[quote=FlyerInHi]BG, go with the milled matching wood. The extra money is worth it.
A house is much nicer when there’s flow from room to room. A house that looks piecemeal is kind of unattractive.
I like wood that is laid then sanded and finished for a smooth surface without the seams.[/quote]
I agree, and that is how my existing wood floor is … very professionally done.
I’d have to see how much it will all cost and try to figure potential resale value against that additional cost. Of course, I wouldn’t lose money, regardless, but don’t want to spend money, unnecessarily, either, if I end up selling. My house is very nice, as are several other major remodels around here. However, we still have longtime rental homes and other homes (mostly occupied by low-income “heirs”) around here which I feel drag down the value of pride-of-ownership homes.
Many prospective homebuyers in the +/-$500K range today are sensitive to a neighborhood’s first impression while driving thru it, even though it is a good neighborhood. This keeps them from asking their agent to view the inside of the property. Of course, +/- $500K is still close to an “entry-level” price point for a SFR in SD County so I’ve never understood how this group feels they can afford to be so “picky.” But most are, thus they are still renters.
OR, this group ends up buying a condo/PUD (with MR/HOA dues) in a complex which “looks” better from the street but they actually own nothing but maybe a small fenced-in patio and are encumbered with the above (substantial) expenses for the length of their ownership. Go figure :=0
Here’s another quickie flipper listing I got in my e-mail this morning … a price reduction of $5K.
It’s located on a nice, tidy street (walk to ALL within 5-8 minutes incl a HUGE outdoor shopping mall). The well-built homes in this ‘hood originally had 2.5″ solid red oak floors. The flipper likely purchased it in July from a seller who didn’t quite get all of the permits (or signoffs) they should have gotten from the city for a “complete remodel” they embarked upon at one point (but never quite completely finished?). Now we have a flipper still mightily attempting to get $135K over what they paid for it two months ago. They obviously used the cheapest (with visible plastic ridges, lol) “engineered laminate” flooring planks they could scare up to install here (probably for $1 or less per sf). Thus, they got the flooring (materials only w/tax) for ~$2K instead of the $7K it would have cost them ($8k if they would have done the stairs) had they used solid wood prefinished 2.25″ red oak planks from Lumber Liquidators (i.e. Durawood or Bellawood). And of course, their installation cost was much, much less for this “plasticesque” floor.
The floor in this listing just screams “cheap” and “daycare center” and looks horrible in the fairly large living/dining area and I feel that the decision to install it was a travesty. However, flippers are business people. They probably figured they couldn’t recover the cost of the materials/installation for solid hardwood floors to match the ‘hood, since it appears they just replaced the windows, front door, cabinets, granite, appls, fixtures, etc . . . even “painted” the plywood stairs, lol.
I have a lot more than $135K in equity in my home (and yes, I DO have the signed-off white paper and the detailed original architectural plans for my home). We’ll see what happens with this listing, which illustrates my dilemma pretty well. The OP here should take note NOT to “over-improve” for the neighborhood he/she will purchase into or has just purchased into … even if the improvement is just to restore the property to its original finish level … especially since he/she bought at today’s prices.
Do SD County Gen Y buyers (those looking for a family-sized SFR in the $500K range) really CARE if the floor is real or fake?? Not sure ……. h@ll, maybe that’s the least of their concerns :=0
