Another vote for keeping hardwood floors and if they are light, keep them light - a new owner can choose to make darker if they like but more work to strip down to light again.
What I personally DON’T like is the current trend we’ve seen in houses (S is buying a first home) of grey stained hardwood or new hardwood or hardwood like laminate that is grey. Grey EVERYWHERE in some of these homes!!
“my RE agent mom’s contention that classic flooring is classic for a reason. The flooring is still beautiful.”
Totally agree. I was thinking of classic Scandinavian style when I first mentioned light vs dark floors. The Scandi look has been hot lately but I think it is also timeless in the right home.
Not a fan of all the gray.
Shellfell. If they are wood garage doors, can you stain them, the easiest option? (Or are they painted already?)
I’d paint any day for resale rather than replace, unless you are talking a very high end home. It just is not a high dollar return item.
1000 feet of hardwood would be expensive. I did that once, using seconds, but had to go through it all and throw away about 25-30% of the material. It still saved me a lot of money and the house showed great. Get an independent installer with great reviews and pay him yourself, instead of going through the flooring store. I disagree with ever giving any discount for flooring. Just price it correctly to begin with, instead of dealing with escrowed funds.
First off, I’m a Landscape Designer. That being said, Curb Appeal is Everything when selling a house ! You’ve got to bring attention to the front of your house to get the attention of the people who are driving by or looking on the internet. Repaint the trim on the exterior of your house, it will brighten the look. Colorful pots of flowers by the front door and around your mailbox( if separated by front door) bring color. Mulch bare areas of ground. Remove garden “clutter”, i.e. sculpture ,windmills ,decorative bunnies etc. Interior of house, remove all family pictures,clutter ,expensive perfumes, prescription medicines and anything valuable. Have house professionally cleaned. Put out several dishes of wrapped candy hard or with caramel. Believe it or not , people will hang out longer in your house if you offer them a piece of hard candy ! Have all your lights on in the house when you have both a Realtors tour and open house. Have either Classical Music or Soft Jazz music playing in the back ground during open house. Set your kitchen table with either a table cloth or runner and have 2 place settings out. Fresh flowers should be placed in all the rooms. We did all of this and sold our house in 2 days 75k over asking in a down market ! Another idea is to go and visit a new housing tract that is still selling new homes. Take pictures of what the Designers have done to the model homes to get ideas.
In our housing market, hardwood floors are desirable. We have them on our whole first floor except the entry foyer and powder room which have ceramic tile. I would suggest going with hardwood on the whole first floor (except foyer and powder room), including the kitchen.
My last three houses have had full first floor hardwood, and it looks great and is easily cared for.
All it takes is one buyer. And you found them, scvamom. There just may be fewer in some markets, to begin with.
This may be odd, but I hate the look of a tablecloth in home listings. If it’s a nice table, show it off. If it’s not, a piece of fabric won’t hide that. Most people can’t do great things with their tablecloths. I’ve even seen not crisp and unevenly hung, so one side is longer.
Sorry. They’re fine for entertaining.
@svcamom I’m so glad to hear landscaping is a good investment - we are having ours redone beginning next week 
I would walk straight out of an open house with soft jazz playing - I HATE jazz!
My H is a broker and when I used to do open houses with him, the thing was to put apples and cloves in the microwave to make a nice smell around the house. We never played music at our OH’s - we wanted to be able to hear what the prospective buyers were whispering to each other. Consequently, when H and I were house hunting, we wrote notes to each other. Nowadays, we would probably text. You don’t want the seller to know what you are thinking, especially if you love the house!
I am hoping to sell my house as an as is. It’s an older house in okay condition but in an area that has gone up, up , up in value. I could probably get almost double what I paid without doing much other than finishing the kitchen and bathroom that are half done.
One thing is to make sure you empty the house well before you really need to. H and I have spent a couple of days helping friends whose closing is on Friday finish emptying their home of 30+ years. H finally convinced them to allow the freebie hunters in today and most of the stuff is now gone. He said that he and S17 arrived at their house and overheard them fighting so vociferously that they were afraid to go in. When they finally did go in, the two of them were having a meltdown. These are Ivy educated people with advanced degrees who are close to 70 years old fighting about whether or not to take a wrapping paper holder with them to their new home! Don’t let this be you!
@techmom99 - that makes two of us! I hate soft jazz.
Re: landscaping. Just don’t overdo it. Nothing elaborate, just a few basic bushes and other plants. Most buyers can’t tell a difference between a Japanese maple from HD and rare varieties of Japanese maples. HD or Lowe’s quality plants will do. Something green and cheerful and as low maintenance as possible.
“These are Ivy educated people with advanced degrees who are close to 70 years old fighting about whether or not to take a wrapping paper holder with them to their new home!”
But of course it wasn’t about the wrapping paper holder, just the straw that broke the camel’s back. 
If you want to take the smart advice on purging, join the group here:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1599005-the-bag-a-week-club.html
Of course, you are right. They are both high strung and this is difficult for them. H and I have known this couple for over 30 years. They are lovely, generous people but… The upshot was that they tried to get me to take the wrapping paper holder, but I refused. A “freegan” ultimately took it.
H just got back from another trip over there to bring back some things we are taking. Now, they are fighting over the stuffed animals and puzzles.
Regarding concessions for big items like the floor, talk to your real estate agent about what the banks in your area allow. At one point banks wouldn’t allow concessions of more than a couple of thousand dollars because some buyers were just pocketing the money. My point: sometimes concessions don’t work and won’t have value to the buyer.
In our area, you’d net more by doing the work beforehand because buyers don’t want the hassle factor. Ask your broker what will work better in your area.
IMO, I think it’s important to look at all of the flooring in your house and make sure you aren’t using too many types. You don’t want your house to be choppy. You want the flooring to flow from room to room.
We keep a table cloth on our table…because we have a kitty who would leave scratches on it. The table isn’t for sale…and we make sure the cloth is clean white, crisp linen…
Lol, thumper, its in the listing pics that bugs me. Or during a showing.
After looking at photos of houses for sale, I’ve been amazed at the sellers who don’t use a professional photographer, or don’t make any changes in the house (garish paint colors, etc) or don’t stage their rooms at all. Most do these things, but the ones that don’t are glaring. We’ll be doing all those things - why leave something to chance?
It all depends on the area. Here in Seattle an outhouse propped up with a coupe of 2x4s will start a bidding war if priced under $500k.
I too am really surprised by the number of sellers in my area who appear to have been utterly surprised that their realtor arrived to take pictures. Sinks full of dirty dishes, toys strewn about, dirty clothes all over the floor, unmade beds, and yards that look like they are either a kickball field or a hay field. This is not a super hot area nor are there any bidding wars.
Sometimes the homes could have renters. Kind of hard to make renters clean up for the photos.
Then maybe they aren’t ready to sell, or not in a way that maximizes profit.
Our market is certainly not hot like Seattle or other parts of the country, so you’d think people would do something to make their house inviting. It’s also obvious that some realtors use professional photos while others don’t.