Updated flooring is high on buyers’ wishlists. Who doesn’t love an incredible floor? Flooring upgrades are massive selling points. Gleaming floors increase homes’ values, no matter where you live. Every buyer will evaluate flooring materials and condition when they are home shopping. It will play a factor in their decision to make an offer or not.
Resurfacing or replacing flooring will enhance your home and its listing price. The most important areas to upgrade are the ones with high traffic: the kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, and living areas. But what type of floor should you choose? What flooring upgrades are most popular with home buyers?
Without a doubt, hardwood floors are preferred over carpet and vinyl. Tile is popular, too. If hardwood is in your home – even if it’s under the carpet or in bad shape – restoring it, rather than installing carpet or vinyl, would be the more profitable choice.
Let’s review some flooring options.
Hardwood
Buyers everywhere prefer hardwood floors. And it’s not hard to see why: hardwood floors are beautiful, easy to clean, and durable. The installation cost is around $5,000 for a 200-square-foot room. The price may increase significantly if you choose luxury wood. The returns are more significant for refurbished hardwood flooring, and the costs are thousands of dollars lower. While it isn’t the cheapest option, hardwood is the most strategic flooring upgrade for homeowners looking for the greatest returns.
Engineered Hardwood
Engineered wood differs from standard hardwood primarily in its fabrication and is made by layering hardwood over plywood. Compared to standard hardwood flooring, this option is about half as expensive while offering traditional hardwood’s look and feel. It’s also moisture-resistant and durable. It’s more resilient than conventional wood in high-moisture areas. Engineered hardwood costs half as much as standard hardwood to install with similar profit margins.
Tile
Tile floors are appealing and practical, especially in rooms with moisture; kitchens, and bathrooms. Ceramic tiles are the most common, but there is a vast selection of materials, including slate, marble, porcelain, and cement. You can expect to pay around $3,000 to install tile flooring in a 200-square-foot space – slightly cheaper than brand-new wood floors. That said, costs vary greatly based on where you live and the tiles you select.
Carpet
Besides being budget-friendly, freshly installed can be attractive, soft, and cozy in bedrooms, especially if the other rooms in your home have high-quality, wipeable flooring. Carpet is not the most popular option for home buyers, but most don’t mind it in bedrooms. However, it’s the least desired flooring material virtually everywhere else in homes. Old, stained carpet detracts from home sellers’ earning potential, and new carpeting is more appealing than used, so it makes sense to replace it in bedrooms or install new flooring in other areas of your home. New carpet costs around $1200 per 200 square feet to install. It’s more affordable than any options discussed thus far, so it has advantages.
Luxury Vinyl Planks
A fantastic choice when you need to stay within a budget while improving the quality of your home’s flooring. Two hundred square feet of luxury vinyl flooring costs around $800, making it the most affordable flooring upgrade that adds value to homes. The returns on a vinyl flooring investment range from 10 – 50%. The percentage isn’t as high as other options. Still, vinyl enhances the overall livability of your home and the quality of your listing, especially if your current floors are run down, torn, or otherwise worn from use. The options are impressive; you can find affordable vinyl that mimics the look of hardwood and designs in various patterns and palettes. It has an average lifespan of 15 years, tolerates moisture well, and is very easy to clean.
The more expensive flooring upgrades yield the highest returns and appeal most to homebuyers. And hardwood is a clear winner, however not always budget-friendly. Knowing the importance of repairing old, worn floors to make more of an appeal when you are trying to appeal to homeowners is most important. If you have any questions about what your home is currently worth and if investing in upgrades would improve your home’s worth please reach out to my team or myself. We would love to discuss this with you. Have a fantastic week friends and family!
