Hellobee Boards

We bought our house with brand new carpet in it and 2 years later, we replaced it with tile. I liked that we could choose our tile and not feel terrible about ripping up carpet. If it was new TILE we needed to rip up but we didn't like, I'd feel more guilty and put it off longer.

So I chose the allowance!

I feel bad that we bought a house that has brand new carpet throughout...carpet that we will be tearing out and replacing within the next 6 months. I would have definitely preferred an allowance (:

do you have some bids in to have them done? maybe people that have bought houses before would have an estimate as to how much the floors would cost and would know if $5k would cover it, but when we've looked at houses, ones where i had to look into the cost to repair things were def moved down the list if there was something else that looked easier- even just having the bids out for a couple options so they could pick might be enticing, because then there is no question as to whether the floors get fixed, just how & with what. at an open house you could just leave a couple tile samples and the estimate for a couple of them and the amount you're willing to cover.

I was going to vote allowance, but I would only be ok with it if the allowance also came with a report from an inspector that says everything is ok with the floors (why did that happen to the floors in the first place? Will it happen again? Is it a water issue?) and an estimate from a builder for the cost of the work. Also a clause that says the work can be done before move-in. So with all of that I realized that as a buyer, I'd rather just have it move-in ready to have peace of mind.

I vote move-in ready, and put down some super neutral, plain tile!

ETA: I'm not asking YOU those questions, those would be my questions as a potential buyer looking at the house! My question is always, is there something the seller is hiding? Why didn't they do it themselves? and... all work ends up being more expensive and take longer than you expect. Those are my thoughts as a potential buyer!

I think it totally depends on what your competition is offering to buyers. If most of the homes are move-in ready, then I would definitely take the time to replace it with totally neutral tiles before listing it. If you have something clearly above the competition like a better location, lot, etc. then it might not be as necessary since buyers will just see the tile situation as a small hurdle to getting everything else they wanted.

I personally would like to choose my own tile...it would be a bummer if you went through all the work to put it in and then the buyer decides they don't like it and rips it back up. I guess it's a risk either way...

Generally I would prefer to choose my own tile, but I'd have concerns that there were other problems at play too, so I'm torn. If you provided a note from an inspector and quotes from a contractor or something I'd be more inclined to not worry about it though.

I would hate to buy a house with brand new *something* that was good quality, but that I hated, because I would know I was paying for the nice newness of AND would want to replace it.

What about the option to list it now with the allowance and then if it doesn't sell to try to do the work yourself?

As a seller, I would replace the tile because as a buyer I would wonder what else was not done properly when the house was built. It would be different if the entire house was a fixer upper, but if the only issue is the tile, it would be better to make the house move in ready.

As a buyer, I would also offer less on a house that needed work, regardless of a stated allowance.

I would prefer the allowance so i can have the tile be the way *i* want it to be. Some people aren't as picky, so i would see what your real estate agent says.

I would for sure take the allowance. It's only a down side if I didn't have the funds to redo it.

I LOVE seeing the words "allowance" in a listing!! We're house hunting right now and if someone said, the house is move-in ready or there is a flooring "allowance?" Gimme the allowance!!!

ETA: You could write flooring allowance OR will replace after offer. Something like that.

I think if I were selling I would put it on the market now with an allowance and leave a quote out on the counter during viewings. In the mean time I would look for tile and see if I could get on the schedule with a tile company. If the initial viewings aren't going well I would replace it.

In our area houses either fly off the market within a week or sit for a long time. It seems like there is a group of people looking at any given time and as soon as something hits the market they run out to see it since inventory is so low here.

I would personally prefer to put in my own flooring, but I think it depends on your market. I expect that where we are, we'll have to do some updating, and that probably includes floors.

Also, we've passed over places that were obviously fixed up solely for the purpose of selling. I assume (and sometimes can easily discern) that those renos were done on the cheap. So if I see "brand new tile" on the listing, I figure it's probably the cheapest stuff they could find. The best renos are almost always the ones that the owners did because they wanted them/thought they would improve their lives.

Allowance. There are few houses where I loved everything about it and it would be nice to pick my own things when moving in a new house.