In most any room, walls- all vertical surfaces, including windows-make up the largest  surface area, followed by floors.  Depending on the quality of the product and wear it’s received, 8 to 10 years is an expected life span for most broadloom.

WHYOHWHYOHWHY do sellers wring their hands, whine and gnash their teeth when the Realtor and Stager suggest replacing carpet from the last millenium?

Here are ten reasons there is no reason to keep old carpet:

-Old carpet-and old padding-retains odors and allergens from stains long dried, pets long gone, and former smokers.

-It can be so reasonable. Many carpet stores now stock rolls of nice, neutral carpet for just this purpose. This means qui

ck delivery and a better price. 

-Old padding breaks down after a while, especially in high traffic spots-which makes that part of carpet wear faster.

-New padding of the the highest quality is a mere pittance (about $3.50 a square yard in our area). It is so  luxurious, and provides sound-deadening benefits to the rest of the house.

-Buyers will often over-estimate what it will take to replace icked-out old carpet, which sets the stage to arm-wrestle about an allowance…just what you’re looking for.

-It is the quickest and easiest way to deal with flooring issues-no dust/fumes/drying time…you will also know for sure what condition the wood floors are in.

-The crud that blows out of  HVAC vents just does not clean up, no matter what anyone tells you.  Really. Trust me.

-If you are decluttering and moving furniture around, traffic patterns, stains and fading become more apparent with less to look at.

-Even if it’s in good shape, outdated colors or styles suggest  to buyers that other things in the house are outdated as well…perhaps they need to look harder??

-In New York State,  it’s allowed as a cost of selling the home, taken as a deduction against the profit when the house sells.

An 11 x 15 room will need about 20 square yards of carpet, even at a padded/measured/installed reasonable to generous price of $35.00 a yard, it’s less than $750.00 ..one fifth…of one percent…of the price of a $400K house.   What part of that does not sound like a great idea??