The Flooring Mistake That Could Cost You Big Bucks If You Plan To Sell

Doing upgrades in a home is often one of the first steps a homeowner takes after buying their house — or one of the first steps they take as they're preparing to sell it. It can be tempting to push for fancy new fixtures or features before a sale because the nicer the home is, the more likely it is to sell for big bucks, right? Not necessarily. 

When it comes to updates like flooring, sometimes the bougiest isn't the best. Your big improvement could cost you money in the long run, according to Ohio real estate agent Melissa Yocum. "I always look at the comps in the area and try to guide my sellers from there," Yocum told Realtor.com. "It doesn't do any good to put marble in a $120,000 house, because you're going to drive it past your price point." 

Swapping dated linoleum for sleek, heavy-duty marble could be a tempting choice if you have the cash to do it. But that doesn't mean you should, especially if you won't recoup the costs of selling the home. Marble flooring, just the average options, will run you between $10 to $20 per square foot. If we consider the low end of an average bedroom size at 200 square feet and assume the marble will run between the averages at $15 per square foot, that's, at minimum, a $3000 investment in a single room. That doesn't include the other installation materials or the cost of labor, either. 

Don't get us wrong, flooring updates can add huge value to a home when it's time to sell. It's just a matter of being pragmatic over pricey. Especially if you want to sell a more dated home, replacing that living room shag carpeting could help you out. Instead, swapping dated or broken flooring with practical choices like laminate, vinyl, or hardwood is often the way to go. Versatility and price are things to consider when buying new floors.

However, some practical flooring choices can still make it harder to sell your home. Though hardwood is the most expensive of these value-adding options, it is also considered by some experts to be the optimal choice for new floors in a soon-to-be-sold house. "Details sell homes, and floors are top among them," Elizabeth Daly at Sotheby's International Realty Los Feliz Brokerage told Martha Stewart. "In my experience, the cost of hardwoods delivers a $4 return for every $1 spent in terms of sales price. One hundred ways to Sunday, it is worth a seller spending the extra money to install hardwoods." 

Granted, the average cost of long-lasting hardwood floors is $3-$13 per square foot. Assuming 200 square feet again at the median of $8, the total of $1600 for just the flooring materials doesn't sound so bad compared to marble.