If there are any models homes in your price range nearby, go see what they are doing. If not, ask the local carpet store about the best sellers. (and I'm not talking about big box stores--they won't know)

Gray would be objectionable to me. So would white.

would there be some way to offer buyers a credit towards the new carpet instead. Then they could pick the colours and quality.

Smartstrand, HD or lowes if not a nice floor company nearby. Choose a low line (least expensive smartstrand can still be advertised as smartstrand). Ask the sales person what their top 3 selling colors are and choose the one that fits your decor.

I would recommend not replacing the carpet and price it accordingly. Some people may prefer to choose their own flooring, carpet or hardwood. Not everyone likes carpet and some people are even allergic to carpet.

I think replacing carpet is important If it looks worn and dirty. So many people can't see past it and it comes with a feeling of ick. You don't want a negative impression. I agree with going low grade as it makes it move in ready, but people won't feel too bad if they want to replace. Also agree with asking a local store what is popular and pick from that. Remember what you like at this point isn't the main thing. It is what a majority likes that matter more.

This post was edited by lyfia on Fri, Apr 26, 13 at 23:03

Home Depot is the #1 seller of carpet in the USA. Go there. Tell them what you said here. They will help. They know what is reasonable in price and also the type/color that is popular.

IMO, replace the carpet. Not all people buyers visualize the place with new carpet. They might disregard the house completely over bad carpet because it makes them dislike the rest of the home also. You could lose many possible buyers due to bad carpet. And others might offer much less than the cost of the carpet.

Our carpets are 13 year old and should have been replaced a couple of years ago. We knew we were moving so we held off. We are a family of 6, so they are a bit abused and have that ick factor.

We've been told to replace them with a neutral, inexpensive carpet before listing. I will check around to see what is popular.

If anyone has purchased carpet to help sell your home, I'd love to hear what you bought. I'm a little leery that sales people may try to take advantage of my lack of knowledge, and I'll get talked into something that's more expensive than what I should pay.

Ask for the lowest price FHA approved plush or frieze in a medium beige. There are cheaper carpets than that, but they might be mistaken for sheers on the window. And there is no need to spend $4 a square foot on carpet in a house that you are getting ready to move from.

As a buyer, I was never swayed by carpet or any other allowance. The price is the price, and it is driven by comps, location, condition etc. Would you really believe the selling price is $Xxxx less do to carpet condition? As a seller, I have replaced worn carpeting ( and pad) with a reasonable quality plush in a beige tone. If the carpeting is in good shape but soiled, just have it professionally cleaned. You'd be amazed the difference that can make. And even though though you don't know anything about carpeting now, in one visit to a good flooring shop you will learn more than you ever wanted to know ;-)

We clean our carpets professionally a couple of times a year, so that we can stand to live with them (chem-dry). It looks good for a month or so, and then looks bad again. Our carpet cleaner told us that the padding has pretty much disintegrated underneath. Our Berber is olefin which is notorious for always looking dirty and for having stains that never come out.

When I was looking to purchase my home, if carpet looked wornout or dirty it affected if I liked it or not. I could not look past that to the character of the home. All I could think was that I did not want to come into a home with expenses (ie. buying carpet) up front. I have been in my home for 5 years and I am now replaceing the carpet. The best deal I could find for Smartstrand was at Lowes. None of the carpet dealers could compare (I am talking about saving almost $900) for the same carpet. HD and Lowes also has cheaper carpet when you tell them you just need it to sell home. Also, look online for carpet dealers near you. I found some who had great deals on carpet for seller. I did not go this route d/t wanting a certain type of carpet which was more expensive.

Replace the carpet. Put in a builder's grade beige with a decent pad.

You might also talk to your real estate agent about someone who does carpet. There are some carpet companies that specialize in doing this for the home resale market and they don't really have much advertising or a showroom and they are very inexpensive.

The number of people who would prefer to have a worn carpet in a house is vanishingly small.

For builder's grade I would look for the type of carpet that a builder in your area for a similar competitive house would put in a new house with the buyer not upgrading the carpet.

Kats_meow is right. When I was looking on line and on Angie's List, I found dealers I never heard of who specialized in builders grade carpet. They kept cost down by not have showrooms.

Thanks everyone for all the ideas. Now I have a better idea where to start looking and what to ask for.

We put new carpet in our 3 bedrooms last fall. We ended up going with our locally owned flooring shop. They were able to get us a great deal on a smartstrand carpet. It's probably midgrade. The three bedrooms are all about 11X12 and I think we ended up paying around $900 w/ install.
My husband wasn't entirely on board to replace the carpet and wanted to offer an allowance instead. Even if the new owners replace the carpet, at least they won't HAVE to.

"Home Depot is the #1 seller of carpet in the USA."

Should be 'Home Depot is the number one seller of cheap builder's grade carpet in the USA.'

Do they even have wool carpet?

Something that might last more than about 5 years?
Home Depot is the low quality king of everything in the place.

That is their target market.
Cheap.

Anything that they cannot make with a high margin and large volume is quickly discontinued and removed from the shelves.
they are the lowest common denominator.

They do not employ ANY of the installers they send your way.

Some may be up and coming decent workers, others have been demonstrated to not be able to find their way out of a paper bag.

DH put the second-cheapest smartstrand with a 6-lb pad in a rental. It looks quite good and didn't break the bank. He went with a local company we found on Angie's List.

We had used Home Depot before and weren't that happy with the installer contractor.

I went to home depot this morning. The carpet salesman couldn't have been more unhelpful. He said he wasn't sure what a builder's grade carpet meant. He didn't know what the best sellers were, and said there was no way to find out. He said that most people prefer neutral colors when selling a home, but he didn't know which neutrals would be best. So I pretty much spent an hour there and didn't learn anything that I didn't already know.

The cheapest carpet I could find there was around $1.65 a square foot. It was a plush. Fiber is 100% polyester, face weight 55.6 and twist is 4.4 It has a rating of 4 feet (HD rating system for foot traffic).
Other charges:
The padding ranges from .50-$1 a square foot. They have a special on installation right now for whole house for $37. $30 a room to remove furniture, and .15 cent a square ft to take out and haul away old carpet.

I looked on craigslist and found a company that claims to beat any price. Here's part of the ad:
We buy factory direct & completely back installation.
Full service company our price is all inclusive.
At no charge we measure & offer in home design consultation. We have builder grade to designer products.

Heavy Plush Or Frieze Carpet with 8lb. Cushion in many colors $1.99 per sq. ft. INSTALLED ( includes moving furniture & taking away old carpet )

Carpet plush in-stock $.99 sq. ft. Smartstrand Fiber Carpet only

There are also some discount carpet places close by.

Any of these options sound good?

I'd go to any discount carpet place and choose a neutral beige. Whoever buys your home will rip it out and put in a color that pleases them, or will put in hardwood.

A new carpet won't sell your house, but it will help it sell faster! People are much more likely to want to buy a place with new carpet so that they can live there a while and then decide on what they want.

Don't spend too much. It's not so much what YOU like. It's more what the average buyer likes. A lot of those discount places have sales. Get the mindset of a "flipper." Fix and flip!

Good luck!

Suzi

Here's a suggestion: When I was a renter I moved into an apartment in a large rental complex. It had burnt orange carpet, which had already been dyed once (crunch, crunch). I was an uber desirable tenant, so once they knew they'd have to choose between orange carpet or me, they told me to go where they get their carpet and have it redone (then they gave me a rent credit for the cost).

I could not believe how inexpensive that carpet was. If you have any large rental buildings/complexes in your area, stop in and ask where they get carpet from--reputable rental outfits plan on replacing carpet at least every three years, and they don't put out a penny more than necessary.

Go with the smartstrand fiber. Make sure your CL people are licensed/bonded and insured. And, go with them.

Talk to your real estate agent and have them give you a couple of names. Every real estate agent I've ever dealt with knew at least a couple of carpet companies that are inexpensive and do carpets for the resale market.

Rugs are one of the most beautiful items in a home that can add life and that extra fine touch to any room. The varieties available in the market are numerous and it may be a tough choice to pick out the right rug for your home. You can look for Nourison Hospitality carpets they have something for everyone.

If you WANT builder grade, pick a polyester, olefin, or polylpropylene carpet. If you want your buyer's to speak well of you, buy a 6 strand nylon carpet.

I asked our "carpet guy" who grew up in his family's business and a relative who owns a carpet cleaning business about SmartStrand, which is a newer product on the market. The carpet guy steered me away from it and said he has doubts it will look good for long and also some vacuums won't work on it. The carpet cleaning guy said that Smartstrand is so new that he doesn't yet have good "intel" on how it wears.

Both guys confirm that nylon or a good quality wool is the way to go for looks and wear for the long-term.

Here is a link that might be useful: Carpet Types

One suggestion(you might want to have a different perspective on this): You're not replacing the carpet that you are going to use, it's for whoever buys the house. So don't worry about it not being "nice enough"; save that for your family! In all likelihood, the new owner will want to change it regardless of what you pick. Dunno why! but that's what people do.

So either leave what you have and have it professionally cleaned or buy decent, but not bank breaking, carpet.