Hardwood Vs other flooring (Austin: hardwood floors, comparable sales, sales)

[lovelyTexan]

We want to go for hardwood floooring in my new home.
It is 15k more than other floorings.

If we get ahrdwood flooring, can we get a good resale value?

One of my cousin is saying that, during resale we can only get the average price in that community even thought we go for good upgrades and we won't get the price we invest in the upgrades. Is this true?

Can you suggest what flooring i have to go for?
I have 2 kids ages about 2.5 and 8 months.

Thanks.

[jimmyjack]

I'll tell you what, you might want to price that flooring out. It was cheaper for my cousin to have the brand new carpet ripped out of his house and have the flooring installed by somebody else.

[llkltk]

You might get it back after 5 years. Plus, your house will appeal to buyers that are looking for upgraded features. Say Joe's house is 300K and has tile, and your house is 310K and has wood. I'd go for the wood if I preferred it and I'd pay for it. I'd go ahead and do the hardwoods. I hate ceramic tile, it's dated and if you take what the builder gives you, it's awful. To get good tile you would have to pay 10K.

[achtungpv]

The only thing that sets the price of your house is comparable sales. That's it. Any upgrades - hardwood, granite, pool, etc. will potentially make your house more desirable (or undesirable) to potential buyers but you can't expect that adding $20K in improvements will add $20K in value to your house.

[Georgetown Texas - Edward]

Ditto what achtungpv said. Do the hardwood if you personally will get more out of it, but don't expect much in adding resale. If other homes in your neighborhood are going hardwood, you'll look better at sale time....if you do laminate and everyone else has hardwood you will be at a competitive advantage when you sale. Bottom line: do what fits your budget best and what you'll enjoy most....if you want the best return, buy stocks with the money you save.

[G Grasshopper]

You might want to think about the sustainability of your choice. How about bamboo, recycled wood, etc. I don't know how that would play with home value, but considering sustainability is a good thing in other ways.

[AGA]

I think depending on the price range of housing either laminate or hardwood is a good investment overall. It is more durable than carpet and "warmer" than tile! WE just put in laminate (and I love it) in place of carpet and our price range is 225-250. If you are in a 300+ range, I would consider either high end laminate or hardwood. You just don't want to over improve for your market.
We chose mid range laminate because it was in our budget and consistent with what we see in our comparable housing.
We used Image Tile and Carpet and found them to be very reasonable...Prices included tear out, removal, furniture moving, prep and installation and clean up (alot of things you don't think about when pricing at home depot etc...)
A

[Zzyzx]

Originally Posted by lovelyTexan

If we get ahrdwood flooring, can we get a good resale value?

It definitely adds more appeal to the house. In addition, the air in the house will be much cleaner. If you have allergy's you will be better off as well. I would pay more for a house with hardwood flooring. We spent 20K on ours and didn't even give it a second thought because of previous experiences with it.

Originally Posted by lovelyTexan

Can you suggest what flooring i have to go for?
I have 2 kids ages about 2.5 and 8 months.
Thanks.

There are various types of wood you can choose, from light to dark, shiny to a matte finish. Personally, I like light colors like maple. The trend right now around here is dark hand scrapped varieties. I can recommend a place in town that will give you both an education and fair pricing:Austin Hardwood Flooring They have a bunch of flooring layed out in there showroom as well.

[austin-steve]

The term "hardwood floors" has been basterdized over the years to the point that many buyers we work with don't know the difference.

Solid Wood - Is the real wood floor such as you see in an old Hyde Park house. Wood planks. It's what I still think of as a "Hardwood floor", though the engineered floors can technically be called that now.

Engineered Wood - is manufactured by bonding together multiple thin layers of solid wood in a cross-ply construction. This type of flooring can also be sanded and refinished, but probably only once or twice at most, since the top wood layer is not more than 1/8th of an inch thick. It comes pre-finished from the factory with a finish that is superior to that which can be achieved on-site. In the factory, they can control the tempurature, lighting, dust, etc. You end up with a really good finish if you stay away from the low end budget flooring.

Even your $500K to $1M homes use engineered of wood flooring nowadays. It's a good product. You have to be a purist to want solid wood as it's more costly and doesn't provide any functional or visual benefit over the high-end engineered wood flooring.

Laminate flooring - This is simply a picture of wood glued onto a fiberboard product and appliying a finish coat. Pergo was the pioneer in this application. You can tell when you're walking on laminate flooring because it has a clickity-clack feel and sound. If you knock on it with your knuckles, it feels like plastic.

So, I would definately put in engineered wood flooring provided that you are not over-improving the home for your neighborhood. If you can't afford good wood, go with a nice carpet in the main areas and use the wood only in the formal dining and living and entry.

But I can tell you without a doubt that when buyers walk into a home with nice wood floors, the first impression is considerably different than with carpet, cheap outdated tile or laminate (pergo). It changes the entire mood and appeal of the home.

Steve

[rhino85]

I'm not an empert on this, but know a little from family members and friend, not my own experience. I am a nerd with budgeting and preparing for our home investment to come and just being frugal in general. Check out Lumberliquidators.com. They have the best prices by far and it's not even close, and the quality is just as good, if not better than most. I do not know the budget, but if you want quality and have the money, look at the bella hardwoods, awesome! They have a 50 year warranty on the floors. They also have really good sales if you are willing to wait for a deal. We are frugal and always willing to wait for deals in life in general. Everyone in this country now try and do what everyone else does, when everyne else does it. Really annoying! Do what fits your life style, wants, needs. Everyone talks about re-sale...not everyone wants to sale their home within 3 years, some people actually want to make a home of their home.