Agents Say Oriental Carpets Should Be Removed (agent, sale, inspection)

[staywarm2]

Has anyone ever heard of this? We have beautiful oriental carpets in our living and dining rooms. Underneath are original hardwood floors in good condition. When we had an agent's caravan, a number of the agents said we should remove the oriental carpets to better show off the hardwood floors. There is a 15" to 19" border of hardwood around the carpets that shows the hardwood.

We don't want to remove them. First, they are very heavy and would be difficult to move and secondly, I think good-sized rooms with only hardwood floors (and no area rugs) look unfinished. There is furniture in both rooms, but not it's not crowded.

What do all of you think?

[North Beach Person]

Will the rugs be transferring to the new owners? If not, remove them and highlight the wood floors.

[glamatomic]

I would definitely remove them in favor of the hardwoods. Things like oriental rugs are a matter of personal taste, and when you show your home it is best to keep things as neutral as possible. The hardwood floors will probably appeal to more buyers

Good Luck!

[Jkgourmet]

I'd do whatever my listing agent suggested - or else why would I have hired him/her?

[manderly6]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

Will the rugs be transferring to the new owners? If not, remove them and highlight the wood floors.

Very good point. Highlight what is being sold, not what isn't.

[BirdieBelle]

It's not uncommon. I would remove them.

[SunBeachFun]

My agent had me remove my throw rugs. Told me that it made the rooms look bigger. The unanticipated side effect was that furniture sure slid around. If someone bumped a chair/coffee table in the living room or my bed in the master, I could tell. Invest in a set of felt pads for the feet of any furniture now sitting directly on the hardwoods.

[Nell Plotts]

If the agents recommend removing the oriental rugs I would do that. Keep in mind that the hardwood may show their shadow as a result of sun bleaching (when we travel for extended periods we roll up our largest carpet and move one of the others for just that reason).

Roll the carpets up and invite the agent in for another look. Keep in mind that serious prospective buyers may want to look under them in any case.

Assuming that the agent still wants the carpets removed now would be a good time to send them to be cleaned by a well qualified oriental carpet cleaning firm, perhaps they will store them while your home is on the market - a good cleaner will hang them until they are very dry in any case. Been there, done that.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I'd probably leave them rather than store them. Also, I don't want lookers pushing furniture around on unprotected floors, possible scratching the floors. I've had some pretty serious damage done by lookers in a house I had for sale.

If you remove the rugs, put gliders under all the legs of all the furniture to hope to prevent scratching.

A serious buyer is going to want to see that the floor underneath is undamaged, but that can be dealt with during the inspection.

Personally, though, I like to remove anything that the buyers might possibly ask for. I wouldn't want an offer that said they will buy the house but only if the area rugs are included. I always remove my expensive pieces of furniture.

My son lost an expensive refrigerator in a sale. So now, he also removes anything of value that he doesn't want to be included in the sale of the house. If the buyer doesn't see it, they won't ask for it.

[Ted Bear]

Most realtors flip flop on issues from one moment to the next. Ask the same realtor the same question a few days apart and you are likely to get conflicting responses. Basically they tell you anything that happens to blabber out of their mouths.

It makes absolutely no difference whether you have the rugs in place or not. My own view is that they are part of the decoration, and while realtors will tell you that people are 'looking at the house, not the décor', I think that is bunk. If the place 'looks good', people are inherently more interested.

There was a lady on here a few days back who had a very nicely decorated house. Behind the décor was a very ordinary house (with steel railings inside the house-ugh). The way she had it decorated made it look really attractive, and welcoming to a buyer. People say they aren't buying your furniture, but it sure helps to make the place look more welcoming. Think about it, why does a 'model home' have furniture in it if they are trying to sell the bare bones?

Hmmmm.......people say one thing, but then they act in a completely different manner. Leave the rugs if they look good. With winter coming on, leave a place for people to take their shoes off, or put a plastic runner over the rugs by the entry so the winter slop doesn't get tracked across your nice rugs. (People are going to scream about that too.....let em; it really doesn't matter in the overall scheme of things).