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DH and I are home searching right now. We're actually looking for a house that doesn't have all the updates, because we don't want to mortgage all that. We'd rather get a "basic" house and update as we live there, as long as it is livable.

But, some people are looking for the whole package.

I agree with not replacing carpet if you're moving. Lots of buyers replace it anyways, once they move in (we will).

Also, if the other houses aren't as nice, it doesn't matter too much, because the other houses bring your home value down.

So, I vote to make it how YOU like it, but don't go overboard with the updating.

I wouldn't replace until you know for sure what you're going to do. Some people feel really strongly about having carpet in the bedroom (DH is one). If they're in good shape, I would just leave it.

@Mrs. Jump Rope: are your bedrooms on another level or is everything on on level?
On the level bedrooms are on what's the current flooring situation? How many bedrooms and are they big rooms?

You can check overstock sections of of a flooring store. Or places like lumber liquidators for very cheap flooring. I think people vastly prefer laminate flooring over carpet. If you can find a great price on it I think you can see see a return on benefit.

I think the average home buyer prefers "move in" ready.

I wouldn't do it if you're not going to live in the house long enough to enjoy it. If your house is already going to be priced higher than others in the neighborhood because of improvements you've done, then you're probably not going to be able to get more or sell faster because of laminate flooring in a few rooms. If you added square footage that might be another story, but you've probably hit your max for what buyers are looking for in that neighborhood.

Our realtor worried that we were going to need to change our flooring in my townhouse that I sold a few years ago (2 ninety pound dogs had worn it down). We opted not to and it still sold in two days. We were the only townhouse in our area on the market, so we didn't need to "stand out." I would start watching the listings in your neighborhood and looking at the pictures / upgrades in terms of how long they are on the market / what price they end up getting. That will help you gauge what upgrades, if any, are selling in your neck of the woods. For all you know, floors don't seem to be a huge selling feature, but your unrenovated X (which may be an easy fix) seems to be a big one.

With that said, take this advice for what you paid for it.

I would save your money towards your new potential home! It sounds like you've got a great house and will probably have a lot of interest selling as is.

I personally would not change the flooring as you likely will not see that money back when you sell the home.

If I entered a house with laminate in the bedrooms, it would be an automatic no for me. I prefer either carpeting or hardwood floors, and you mentioned that it wouldn't be something you would see ROI on, so I would just leave as is. Flooring is cosmetic and since you said the bedrooms are small, it's something that can be easily replaced before someone moves in. But I would take 70s shag carpeting over laminate any day.

Since your timeline for moving is not set in stone, I would look at it from the perspective of how you want to live in your current house while you are there. If more laminate makes the house better for your family and is reasonable cost, then do it. Imo, people can get so caught up in what's best for buying/selling that they lose sight of what would make their life better right now. If it were a huge expense, of course you have to consider a roi, but to me $500 is still a reasonable expense for a few years of benefit.

P.S. We love laminate! We were actually going to put hardwood in our house, and the manager convinced us that laminate was way more durable with kids. I'm slowly getting rid of most of our carpet, even without pets

@Mrs. Jump Rope: I'm not a fan of white carpeting either. I think beige or tan is a good neutral color and tan is what we have in our bedroom right now. We replace bright pink 90s carpeting as soon as we moved into the house with that!

@Mrs. Jump Rope: We're in a very similar situation. We're planning on moving when DD1 gets old enough for kindergarten, but there are improvements we want/need to make to the house. The tile wasn't installed correctly in our house (all 600+ sq ft), so we have to rip it up and replace it. We really want to change the carpet to hardwood floors, but our house is already one of the most updated houses in the neighborhood... We decided we're just going to leave it like it is and do the bare minimum updates - save the money for updating the next house (or a vacation )

@locavore_mama: How is laminate more durable than hardwood? Once there's a nick, you can't sand it down and refinish like hardwood. I hate our kitchen laminate flooring because i've dropped pots a few times and there are nicks everywhere! Hardwood will last many more years. But i guess i'm partial because you don't see a lot of laminate flooring in our neighbourhood.

I wouldn't redo the floors either, especially if you're planning to move in a year. You won't see the money back. Also, some people may want the carpeting, or change the carpeting to something they prefer.

We just bought a house that has really nice laminate throughout. I don't know that I would do a lot more updating if I were wanting to move soon, but at the same time we loved the fact that our house didn't have any carpet except for in one basement room.

@Mrs. Jump Rope: then go with the laminate.

I feel the same about my house, it's just not a site finished hardwood kind of 'hood, but mine were original to the house.