I was going to say the same thing! What a great chance for the new homeowner to choose whatever they want. Make a flooring allowance part of your deal. You might even put together a short booklet of information and pictures from your research and leave it out for prospective buyers to look at while they tour the house.

Depends on what part of teh country you're in. Ask your realtor, and if your realtor can't give you a good answer ask the most prominent listing realtor in your area if a house with subfloor and a flooring allowance is more likely to appeal to a buyer than a house with new floors.
Ask your realtor what flooring choices are the expected and preferred choices for your area. An investment in prefinished wood flooring might be the difference between selling your house quickly and not selling it for months. What are your carrying costs for the house if it doesn't sell quickly?
In the area I worked in you could have sold a house with subflooring and gotten away with it, with a flooring allowance.
In the area we moved to you couldn't have given it away. No one wanted to do anything - buyers were looking for turnkey.
Another consideration is that a new mortgage isn't likely to go through for the buyer until there is flooring on your first floor. Best case, They will likely hold back an allowance for th floors, and worst case may not disburse the proceeds of the sale to you until that floor is finished.

In this area and with many buyers in this neighborhood being 1st time owners I don't think just subfloors would cut-it. When I was leaving the house today I saw many young couples with babies in strollers in the neighborhood. I think buyers here want move-in ready.

We have pretty much gutted the house. All new paint, trim, lighting, cabinets, HVAC, toilets and appliances will be or have been added.

There is no mortgage on the house and it will be listed empty.

My inclination is to do tile in the entry & powder room and hardwood or engineered hardwood in the DR/LR & kitchen.

Realtor is coming over next week and 2 flooring companies are coming to measure and give estimates. Hopefully they can steer me in the right direction.

Thx!

i would be inclined to do an inexpensive hardwood on the whole level...
it really depends on how the level is laid out... perhaps tile in the entry and kitchen if they are adjacent... i would put wood in the powder room, unless it is immediately off of the kitchen and the kitchen is tiled .
but, overall all, i think all wood would look best and would be most desirable.

You can find some great deals on hardwood and engineered hardwood. I would go in that direction. If I were buying your house, I would rather choose, but most ppl want a home that doesn't need work.

Again where do you live? The home show here was all about wood look plank ceramics. There is no reason you cannot get the place turn key by the time of closing. Most places that is 30 days. As a buyer I would be ill to think the seller is bothering to make all these decisions then I am STUCK with them. Chances are RARE that you will choose what your buyer LOVES. I had to live with brand new white carpet for 15 years. We actually offered less due to the need to replace their choice of flooring. Wood floors are trending out--I personally would HATE being stuck with them. Let the buyer choose!!!

Not to mention that, if you go to the expense and hassle of putting a floor in and the people who buy it hate it and just turn around and have it torn outâ¦what a wasteâ¦of money, time, materials.

I'd speak to the realtor and have a few showings first and get a feel for what prospective buyers are thinking. Seems to me most people, esp. young people, are into this whole "customizing your new house" thing. I'd way rather pick my own floor than have the previous owner put some cheap floor in.

Plus, I can't stand waste. We waste too much in this country.

The townhouse is in Cranberry Twp., PA; north of Pgh. I don't live there. My parents own the home and they live in So. Cal. My son and I are doing the reno for them. My brother lived there and moved out 2 weeks ago (long story).

Westinghouse and Heinz recently relocated to Cranberry Twp. the area is growing quickly and has been for several years.

Here is picture of the entry before we removed everything. The subfloor under the vinyl by the front door is water damaged and will need to be replaced. The door on the left is the powder-room. That same vinyl was in the kitchen. Kitchen and powder-room are not connected.

Definitely ask your realtor. This is the kind of thing they have expertise in: selling houses in your area. There are way too many variable for any of us to be as knowledgable as your agent should be.

Yes, I would let your realtor guide you...but it's really six of one.....some buyers will love a realistic flooring allowance and be able to choose what they want, some will prefer it be move in ready. If you go the allowance route, I would also let them choose the upstairs carpeting...they may also want to put wood upstairs. If you do put the flooring in, I would go with a medium tone...not too light, not dark....that should appeal to most buyers.

Is it that hardwood is trending out or that it is in certain parts of the country? When I lived in Florida and California, I would certainly have not chosen hardwood but in Atlanta, GA, I would not want anything but hardwood if it was available and reasonable for my main floor. Of course, 2nd floors carpet would be okay.

First time buyers want move in condition with completed projects, not choices they don't have enough experince to make. A plain marble look tile for the entry and half bath would be a good choice for that area, and an engineerd hand scraped hickory or oak for the rest. You ought to be able to get both for around $3-4 a square foot from a real flooring store. I'd stay away from laminate, as it's greaetly trended down in the last few years. LVT will be almost as much as wood. Go with the more marketable wood.