I'd ask your relator for an opinion. What I see on TV is people hating a lot of different flooring. You sound like me, having several different types. I have matching tile in laundry and one bath, a different tile in another bath and a different tile in the kitchen. I have hardwood througout but laminate in the den. I wish all the tile was matching and all the tile was matching. But it's too costly and too much work to change it all and can't match it as it's older now and probably don't sell it. What I'd do is try to match something else around it if you can. If you can't, perhaps you just put something close like you said and neutral and CHEAP. Most of the people are going to tear it right out even if new because they don't know what's been there and they want new and their own color. But ask the relator I think first before you do it.

lynndale, try cross-posting in Home Decoration. You'll get much more responses there. If you have photos, post them there.

Get the carpet. You should be able to come really close to the existing as there are tons of choices in that beige/off white range. Bring home as many samples as you can to get a match or if you have a small carpeted closet, take that piece with you for a match. When you have the new carpet installed they can re-do that closet.

I'm picturing walking in to a 3 bedroom house set up as you describe. Even though I'm not a real fan of carpet, if it's clean and I like the rest of the house I could live with it until able to make changes. Having one bedroom with laminate flooring for an offices is not unusual. But 2 of 3 would be off-putting to me. I would choose inexpensive carpet over inexpensive laminate but I may not be your typical buyer. What's standard in your area and price point? What are you seeing in the pictures of your comps?

If you plan to replace the carpet, you might want to consider waiting until spring when you can open your windows.

We purchased our (unoccupied) house in the winter. Temps in the single digits. The seller did a great job fixing it up. New paint inside/out. New carpet upstairs. Only problem was that he bought the cheapest carpet/paint on the market. It off-gassed like crazy.

Each time we would visit the house, DH would develop a headache and scratchy throat. If he stayed any longer than an hour he would become disoriented.

We had the brand new carpet removed and that helped considerably. We found nice hardwood floors throughout and had them refinished. While the refinishers were working upstairs, we noticed the smell of cat urine. The refinishers said there were urine stains in the floor. The buffer brought up the smell. Yuck! Thankfully, two coats of polyurethane took care of it.

Once the weather warmed up, we left the windows wide open as often as possible so it could air out. It took awhile, but we were finally able to move in.

Some of your buyers might have allergies or chemical sensitivities. They might not want to deal with the strong smell of new carpet.

Do you have hardwood floors under the carpet? If so, you might use that as a selling point. You could also offer buyers a credit to replace the carpet to their liking.

A link that might be useful:

http://www.lung.org/healthy-air/home/resources/carpets.html

I would not try to match carpet colors... even if the exact same carpet, the older carpet will have changed/faded with time. I think it would be better to choose another color rather than try to match the old.

YMMV

I'd vote for carpet, in as close a match as possible.