpe St Guy]

From my experiance FloorPlans should not be limited to new Construction. When ever my wife and I sell a home we always create a pretty darn accurate floorplan of the home, garage, and all fixtures inside with room dimensions. This can then be put on flyers for the tube outside and even better as the 16th picture on MLS/HAR listing.

Once the buyer is visually planning where this and that and the TV goes they are pretty much ready to sign.

For those realtors out there that may be intrested in this just let me know as my wife does these on the side for other agents.

All the best,

Scharpe St. Guy

[Kirzania]

From my experiance FloorPlans should not be limited to new Construction. When ever my wife and I sell a home we always create a pretty darn accurate floorplan of the home, garage, and all fixtures inside with room dimensions. This can then be put on flyers for the tube outside and even better as the 16th picture on MLS/HAR listing. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

God love you. Too many properties (even on HAR) with no floorplans. I understand (sort of) old houses up for sale that don't have a floorplan jpg. I don't, however, understand any kind of new construction with a simple elevation image in their listing. :hiss:

[SpringTX]

All the seller's disclosures I've seen recently seem to have floorplans. So I guess if you're just browsing, you won't see the floorplan, but if you're serious enough to get the seller's disclosure, you're ready to see the floorplan. But I also agree that every HAR listing should have the floorplan included. Heck, maybe the whole seller's disclosure should be included on HAR as well!

[Scharpe St Guy]

SpringTX,

That is news to me of the Sellers Disclosures having floor plans attached. I have not run into any of those yet. Is this for New Homes, ReSale, or Both that you have seen this?

I agree that the consumer should have a floor plan and heck why not the sellers disclosure on HAR however the majority of realtors would protest since this would enpower the consumer and possibly reduce the need for a Realtor that much more.

Just my .02c,

Scharpe St. Guy

[SpringTX]

SpringTX,

That is news to me of the Sellers Disclosures having floor plans attached. I have not run into any of those yet. Is this for New Homes, ReSale, or Both that you have seen this?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Used homes. Maybe it's the new thing. Another new thing I've seen recently is housing inspections with digital photos inserted (from digital cameras). It's kind of hard for a seller to protest "there's nothing wrong with my XYZ"...when there's a photo on the inspection report showing their XYZ with a big crack down the middle of it.

SpringTX,

I agree that the consumer should have a floor plan and heck why not the sellers disclosure on HAR however the majority of realtors would protest since this would enpower the consumer and possibly reduce the need for a Realtor that much more.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ain't technology wonderful?