Should we put in wooden floors when we rent our house?

M

micamaca

Registered User
Messages
259
Hallo there,

we are hoping to move abroad for a number of years, possibly for good. We have a mortgage on our family home with a tracker mortgage.

We would like to sell the house but are looking at losing up to 100k on what we paid for the house in 2006... I'm taking estate agent fee and 10k stamp duty into this equation. So we think we will rent for a few years and see what happens.

We are debating whether to put wooden floors in downstairs. There is an old shabby and badly stained carpet in the living-room/sitting room/hallway. My husband wants to put in semi-solid wooden floors so the property would be ready to sell if needs be. My husband would fit the floors himself, so we would just be paying about 800 euro for the cost of the floors themselves. Others say you shouldn't put money into the house until you are going to sell it.

Should we take the plunge and put in semi-solid wooden floors now? Or just before we sell..whenever that might be. Reading posts about renting houses, I am more tempted than ever to put it on the market!

What do you think?

cheers, mica
 
Mica I can only say if it was me I would rent out the house rather than sell it if you can afford it taking into account that you will have to cover the mortgage when it is unoccupied. You will be taking a big hit by selling it now and I know there wont be any pick up on house prices in the near future but you don't know what the situation will be like when you come back to this country also if things dont work out you wont have burnt all your bridges here. I also think the wooden floors are a great idea if you are renting I have a couple of places rented out and I have wooden floors (just cheap laminate) on all the properties as they always look clean and easier to clean in between tenants.

I'm sure others will have other opinions on this in a way it's a very personal decision depending on your circumstances.
 
Hi Hans,

thanks for your reply. I suppose we will have to chance renting the house out before we decide we're not up to the task. It's a lot of money to be down and would take a long time to earn ourselves.

Thank you for the advice. I was afraid wooden floors would be damaged by tenants, but I suppose carpet could be damaged too. My husband wants to put down semi-solid so that it can be sanded if someone does to damage.

And you are right of course about not burning bridges here too. If we did have to come back, it would be a much easier transition back to a house we actually own, rather than trying to find something to rent from abroad. It would perhaps be the easier option to sell, but possibly not the best one. So wooden floors it is then for now and courage required for the rest.

thanks Hans for the reply :)

mica
 
If you think your carpet is stained now . . ..
I'd leave the carpet as it is, with a mind to replacing it at a later date. See how the first lot of tenants get on with you and it. You can always replace it later if they move out. Wooden flooring is cheap in the likes of B&Q, Ikea, etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top