Get Home Sellers to Drop Their Asking Price
If you’re in the market for a new home, you’re about to make the biggest single purchase most people will ever make in their lives. To ensure it’s not also the single biggest mistake you’ll ever make, it’s important to arm yourself with as much information as possible about home buying. Especially when it’s time for the negotiation process. Since you found this article, you’re doing what you can to educate yourself before you close. Hopefully, you’re educating yourself before you even start shopping.
The average American now stays in their home for about 13.5 years. That means by the time they retire, most homeowners will have closed on about five houses (three bought, two sold).
By comparison, the average real estate agent in the United States closes on about 10 real estate transactions per year. That’s double the number of closings that most Americans experience in their entire lives. Why does this matter? Because we learn from experience, but most homebuyers never get the experience required to get the most out of their real estate transactions. The more you know before you buy a home, the better prepared you will be to advocate for yourself to get the best deal possible. We’re here to help you have some negotiation strength before you start browsing Zillow.
Remember, if you’re not willing to walk away, you can’t negotiate.
Most homebuyers and agents assess the same small set of features to see if any costly repairs or replacements will need to be made soon. Roofs, siding and HVAC units are all on everyone’s checklist because those items are often the most expensive ones to repair.
The thing many home buyers and their agents often overlook is one of the most obvious features of a home, the floors. Replacing a flooring can be a costly, complicated, enormous project, and home buyers who don’t properly evaluate the condition of the floors may end up living in a construction site right after they move.
As part of the home buying process, you will eventually hire a licensed home inspector to evaluate every aspect of the property, including the flooring. Even still, you can gauge the condition and potential longevity of a home’s floors yourself by looking at just a few key details. Best of all, you can do this before even deciding whether or not to make an offer.
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How to Tell When a Floor Needs Replacement
Your first impression of a home’s flooring will come just from walking around and touring the property.
- Does it squeak?
- Does it give way beneath your weight in any spots?
- Does it feel solid when you plant your foot on it?
If you notice these obvious signs of disrepair the problem may be deeper than the flooring itself, possibly even structural to the house. Give the floors a visual look-over while you’re walking around. Any defects visible from a standing position are sure to indicate even worse problems when you examine them more closely.
If you do notice problems, or even if everything looks fine, but you want a closer look, don’t be afraid to get on your hands and knees. Your agent won’t make fun of you (to your face anyway). Check corners and walls to make sure that molding is flush and caulked. Inspect seams on hardwood and hardwood-inspired floors to make sure they’re even and flush. In tiled rooms, make sure all the pieces of the floor meet up at the right angles and create a smooth, even surface.
Notice whether there are any scratches, gouges or chips taken out of any parts of the floor. It’s far easier to spackle over damaged walls and ceilings than it is to cover up damaged floors. Pay special attention to the grout lines on tiled floors. Are they uniform in color, or do there appear to be stains in certain areas? Faulty grout can lead quickly to tiles becoming dislodged, then result in a total floor replacement.
There’s always the possibility you’ll uncover more catastrophic problems, such as rotten subfloors, buckled/warped hardwood planks, or missing grout. If you do discover anything this severe, consider them deal breakers and continue elsewhere in your home search.
Let’s say you’ve inspected all of the flooring, and it looks ok to you. There’s one more area you’ll want to check out, especially in older homes that have gone through several updates and renovations: thresholds.
Check the threshold areas in between rooms to determine whether the floors are level with one another or if some floors appear more elevated than others. Sometimes in an effort to save a buck, homeowners and/or contractors will lay new floor atop existing floor and install a step up transition. If that’s the case, you’re going to have a major headache waiting for you if you ever decide to replace the floors and you want to do it the right way, meaning that flooring must be stripped down to the subfloor before installing the new flooring.
If everything about the house is perfect for you, but you’ve discovered flooring issues and feel some or all of the floors are going to need replacement, the next step is to estimate the costs of replacement, and use those numbers to negotiate a lower selling price.
Average Flooring Replacement Costs
- Hardwood: $6-$25 per square foot
- Tile: $15+ per square square foot
- Engineered Hardwood: $4-$16 per square foot
- LVP Luxury Vinyl Plank and Luxury Vinyl Tile: $2-$10 per square square foot
- Laminate: $3-$10 per square square foot
*Please note that flooring costs vary widely depending on materials chosen, the condition of existing flooring, and the scope of the project.
The Takeaway
When buying a house, you’ll have to live with your decision for years to come. When you find a property you love, your objective should be to make it beautiful and make it yours as soon as possible so you can enjoy your home fully during the 13.5 or so years you’ll be living there.
Can’t decide what kind of flooring is perfect for you? Check out our guides for Tile, Luxury Vinyl, and Natural Wood flooring. Ready for a hassle-free quote with a pricing guarantee? Call or email FM Pro Remodeling today for a free consultation. FM Pro Remodeling has been flooring and remodeling Kentuckiana for over 30 years. Our certified installers have the ingenuity and know-how to assist you in choosing the perfect floors for your home. Don’t take matters into your own hands—let us guide your next project.
