Home updates worth it?

[twinmomma]

I really, really want to sell my house. It's too small and 80 years old and it was never meant to be my forever home. But twins, a divorce, and a pandemic means I'm still here 10+ years later. My boyfriend and I were going to purchase a new house together, but the pandemic made finances tight and we decided to stay put given the housing market. 

I'd like to start getting the house ready to sell in the next year or so now for real. Our kitchen and bathroom currently have tile floors. It looks awful. Grout is cracked and chipping, some of the tiles have cracks in them. It's functional but not good. I've been getting quotes on flooring to see what we would need to spend to re-do it. I wanted LVP. Turns out, my house is so old and un-level, I can't realistically get LVP or tile installed. The flooring companies have said we should only do sheet linoleum. Is it worth the money to put linoleum down? Or should we just plan to knock a little off the purchase price and leave the crappy tile for the next owner to deal with? 

In the bedrooms we have carpet. I installed it just over ten years ago when I moved in. It's starting to rip up a bit at the edges and just looks worn out. Again, is it worth it to replace the carpet or just know we'll get a little less for the house when it comes time to sell? 

This is a small, starter home type house in a market where that's basically non-existent, so I don't think we'll have too much trouble selling it either way given the current housing market. But who knows what could happen in a year or so. And would the appearance of new flooring help overall in selling an old house? 

[Susie]

I think getting rid of the carpet might be worth it, but do it right before you'd plan to list so it's pristine when you do.  Gross carpet is such a turnoff.  Some may disagree and say just offering a flooring allowance, but if the carpet looks really bad I think you miss some buyers that way who just get a bad memory from the showing, or who scroll on by because the pictures aren't great.

As for the kitchen, how would the tile photograph?  Those cracks will probably disappear in a picture.  And ugly tile is easier to forgive than old carpet because tile can always be disinfected.  I would consider leaving that for buyers to change.

I would also recommend starting the purging and decluttering process now.  We moved last year, and started really purging in January 2021, found our house in March, listed ours in April, and completed the buy/sell process in late June.  We needed more time!

[purplepenguin7]

I would replace the carpet for sure. I sold my townhouse and spent less than 2k replacing my 13 year old, kid and pet stained carpet and it was completely worth it. It gave the whole place a brand new, clean feeling. We used Empire and got a cheap base level carpet but it still felt great. I actually regretted not doing it sooner so we could have lived with it. I probably wouldn't replace the kitcen floors with linoleum. If it's what I am picturing I think that you wouldn't get any ROI on it.

[scm1011]

Agree with PP’s. Replace the carpet right before you list and leave the tile. No one wants linoleum so it’ll just be ripped out regardless.

[winecat]

I'd fix the tile and grout. You can re-grout and repair the tiles pretty easily so it'll look better. www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to-fix-a-cracked-floor-tile-without-replacing/

Marmoleum is a nice option, especially for older homes. It's softer under foot than tile and is water resistant. It is environmentally friendly and can be refinished.

What's the flooring under the carpet? If it's hardwood, I'd give a flooring allowance in case the next owners want to rip up the carpet and refinish the hardwood floors. If not, I'd replace the carpets right before you put it on the market.

[k3am]

The housing market is so weird already and we're moving into a recession that will do.. unknown things to an already weird housing market. Unless you're flush with cash and won't miss it, I personally wouldn't be making any significant investments for a potential sale that may or may not happen.

If there are changes that would benefit a sale down the road that would make living there more tolerable now, I'd consider doing something.

All that aside, I agree with avoiding sheet linoleum and new carpet immediately prior to listing. With 3 kids, even on their best behavior, that carpet won't look new for long unfortunately.

[dr.girlfriend]

How much is peel-and-stick tile? I wonder if you could just cover the current tile with that for listing and patch up the grout? (Inspired by this apartment therapy post):

www.apartmenttherapy.com/red-orange-retro-kitchen-redo-500-dollars-37105232?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=managed&fbclid=IwAR3a37w3pHwzlfq2KdPqyperXeQcV4rxsFWQaL11G-RUNeQhDY0QKetavno