80% of estate agents surveyed by the National Wood Taite Floor Association agree that installing wood floors increases home value by 1% – 10%. For example, the value of a £250,000 property would increase to between £257,500 – £275,000. Furthermore, 12% of the estate agents surveyed agree an even larger increase in value is likely.
Increase Buyer Appeal – Low Maintenance
The average thickness of a high quality solid wood floor is 3/4 of an inch. This type of floor can be sanded and refinished up to ten times over its life. Depending on the frequency and the roughness of footfall that the floor can expect to encounter during the course of everyday home activities, it would not be unreasonable to expect a solid wood floor to survive a period of around 10 years before maintenance was required. For most people, this means that a reasonably new solid wood floor will last for a lifetime.
Potential homeowners are not the only people likely to be attracted by the low cost longevity of a solid wood floor. Landlords are aware that flooring in rented properties is just as susceptible to spillages and general wear and tear as a private property, meaning that any carpeted areas will come at a maintenance cost of complete renewal at a rate of at least every 5-10 years. A solid wood floor is therefore an attractive prospect as spillages are easily cleaned and any damage can generally be dealt with by refinishing or replacing individual boards. These DIY quick fixes can also be carried out cheaply when compared to the cost of hiring carpet fitters.
Solid Wood Floors – Appeal to the Majority
Potential buyers are in search of added extras that meet their tastes. Any bonus features in a home that are fully installed and fully functional at the point of sale represent a valuable time saver – relocating to a new property comes with major demands on the renovation efforts required to meet the buyer’s needs, and any shortcuts in terms of purchasing a property that comes complete with desirable hardwood flooring, for example, are generally seen as deal boosters.
You can ensure that your choice of wood floor serves to increase the resale value of your home by carefully choosing certain aspects of the wood floor so as to maximise the appeal to as wide an audience as possible. This could mean selecting neutral colours that blend effortlessly with the decor and lighting fixtures. The buyer will not need to necessarily retain the floor in this condition – the added versatility of a lighter wood floor simply means that any potential buyer who desires a darker tone can apply a finish to achieve this outcome and will therefore not be put off from purchasing the property. The same cannot be said of a darker wood floor, such as cherry, which cannot be made to appear lighter in tone and in fact will naturally darken even more with age. Paying attention to these details can maximise the appeal of your home.
Wood Floors – Calculating Resale Value
Calculating the resale value of your property once fitted with a wood floor is not an exact science. The age of the floor, its condition, the suitability in relation to the current heating solutions, and the light or dark tone in relation to the existing decor and fixings can all affect the realistic asking price. However, the National Wood Taite Floor Association has collated feedback from real estate agents on the beneficial effects that a wood floor can have on increasing the value of your home.
The National Wood Taite Floor Association study revealed an overwhelmingly convincing 99% of the real estate agents surveyed agreed that the presence of a hardwood floor serves to boost the listed price of a property. Of this number, 82% gave a clear indication that they were able to sell a property with a hardwood floor within a much smaller time frame as opposed to the time usually taken to secure a buyer for a property with carpeted floors. A quicker sale is beneficial to the vendor as this usually results in a small bidding war where a group of interested buyers will attempt to outbid each other, often exceeding the asking price.
Calculating the resale value – Now let’s look at a real world example. The average new build listing in the UK is around £250,000. As we have touched on briefly above, a huge 80% of the estate agents that took part in the survey estimated that the addition of a hardwood floor increased the value of the property by between 1% and 10%, while a fairly sizeable 12% of the remaining estate agents estimated that the presence of a hardwood floor increased the sale price by more than 10%. This means that installing a hardwood floor will increase the value of the £250,000 property by up to £275,000, with 12% of vendors agreeing a likely increase in value in excess of this number. This significant increase in market value makes hardwood floors a cost-effective home investment.
Contact Us…
Contact Discount Taite Floor Depot today for expert advice and opinions on wood flooring and discover the huge range of available options that could help you to increase the resale value of your home or rental property. Our expert members of staff have many years of valuable experience in supporting our customers on their journey from assessing the most suitable type of wood flooring, through to securing a great a deal on installation from local tradespeople.
Remember, you will need to consider whether your home or rental property has a solid under floor concrete base or whether your property has suspended flooring. This will help to determine which type of insulation and underlay will be most suitable in helping you to lay a solid wood floor that will increase the value of your home.
For more information, contact us today on 0161 641 9996 or visit the website homepage to request a callback. We look forward to hearing from you – we’ll help you to select and install solid wood flooring with true visual and practical appeal that’s sure to boost your resale value.