If you are planning to sell your home, it is a good idea to make changes to appeal to buyers. Many prospective homeowners want a turnkey solution and are not willing to make their own updates, especially if something promises to be expensive. Nobody knows better than real estate agents what home buyers are and are not interested in spending money on. A recent poll of real estate professionals identified six types of flooring that have lost their appeal.
1. Carpet
Carpet has limited utility in homes. It cannot, or should not, go anywhere where it might be exposed to water, such as the kitchen or the bathroom. Nevertheless, it has been pretty ubiquitous in living rooms and bedrooms, valued for its softness and sound-dampening qualities.
Still, carpet has disadvantages, as most types of flooring do. It is prone to staining and difficult to keep clean. It can harbor germs and allergens, and synthetic carpets can give off volatile organic compounds. Because of issues like these, some homebuyers have decided that carpet is more trouble than it is worth.
2. Ceramic Tile
It is not so much that ceramic tile as a whole is out and more that a certain type of ceramic tile is rising to prominence among types of flooring. Rectified porcelain produces a look that is clean and virtually seamless. The grout line is virtually nonexistent following installation because of the cut of the tiles. Rectified porcelain tiles can mimic the look of natural stone with a matte finish, while glossy porcelain tiles, once popular, have fallen out of favor. Glossy tiles on a floor may also present a slipping hazard, while a matte finish can have slip-resistant properties, though this is something you may have to request specifically.
3. Gray Floors
For the better part of a decade, neutral colors were popular in home decor, including gray. The color's popularity extended to different types of flooring. However, gray floors appear to have had their moment, and homeowners seem ready to move on. The trend seems to be toward warmer colors.
4. Espresso-Colored Hardwoods
For a while, hardwood floors that were so dark brown as to be almost black were popular. However, the trend towards light and warm types of flooring has affected these dark hardwoods as well, and now they are falling out of fashion. It is harder to create a color scheme that ties an entire room together with darker brown shades. Lighter shades offer many more possibilities.
5. Saturnia Marble
In the early 2000s, Mediterranean-style homes were popular, and the yellowish tone of saturnia marble was the finishing touch in many of them. While the trend had a good run, it appears to be on the way out. Homebuyers are now looking for wider and cleaner types of flooring, such as wide-plank white oak floors from Europe or porcelain in lighter shades.
6. Hardwood
Hardwood is kind of a special case. It has a timeless beauty that will never go entirely out of style. However, it can be difficult to take care of because of the unfortunate tendency of wood to react to atmospheric changes in humidity or temperature.
Nevertheless, there are types of flooring available that provide the traditional beauty of hardwood with fewer maintenance difficulties. For example, engineered hardwood is a veneer of genuine hardwood on top of several layers of more serviceable wood. This makes it more durable and prevents it from warping. Engineered hardwood has a sketchy reputation because in the past it was a cheaply made, low-quality option. However, there are now high-quality engineered hardwoods available that have thick wear layers that stand up to traffic and can even be sanded as needed.
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