I would say go for it. Who knows how long it will take you to sell the house anyway. It might just make it more appealing to the buyers.

Hi. I'm the one who wrote the post yesterday. :) For $1500, I would do it in a second. I'm house hunting right now and I am turned off to homes that have carpet in the dining room. I recently ripped up all the carpet/ugly tiles on my first floor and replaced them with hardwood. It made a HUGE difference. It looks so nice that I am having a hard time considering larger homes that don't have this feature. Good luck!

I don't think you should plan on recouping the costs if you sell. Yes, it's a nice upgrade and I would see value there but just because you have hardwood in those areas will your house necessarily be worth an additional $1500. Plus you generally only recoup 60-70% anyways.

I would spend the money only if you want to enjoy the rooms yourself and if you get a little more on the resale then that is a bonus.

I don't know your market at all, but what you describe is an extremely cost effective upgrade. Even if you do not recoup the cost in real dollars, having wood floors thru out your main living areas will usually help your house sell faster, which will reduce the amount you're paying on that mortgage.

We bought our current house in a state of mid- renovation, and I was quite worried we would make costly mistakes. To make very sure we got "bang" for our remodeling buck, I took an appraisers training class, was registered and did an apprenticeship. Wood floors are ALWAYS a quantifiable upgrade over carpet. I'd do it!

As a real estate agent, I say do it and you will see a big portion of it on resale. Carpets in a dining room turn people off these days(but rugs don't).
You will get paid more from someone who would otherwise factor in needing to do that and they may expect it to cost more than it does.
More importantly, 1-2 years often becomes 4. The amount that you would not get back, say $300 for argument's sake, would be your cost to enjoy it during that time and to sell faster when the time comes.

Thanks so much for your responses. I think we are going to just do it. Who knows how much longer we'll be here. The original plan was to stay here for 4-5 yrs, but here we are 9 yrs later. There is a small chance that we will move in about 6 months, but more likely it will be at least a year. So during that time I want to enjoy my house. And if all of the lots to build on are gone, then it may be longer than a year because I want to find just what I want and not settle. So thanks again for your advice.

Definitely do it. I agree - if you do not move soon - it will just be something YOU get to enjoy!

tina

I agree with everyone else! If it were me, I'd do it.

For that price? In a heartbeat.

I have nothing to offer on the question of whether you'll recoup the cost of hardwood, but just a comment on the real estate differences in different areas of the country. I live in a region where there are relatively few new houses and probably less turnover than in other areas. The idea of moving, with all the hard work and disruption and expense, to get a just a little more space and finishes newer than 9 years old is just astounding to me and probably most people in my neighborhood. I live in one of the newer parts of town with houses built in the 50's! I'm sure there are other reasons than you didn't mention because they weren't relevant to your main question--but I must say, reading your post really made me blink!

Please don't think I'm being judgmental, I think it's more a comment on my being averse to change--pretty silly in itself since I grew up as a military brat. I do understand your time pressure if the buildable lots are going fast, that would be quite a motivator.

Not sure why but I feel like I should defend our desire to move now. Our house is just under 2500 sq ft, which I'm sure is fine for some families, but the layout of our home is just not good--a lot of wasted space. My 2 daughters are constantly fighting over their shared bathroom which is literally the size of a closet--you open the door and it almost touches the single sink vanity. There is literally about 20-25 sq ft in there, and that's counting the tub. We live on a main road with a sloped driveway and my youngest, 7, has just started basketball and really wants a basketball hoop on our driveway, which we can't give her because of the slope and traffic. We don't have big parties because the family room is quite small. I want a kitchen large enough for an island. We chose cheaper finishes when we built as a young couple just starting out with our first child. We have been slowly upgrading, but I know that we have already maxed out the value of our home. When I said we will gain a little more space, I meant about 750 more sq ft, which would actually make a significant difference in a house that is layed out better. It won't be our dream home, though. Things never go according to plan--if they had, we'd have built our dream home last year. But in order to make things at least somewhat better, and by that I mean a big bathroom for the girls, a house on a low-traffic street with the basketball hoop my daughter is dying for, and some upgrades for me so I don't always feel like I have an upgrading project going on, then we will consider an in-between move. I don't mind "all the hard work and disruption and expense" but I should have stated more specifically that I would like to have better quality finishes, not just "newer" finishes. I have put plenty of newer finishes in this house, but it just is not the place my family wants to stay long term for all of the reasons I mentioned.

I appreciate everyone's advice and opinions. I hope I didn't sound too defensive :)

One more vote for adding the hardwood. I've been looking at houses online as we're toying with the idea of moving, and the one thing that consistently rings the bell for me is wood floors. The more they flow through the house, the better. $1500 sounds like a great price to accomplish this.

This is curious to me. I wonder if it really depends on the region you live in? Where I live I would want carpet in most living spaces. It is too cold other wise. Finished floors are expected. If the "finish" is going to cost me more (buying rugs I don't have, possibly) I would have to give that home second thoughts. I lived in a rental with all wood floors. I found them noisy, bother some when even water drips on them, cold, scratched/worn looking...I just do not see the upside except in the southern part of the country,possibly. I get that they are all the rage, in the design world, but I always go back to, there was a reason carpeting was invented. It was because wood floors were not adequate. For me this goes in the category of not making your space too taste specific. I sispect I stand alone, so don't lecture me, I just thought I would present the other side.

Here is another perspective on carpet vs. wood.

One of my "tricks" when selling is to have the house immaculately clean. My goal is that lookers should never open a drawer or door and go "eeewww." Every crevice is ready to show. Because even if someone tells you it really doesn't matter, I feel that any kind of personal dirt sends a subconscious message to a potential buyer.

I have torn out wall-to-wall and I know what lives under there. It is scary! So, when I see w-t-w now, I can't help but think about what's going on down deep. Eeeewww....

I do have wall-to-wall in certain places. Sometimes, it makes sense...in a dry basement or a bedroom. But, for the main living areas, the places where first impressions are made during showings, I think hardwood is far superior.

Good luck!

We live in Indiana where it gets very cold during the winter months, and I *love* our hardwood floors. If I were the the market and had two identical homes to choose from except one had hardwood and one had carpet, I'd take the hardwood in a heartbeat. You can always soften it up with rugs if desired, it's low maintenance, easy on your feet and will last a lifetime. $1500 would be a no-brainer for me!

Mybrowneyedgirl, I'm sorry that I made you feel defensive. You definitely DO have valid reasons to want to move and, as I suspected, since they weren't the main point of your query you didn't list them in your post. The safety and comfort of your kids should definitely be at the top of your priority list. I hope it all works out for you. It will certainly be exciting to build something suited to you, and it sounds like you've really done a lot of careful analysis about what your family needs. Good luck!

I'm glad you said you are doing it. A buyer might think, oh we can put the hardwood in ourselves, BUT only YOU know the right hardwood that matches. And this is what will really make it look seamless. It might just make a difference for someone who looks at your house and compares it to another one.

Just don't paint all the trim teal in the house, like the ones I just saw online. Ugh. Teal, All over. ugh. teal.