Should I Replace Carpet Before Selling House? Pros and Cons of Cleaning vs Replacing Carpet When Selling a House

Homeowners are starting to put their homes on the market, and prospective buyers are starting to look. The real estate market is heating up, with homes selling quickly and for more than the asking price.

This is great if you're selling your house, but it means you have some competition if you want to get the most out of your house possible.

One quick thing you can do is address your carpet - but how do you decide between cleaning the carpet and replacing your carpet?

Cleaning vs replacing carpet before you move requires weighing several factors, including the carpet's condition, your budget, and your timeline for selling.

If your carpet is stained or damaged beyond repair, replacement might be the best option. But if you have a high-quality, stain-resistant carpet, it might be worth cleaning and maintaining rather than replacing.

A professional carpet cleaning can restore its appearance at a fraction of the cost of replacement.

Ultimately, balancing the carpet replacement costs and benefits of each option will help you make the best decision for your home sale.

How to Know If You Should Replace Your Carpet or Clean Your Carpet Before Selling

Before deciding whether to clean or replace your carpet, it's crucial to assess its current condition.

Look for visible signs of wear, such as stains, tears, or worn-down paths. Consider the age and overall quality of the carpet as well.

If your carpet is old, heavily stained, low-quality, dated, smelly, or damaged, it might be worth replacing to attract more buyers.

However, if it's still in roughly good shape, with only some minor stains, spots, or issues, a thorough professional cleaning could be all it needs. Schedule a professional carpet cleaning from Zerorez to get Insanely Clean Carpets® guaranteed!

How Clean Carpet Can Affect Home Value

Realtor.com suggests making your house as attractive as possible before trying to sell it.

Doing things like getting the clutter out of your house, cleaning out closets, and generally making things look more attractive in photographs can help you get the right buyers to look at your house.

Making minor updates to the home also helps tremendously: updating plumbing fixtures, lighting, and repainting rooms with a fresh coat of light and cheery colors can help you sell your home faster and for more money.

But what about the carpet? Should that get updated as well?

Why Cleaning Carpets Before Selling Matters

When it comes to selling your home, first impressions are everything. Real estate agents often emphasize the importance of a clean and well-maintained carpet, as it can increase your home's perceived value and attractiveness.

A stained carpet can be a major turn-off for potential buyers, and there are several reasons why.

Many buyers want a move-in-ready home so they can settle in fast. For that reason, dirty carpets can sway potential buyers' preferences in another direction, resulting in the loss of that sale or causing you to decrease the price to secure a buyer.

It's not uncommon to walk into an open house and think, "Wow, they didn't even clean it." And that thought can cloud the rest of the experience because cleanliness does matter when making a big investment like buying a new home.

Seeing a clean carpet with several years left also frees up the buyer's potential home improvement budget for other items they likely care more about.

A clean, well-maintained carpet suggests that the home overall has been well-maintained. A dirty, worn carpet can signify that the home has been neglected.

Beyond aesthetics, a clean carpet also eliminates unpleasant odors, creating a more welcoming environment for potential buyers.

So, before you list your home, make sure your carpet is spotless to leave a lasting, positive impression. Cleaning the carpet before selling is just a smart idea.

Is Replacing Carpets Necessary Before Selling a Home? Cost Analysis

The short answer is no, it's not necessary.

It's important to remember that most buyers aren't looking for a brand-new house, otherwise, they'd be talking to a builder.

New carpeting is expensive.

In order to get a proper cost estimate, calculate how many square feet of carpet your home has, as the size of your space can significantly impact the overall expense.

Take that square footage number and get some quotes from local carpet distributors.

For a decent carpet and padding, you can generally plan to spend at least $500 for a small bedroom and at least $1200 for the living room. If you have 3 bedrooms and a living room to carpet, that would be over $2700. But that likely doesn't account for labor and installation costs.

You will almost certainly not recoup that cost in the sale of the home. Even if you do, your buyer might end up swapping it out for another color or ripping it out and putting down hard flooring instead, so it's likely not worth the investment.

Plus, there is the cost of ripping out and disposing of the old carpet and potential subfloor repairs which can add significantly to the overall expense too.

Generally speaking, it is better to clean the carpet, as replacing the carpet doesn't really increase the home value (just the desirability of the home).

This is especially true from a cost perspective, as professional carpet cleaning costs as low as $109 for 3 rooms (depending on your location)!

You'd be surprised at what cleaning the carpet well can do to improve its looks, even if you think the old carpet is beyond being saved (just see our customer reviews!)

If a buyer asks about replacing the carpet, it might be worth giving them a small "carpet allowance" of $2000 or so. You'll likely still come out ahead as a replacement will likely be $3000-$5000 all in.

Lastly, if you are still living in your house while selling, replacing your carpet involves more disruption (e.g., the time required to select the carpet, moving all of the furniture somewhere else for 1-2 days) than it takes to deep clean your carpets (about 2 hours + moving some of the furniture).

A deep clean can make the carpet look great without having to inconvenience your life.

Benefits of a Professional Carpet Cleaning Company

Opting for carpet cleaning when moving out offers numerous benefits that go beyond what regular vacuuming can do. Professional services remove deep-seated dirt and grime, eliminate unpleasant odors, and extend the life of your carpet in one quick and easy appointment.

At Zerorez, we offer our very own Premium Fiber Protector to not only help you keep your carpets clean while you live in your home, but it will also protect your carpet from the dirt and grime that accumulates in high-traffic areas during open houses and walk-throughs.

Our Premium Fiber Protector is designed to keep dirt from getting ground in, making vacuuming more effective and helping your carpets clean up easier after a spill. This makes keeping the carpets clean easier for you and your future buyers, who will be thanking you when their carpets look pristine long after the sale.

Using specialized equipment and techniques, a professional carpet cleaning company like Zerorez can rejuvenate your carpet, making it look fresher and cleaner in the eyes of potential buyers.

Investing in professional cleaning before selling your home is a great way to maximize its market value.

For the best carpet cleaning services, schedule your next appointment with the experts at Zerorez!