Getting Your Floors Ready for a Home Sale

Spring is traditionally a good time to buy or sell a house.  So for our readers who are considering a move, we’d like to address the flooring issue.  When sellers begin to get ready for a home sale, they often see flaws that had previously escaped their attention.  Nowhere is this more true than in the area of flooring.  If you’re trying to decide how to handle the shortcomings of your current flooring, this blog is designed to help you think through your options.

The Look of Your Flooring is Important.  As a starting point, there is one thing that is clear – the way your carpet looks will influence how potential buyers perceive your house.  Flooring that looks old or dirty will reflect poorly on your home, causing buyers to think of your house as older and dirtier than it is.  On the other hand, flooring that looks clean and fresh will create a more positive overall opinion of your house. Think of your flooring as the foundation on which potential buyers’ perceptions rest.

Replacement is Often Unnecessary.  If you’ve decided to sell your house and you look around and see carpet, tile, or wood flooring that has seen its better days, should you replace it?  Most realtors will advise their clients to do this in only extreme cases.  Unless flooring looks truly horrendous, it is often not a wise investment to replace it.  There are several reasons that replacement is not the best choice.  First of all, the money spent on replacement is often not reflected in an appraisal.  While changing out your flooring may appeal to homebuyers, it will not necessarily raise the appraised value of your home.  Secondly, it is difficult to predict just what will appeal to any single buyer.  Since the cost of new flooring is not trivial, it can be counterproductive to put in new flooring that does not match the taste of the buyer.

A Good Cleaning Goes a Long Way.  While it might not be wise to replace your flooring, you know that you can’t just leave it as is either.  This is where a professional cleaning can make all the difference.  Using the preferred industry method of hot water extraction on your carpets, Langenwalter Carpet Cleaning is able to deliver outstanding results.  As dirt and build-up are removed, carpets are returned to the original color, and fibers can often spring back to life too.  We also have the tools and techniques to clean wood and laminate floors as well as tile and grout.  When we get done with your floors, they may look so good that you might reconsider your decision to sell!

Other Repairs Help Too.  Usually the best way to ready your carpets for a home resale is to have them professionally cleaned, but sometimes there are other issues that need to be addressed.  Sometimes carpets can bunch up in lines, indicating that they need to be re-stretched.  Or you may have an area where the carpet has actually ripped or torn.  Langenwalter offers services to address these needs as well.

When you are getting your house ready to put on the market, you have a lot on your mind.  Langenwalter Carpet Cleaning will help you get ready and put your mind at ease.  Visit our Services page to see a little more about the services we offer or click here to schedule an appointment today.