Will Changing the Carpet Color Help to Sell Our House?

I'm a real estate investor, and even though it is a pain in the butt, I'd without a doubt in my mind change that carpet. I truly believe that if you have a house where there are any issues-traffic, noise, size-then you need to make up for it with all the other things. So, you don't want them to pull in and say "oh man, it's pretty close to that street" and then as soon as they walk into the house, their first thought is another negative..."wow, the carpet is green". By this point, you've probably already killed the chance of a sale. Now, if you can decorate and have the house looking new and neutral, then your goal is to have people leave saying "well, the traffic doesn't sound as loud inside". This is what would happen if they LIKED the inside of the house. The carpet allowance is a good idea, but usually it's only going to really make a difference in houses where you KNOW the house will sell itself, either because it's in a good area, has nice amenities, or is large but affordable. In those cases, people are more willing to "fix" things after they purchase the house, like carpet.

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Yes, it matters. Unfortunately, it's all about first impressions. If they are immediately put off by a color of carpet they don't like, or that wouldn't look good with their own furniture, I think they begin to look for other things that they might otherwise overlook. You were very wise to update your kitchen, since that is usually a dealbreaker. Now, you need to bite the bullet and replace the carpet, at least in the main living area. A brand new, neutral carpet will make such a good impression, that they will be looking for things they like about the house, instead of the opposite. We are preparing our house for sale right now, and we are replacing all the flooring on our main level---some hardwood, some carpet. I think it will not only help the house sell faster, but I expect we will get most if not all of the cost back in the price of the offer. If people are figuring they will have to replace flooring, I think they will reduce the offer by more than the flooring will really cost. Good luck!

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My husband is a real estate broker. Here's what he said: "If it was on the market for 4 months with no offers, the price is too high, period."

I wouldn't bother with carpet. Your issue is price - that is the only reason you wouldn't have had ANY offers. Ask your realtor to pull comps on home sales near you, and drop the price accordingly. Additionally, if you have offered a reduced commission (such as 5% instead of the traditional 6%) you may find that realtors aren't even showing your home, or are directing buyers away from it. Make sure you're offering the full 6%. Remember that your home is stacked up against some great prices - foreclosures, short sales.The price has to be right or you won't get offers.

Good luck!

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Hi S.,

I'm an agent also in the Bothell area. My guess it's the proximity to the freeway (405 or I-5?) that is causing the biggest issue. There is alot of inventory on the market right now and prices are lower, so people can be choosy. My husband is also an appraiser and always has to consider a house close to a freeway will have a negative impacted value (called and external obsolescence). I was assisiting on selling a GORGEOUS and updated house in Bothell recently, all the nice upgrades and farther away from a freeway with a thicker greenbelt, and it still did not sell. They ended up renting the house. My recommendation is not to put any more money into the house and boldly state in your listing that there IS a flooring allowance. Buyers will want to put their choice of flooring in anyway. In my previous house, the seller put carpeting in and I was unhappy with it about a year later, becuase it was of cheap quality. So as a buyer, I'd much rather take an allowance and put what I want in. (Style, color, quality, etc).

It is a tough market right now, but things in our area are indeed picking up. When houses are priced right, they are selling fast. If you feel comfortable with it, send me an email with your MLS listing # and I can take a look at it. My hubby (again an appraiser) will look at comps with me, too, and I can give you an honest outside opinion of price.

Best wishes...
A.

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Color is huge, and most people don't / aren't capable of envisioning anything that majorly different. On a case study... 20 years ago my parents had their house on the market for a year. They replaced the carpet and had 3 offers in a week. It's worth it.

Also, if YOU like the color, save the carpet. You may not be able to do a whole new house, but you could get a room out of it at least.

Personally I tear carpet out and replace with wood and persian rugs... so if you've got hardwood underneath there's not need to recarpet. Pergo is another option. Not one I like (I hate the feel of plastic underfoot), but one many many people like as a hardwood alternative

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If you decide to replace the carpet. I'd do hardwood instead - it has a better wow factor and is cleaner...

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I would make sure there was a carpeting allowance and the buyers get to select the type (for the budget) and you have it installed during escrow. It's always nice to get a house with new carpet, but personally I wouldn't buy a light color carpet, because I have kids and pets!
Good luck!
S.

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It a tough market. I would get an honest assessment from your Realtor about your asking price - I see that you're in Bothell, and it's hard to come to grips with, but even in the Seattle Metro Area, houses just are not worth what you paid for them 5 years ago anymore.
We are planning to buy later this year... and I have to tell you a house with freeway noise would be off our list, no matter what the color of the carpet is. When the market was hot, we would have considered a downside like that, because we knew that we were priced out of the better locations...

If you HAVE TO sell, you might just get less than what you're asking for. If you have the option of staying a little longer, I would wait for another year or two until the market rebounds.
We live in Seattle and I have been seeing nice houses on the market for a year or longer... even at reasonable prices.

Good luck.

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I for one did not care about the carpet colors or wall colors. We replaced flooring in every room in the house when we bought, and painted. I was more concerned about the bones of the house. Also, I did not want carpet in every room, so I would have ended up tearing out new carpeting to put in wood floors.

I think lowering the price may bring in more people then a carpet allowance.

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The real estate market is tough right now. You never know what might catch a buyers eye. Personally, when I view a house, I like to think in my mind where I'd place a Christmas tree. But that's just me. The freeway noise might not be ideal, and there's not much you can do about it. So you have to sell what a great location it is. It's close to shopping, entertainment, schools, short commute to work locations, metro stations, bus routes, etc. Make sure no one smokes inside the house - the smell can turn off a lot of buyers. It there anything you can plant in the yard between the house and freeway that will act as a noise/sight buffer? Neutral colors for paint/carpeting (I hate beige, but it's easy to throw an area rug over it which can make anyone's color scheme work for them). People won't pick a house because of a neutral color BUT a color they hate (and it's different for everyone) will turn a buyer off and you want to avoid that if you can.

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If you've had no offers and very little traffic chances are the price is just too high. Offering a $2000 carpet allowance still leaves your price high. You would be better off lowering the price to attract more buyers in the first place. The bad thing about buyers is they can't always visualize what a place will look like once something is switched out. If you are very motivated to sell the house, then I would change out the carpet as well. Sounds like you've put a lot of other work into the house which buyers may not notice if the green carpet overshadows all of that. Good luck!

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Your agent is right. People are superficial. They want it all done for them they don't want to have to lift a finger or wait for anything. I would spend the money on the carpet, it should cost you less than $2000 for 1300 sq feet. I have green carpet in my house & I have hated it for 8 years, the whole time I have lived in it. I am replacing it with neutral laminate/Pergo flooring that looks like real wood. You might think about getting laminate instead of carpet. So many people prefer it in today's housing market because its easy to clean & unlike carpet all the dirt stays on top & doesn't get ground in. Currently half my house is done & I love it. Way more hypoallergenic than carpets. The air quality in my house is so much better without carpet.

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I think most people expect to swap out carpet and paint walls when they buy a house. I wouldn't change it. I'd lower the price, considering the freeway proximity.

When I was selling my last house, there was a lack of activity and interest and OFFERS. I made my own selling sheet to leave with the sign up sheet with a list of all the improvements and the dates they were completed. Violå! Offers very soon after.

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I think most people expect to swap out carpet and paint walls when they buy a house. I wouldn't change it. I'd lower the price, considering the freeway proximity.

When I was selling my last house, there was a lack of activity and interest and OFFERS. I made my own selling sheet to leave with the sign up sheet with a list of all the improvements and the dates they were completed. Violå! Offers very soon after.

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I know when I was house hunting, I knew right away if a house felt like my home or not. When I walked into the house we ended up buying, I "knew" it was the one. Carpet is something that people will rip out if they don't like it. I can see replacing stained/old carpet to make it look like the house is well taken care of, but if it's in good condition it just seems like a huge waste of money to replace it. The new owner still might not like the color you picked or they may decide to tear it out completely and go with a different floor covering like tile or wood. You said you have only had a handful of showings. That sounds to me like there is something about the location or price that is preventing people from even wanting to look at the house-- not the carpet

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We bought our house three years ago. It was only 4 years old and in a great gated community. The house was beautiful but when we first looked at it. it had a hunter green carpet. there was a huge stack of real estate agent cards on the counter. our agent said that the house was probably already gone. but when she called the listing agent. he had no offers. and had been reduced in price 4 times. the house had been on the market for 5 months and this was still when the market was really good. Houses on this street were selling in about two weeks then. Our agent said that it was because of the green carpet. We bought the house for 30 thousand under market value. when the market is saturated with homes, buyers can be more picky and if it is the difference between carpet they will pick the house with better carpet. We didn't mind it since we have 5 children but have since replaced it. Your best bet in this market is to replace the carpet. good luck.

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Apparently the ladies here at least DO care about the carpet! Me on the other hand would be concerned about the highway. I would not buy for that reason.

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I honestly think it's the location that is the problem although there is someone out there it will not be an issue for. My husband and I looked at an ideal house about 5 years ago. It had everything we wanted except is was too close the the freeway (not as close as your house though) and my husband wouldn't even consider it because of the distant freeway sounds about 1/4 to 1/2 a mile away.

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I dont personally think that people are "superficial" when looking at houses. My husband and I bought our first house with green carpet, even though I said that I would NEVER buy a house with green carpet. It took us 2 years to finally get rid of it, YUCK!
I think that if you have the resources you should definitely change out the carpet. People in this economy are looking for the best deal possible with the least amount of work to be done (almost impossible to find by the way). I dont think that many people like green carpet, so it would be a benefit to change it because the chances are the buyer isnt going to want to do the work themselves. Sad but true in this market.

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location, location, location. Sounds like the house price needs to reflect the location. A house that is priced appropriately will sell almost regardless of decor.

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My house was painted fugly and had pee stained carpet when we bought it. First thing we did was rip out the carpet. Second thing was paint. Our house was on the market for a long time, but our realtor also said that people couldn't get past the ugly to see the potential.

Just replace the carpet with a neutral color and make sure you update your listing (including photos) to capture all the upgrades that you've done.

Having bought an ugly house once, I don't think I'd buy one again. Green carpet could be a deal breaker for me.

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It sounds like you have talked about this with your agent, but you need to push them to get you more answers. Has your realtor hosted a realtor open house? They gave us very honest feedback. Your agent is right that the green carpet could be an issue but ask a lot of questions of them. What has sold in the area? for what price? what marketing have you done for my home? We were relocated and our agent had to provide a report every 2 weeks to the company answering these same questions.

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When we sold our house 3 years ago, we didn't receive our 1st offer until after we staged the house (6 months later!) I went to Wal-mart, spent $200 on nice looking matching kitchen/bed/bath items, then on to goodwill for knick-knacks. I decorated the bedroom (an air bed up on boxes) very romantically, put candles, etc. around and we got our first offer that afternoon! We weren't living there at the time, so it was easy to stage and keep it that way. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't have much of an imagination and can't see potential on their own. We also had offered a carpeting allowance, but that's not what sold the house!
Good luck!!!

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$2000 dollars wouldn't carpet an entire house, would it? we just replaced our living room and hallway carpet for about that much a few years ago...

when i look at a house the layout and functionality of the house matters a lot more than changable things like carpet. the freeway would bug me a whole lot more than the carpet color, and a new updated kitchen matters a lot more too. but i have to say, old carpet can make a whole house look old... you know? carpet can do a real facelift.

perhaps a few neutral throw rugs would be helpful in making the green less noticable? also, make the home seem impersonal-- no family pictures or clutter, so people can imagine themselves living in it. think model home.

is it the original green carpet from the 70s or a newer green? if it's 70s carpet, that's a big turn off for me!

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Hi,
Like Angie said.. It is a tough market.. My husband is a mortgage broker.. I am hoping things will pick up later spring/summer.. I think carpet allowance great idea.. wouldn't put new carpet in... people like to pick out their own style.. Lots on the market right now.. Maybe price has something to do with it not selling and freeway.. If I really like the house and didn't love the carpet color I would be thrilled that there was a carpet allowance.. good idea :)
L.

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In this market, yes. I wouldn't want green carpet, so I'd have to plan on replacing it. Why buy a house that's going to be a hassle when there's another down the street that's move-in ready with a neutral carpet color? I don't have time to be dealing with vendors and dealing with a carpet selection and install just spells hassle to me.

In a different housing market, my answer might be quite different. But when there's a lot on the market today, I would expect move-in ready.

ETA: You might consider installing a fountain in the backyard to help mask the freeway noise. Even Target sells them now, so you can find them for not too much money these days.

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Definitely change to a neutral color. It will make all the difference! First impressions are everything and if they don't see themselves in a green space, it just won't sell.

I would change it... it can't hurt. But an ugly carpet can definately steer people away. Good luck!

i wouldn't buy a house that has blue or green or red or pink carpet. unless i was prepared to immediately replase it at a high cost.

I personally never buy a house with green or neutral colored carpet. Your offer of an allowance to replace the carpet is fine. By the way, just replace the carpet, not the padding--unless you have a cat or dog.

I think the main issue is the highway. We back to a major stree too - which will be an issue when we go to sell. I think people would look past the carpet especially given the other upgrades you have done.

Rather than replacing perfectly clean and good carpet, you can offer a carpet allowance (rather than replace) so it's only money "spent" if someone gets the house... or you can revisit the price.... good luck - such a tough market now - hang in there!