decisions for prepping house before selling
I am selling a house (San Jose, CA)... I have selected an agent to handle the house; he's been in the business for many years, and has a good reputation with previous customers. I've felt good in all my dealings with him so far, but a couple of his decisions didn't seem right to me; some I just said "no, we're not going to do that", and he's given me no problems with that... but there is one thing he wants to do, that I'm not sure about, so I wanted to ask folks here what they think about it...
The topic is hardwood vs carpet floors... we have a combined living room/dining room, and a long hallway... the living/dining room is currently carpeted, but very old and ugly, it will get replaced with *something* in any case; the hallway is 50+ year old tile. He is a strong believer in hardwood floors, and wants to convert all of those areas into that; actually, he says that his contractor looked under the existing carpet and says there is a beautiful hardwood floor underneath that rug, that would be lovely once they cleaned it up and refinished it (it has been carpeted for at least the past 50 years). He has told me multiple times that buyers *much* prefer hardwood floors...
However, that doesn't really match my (admittedly meager) experice; milady and I *hate* cold hardwood floors, and both of the tenants that rented it, felt the same, and they both got throw carpets to cover the two smaller rooms that are currently hardwood floors... so I don't know what to think about this...
And *yes*, it is true that I won't be living there anyway, so what do I care?? He's getting me quotes for both options, and they look at this point like the costs will be more or less comparable.
Anyway, I just would like to know what other people with experience, think about hardwood vs carpet floors, specifically in heavily-used central rooms?? I wish to have some insight into this topic, from people who have experience in dealing with many properties. Thank you all once again for your insights!!
The topic is hardwood vs carpet floors... we have a combined living room/dining room, and a long hallway... the living/dining room is currently carpeted, but very old and ugly, it will get replaced with *something* in any case; the hallway is 50+ year old tile. He is a strong believer in hardwood floors, and wants to convert all of those areas into that; actually, he says that his contractor looked under the existing carpet and says there is a beautiful hardwood floor underneath that rug, that would be lovely once they cleaned it up and refinished it (it has been carpeted for at least the past 50 years). He has told me multiple times that buyers *much* prefer hardwood floors...
However, that doesn't really match my (admittedly meager) experice; milady and I *hate* cold hardwood floors, and both of the tenants that rented it, felt the same, and they both got throw carpets to cover the two smaller rooms that are currently hardwood floors... so I don't know what to think about this...
And *yes*, it is true that I won't be living there anyway, so what do I care?? He's getting me quotes for both options, and they look at this point like the costs will be more or less comparable.
Anyway, I just would like to know what other people with experience, think about hardwood vs carpet floors, specifically in heavily-used central rooms?? I wish to have some insight into this topic, from people who have experience in dealing with many properties. Thank you all once again for your insights!!