When You House Shop.....

I do not like harwood floors. Sounds nice, but a pain in reality. Cold in the winter. Always dirty, streaky, scratched. Special cleaners, etc. Not a fan. I would buy the house with good carpet and tile. No wood.

I prefer carpet in bedrooms... keeps them warmer in the winter! Plus, it's a little extra padding in case little ones roll out of bed!

I hate the idea of carpet in a bathroom. Whose genius idea was that??? Talk about a breeding ground for mold/mildew.

I'm actually one who hates hardwood. I find it slippery and cold looking, so a home that had mostly hardwood would be out for us (my husband feels the same). Clean, good quality, comfortable carpet in a neutral color would win me over.

A house is so much more than just the flooring material, so for me the decision to buy or walk away wouldn't hinge solely on the flooring.

However understand you need to know how much you can take, meaning if you have to tear out carpet you never know what is underneath on the entire floor, can you handle the expense of installing new hardwood flooring, do the wood floors under the carpet need to be sanded and restained and can you afford it. how old is the carpet, do I have children that suffer from allergies?

I have lived in a place with all hard wood floors and another place where there was carpeting in just the bedrooms. My personal preferance is hardwoods because of the easy to clean factor. Right now I'm in a wall to wall carpeted place which I'm not thrilled about. I just know that carpet is housing some very foul beasties and they just won't go. Besides that I never feel as though the carpet is really clean.

It is really a matter of preference and you budget to make the house your home by adding the touches you love to it.

Personally I hate hardwood floors. We do take thing like that into consideration. It's not cheap and very disruptive to have to lay carpet once you move into the house. If we find a house with nice carpet that we like as much as one we find with hardwood we'd pick it over the one that needs work right from the get go.
We bought this house knowing we needed to do things to it and it was hard to enjoy the house. Within the first 4 months we had a loft bedroom wall filled in, replaced closet doors, replaced the carpet in the bathrooms with linoleum (bathrooms and kitchens are the only places I do not like carpet!) discovered that most of the sprinkler system was broken and had to begin digging up pipes to repair the leaks, found out the backyard turned into a swimming pool when it rained because of poor drainage...you get the idea. So next time, unless it is just the house of my dreams we're going to be a lot more picky about what "fix its" we feel it needs before we even move in.
Hardwood vs carpet is a hard thing to gauge. Some people like one or the other so you're never going to make everyone happy.

I call that cosmetic stuff...Its a project, but not like removing or adding walls. So no, none of that would phase me, I look for room size and sapes of rooms before floors and countertops and bathroom fixtures.

We found a home that has tons of carpet, but we love the design. I am planning on getting it steam cleaned and saving like crazy for laminate or wood flooring. I hate carpet, but it did not affect me buying this home.

Hardwood for me! I'd rip up all carpeting if there were hardwood underneath!

The only thing carpet wise that would turn me off is carpet in the bathrooms. I know people do it but it is just what the heck to me. I know it can be changed but if you do one thing that is strange to me what else have you done that I didn't notice yet.

With a toddler and a baby on the way, our preference is to get as much non-carpeted surface as possible. That being said, flooring is a relatively easy project so it's not a "dealbreaker."

How do you know if there is nice hardwood under the new carpet? Pulling up carpet is easy...

Carpet in the bedrooms only isn't a huge deal. If the rest of the house matched what I wanted, I would simply ask for an allowance or use the flooring as part of the bargaining process...

Flooring ranked very low on my list of things to consider when buying a home (3, so far). I tend to look at things like floor plan (the most important thing, in my book), the functionality of the kitchen, geography (is it in a flood plain, mud slide zone, rural, suburban, city, sun exposure), schools, neighborhood, and does it fit my budget. To me, things like paint, carpet or hardwood are either perks or move in projects, if I can afford it.

Happy house hunting!

I certainly would be more entertained and consider spending more money on a home with floors already, even if they were hidden.

I was amazed that when my in laws put their house on the market the realtor insisted they rip up the rug and finish the hardwoods that were underneath. They said No, but after months of 'no bites' they decided to listen to her and did it! It really looked fantastic after it was done and wouldn't you know it ....ONE week later they got an offer...... NOW not sure if they had seen the house w/ the carpet ~would that have changed their minds?? I think just know you had that option of the hardwoods underneath would be enough. Some people are So Picky - Cant please all the people all the time ;-)
Good Luck

for me, I hate carpet. I think it gets very dirty very fast and you can't just mop it up and vacuming just doesn't do the job well enough. So, for us, we have laminate wood floors on the main level, but upstairs is carpet. I don't mind carpet upstairs because we aren't up there all day long. Also if my kids fall off their bed, it's softer than hard floors. But, for the main level, I will take anything except for carpet

I would look at the house itself and not the finishes - those can all be changed, pricey, but it can be done. I love the hardwood that I have in my house (foyer, office, dining room) and carpet in the living room, stairs, and bedrooms. I would like more hardwood, but I also love the feel of carpet. However, like I said, in my next house, I will be more concerened with the house itself and take care of the finishes later on.

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Our current home has carpet and tile and with 2 cats (one with a sensitive stomach) and 2 kids, I hate this carpet! Our home is up for sale and the home we're buying has wood and tile, so I think it will be a lot easier to keep clean. I am a little worried that it will be very loud with the kids, but I think it looks a lot nicer and I know it will be easier to clean up after the menagerie that is our family and pets. Hope this helps.

Having a whole grip of boys, carpet for me please! Hardwood floors while beautiful are VERY loud! Maybe when the kids are all older and it's just me and the man, then maybe?

I think it's personal choice?

My husband and I hate carpeting. However, if the floors were a great hardwood, even if they might need to be sanded a bit (not totally redone) and in really great shape we would not write off the house. But if the floors were questionable, no go unless it was an absolute total dream fit with what we wanted. We would then reconsider the price though. If the main rooms were hardwood and only the bedrooms were carpeted, there really would not be any affect on our decision since (hopefully) food and the other stuff that really messes things up should not be in the bedroom anyway.

We were actually looking at houses a few months ago. One of the houses had this flooring in there that you could just tell the original floors were in awful shape and the new flooring was not good. Another house had carpet everywhere, even in the bathroom (ewww!) and the floors squeaked like crazy so wrote that one off immediately.

I love hardwood floors, but I also love a cozy place to sit and play with my kids. We had hardwood floors installed in our new home throughout our entire downstairs, except for the family room. We put in great carpet there and are very pleased with our decision! We also installed the same carpet throughout the entire upstairs. Looks awesome.

Before we moved in, the previous homeowners had different colored carpet throughout the ENTIRE house!! Yikes! Umm, yeah, that had to go! It was the biggest eyesore of the house, so we had it all ripped out the very same day we moved in. And don't get me started on the 15 yr old linoleum floor......

We moved last August from a completely hardwood home but for the kitchen and baths to a home that has no hardwoods and has carpet EVERYWHERE. I hate carpet. But the home sets on a great one acre lot in an awesome area so I don't have any regrets at all.
We also had a crawl space under the old house and I noticed that we lost tons of cool air escaping through the floors. So we are saving alot of money this summer. Also carpet holds in the heat in the winter, another plus. I do plan on pulling it up when it gets used up but for now, it's not really bothering me too much. As for refinishing hardwoods, it can be done but does take some time to do. It really ended up not being such a big deal to me.
Happy house hunting,
C.

My husband and I are big into home renovations, so we wouldn't pay much attention to the floors. We would just make it how we want it after we moved in. I've lived in all-carpet in my last house, and now live in all hard-surface floors (mix of hardwood, laminate, and tile) and prefer the hard surfaces by far.
That being said, I've thought before that it would be nice if our bedrooms were carpeted. Hardwood is noisy, especially in an older home like ours!! And we have area rugs in the bedrooms anyway, so why not carpet?

I have alot of hardwood in my house and hate it. But it is the kind they put in new homes that is varnished at the factory. It is almost impossible to make look nice. My old house had the old fashioned hardwoods that we had resanded and they looked amazing! And they were pretty easy to keep clean. So I would find out what kind of hardwood is underneath it. If it is the old kind I would pull up the carpet and redo it.

IMO the bedrooms should be carpet. I hated having hardwood bedrooms. Also the kitchen should definitely not be carpeted. I would definitely not like an all carpeted house. And unless it was brand new I would probably replace carpet within the first year I bought a house so I could have fresh.

Our entire rental house is TILE!!! NO carpet at all! We went over to a relatives who just bought a house and my poor 8 yo son just rolled around on their carpet and kept saying how he loved it and when we buy a home he hopes it has carpet! So I would like carpets in the bedrooms, Maybe one of the living/family rooms and the rest either tile or hardwood. Good luck!