Hellobee Boards

I feel like a backsplash is always worth it because it makes a huge difference in the look of your kitchen and it is pretty cheap to do (especially if you diy, but even if you hire out I think).

Wood floors are a harder call. I think it really depends on your specific neighborhood and what buyers in your area are looking for/willing to pay for. I'd maybe talk to a realtor and see their opinion about upgrading, and about whether or not paying for solid hardwood is worth it or if they'd recommend you maybe do engineered hardwood or even laminate.

Personally, as a home buyer, neither of those (lack of hardwood floors or backsplash) would turn me off of a home with the layout/neighborhood I desired. I might be willing to pay more for a house WITH them though... (Although, as a husband/wife team who prefer to do home improvements ourselves, we'd probably rather pay less for a house and make the improvements we want, so we wouldn't want to pay enough extra for those features to make it worth it for the previous owner to do it for resale vale)

Also, is your home pretty standard and readily available, or is there something about it that would make it sell quickly? For example, in my area split level homes with a two-car garage are a dime a dozen - those homes would NEED something extra to stand out and sell! However, a ranch with a three-car garage would go in a hot second because there are never ANY on the market, they get snatched up soooo quickly. Something to think about.

I would do the backslash because the kitchen is a huge selling point.

I lean towards no hardwood because they're so so expensive and I just don't think you'll get the return on selling price.

As a buyer, neither of those things would turn me off (carpet and no backsplash).

Do the other homes in the neighborhood have hardwoods or laminate?

It totally depends on your neighborhood. In our current neighborhood we are already pretty maxed out on upgrades so anything else we put into the house probably won't come back to us because people are only going to pay so much to live there. In the neighborhood we are thinking about buying in, one of the things we love is that other homes on the street are going for over $100K more than what we would pay so we have plenty of room to put upgrades into the home and get our money back.

I think it depends on the area. If every other home has hardwoods, then yep, you need to do it. Maybe try an engineered hardwood. If you want House Hunters, think about how many people are turned off by a house cause it has carpet and not hardwoods. They aren't hard to install, but some people don't want to deal with it.

I would rather replace the backsplash myself. (as a buyer)

@grizz: It's such an annoying game to play, trying to figure out what's worth it. Makes me wish I was an experienced Realtor in our area so I knew what was worth it