I'm selling my house, why should I clean the carpet?

It is the time of year when homeowners start putting their homes on the market- and when prospective buyers start looking. In Boise right now, the real estate market is heating up, with homes selling quickly, and for more than what the asking price is. This can be good for you, if you’re selling your house, but that also means you have some competition if you want to get the most out of your house possible.

Realtor.com suggests making your house as attractive as possible before trying to sell it- doing things like getting the home out of your house, cleaning out closets, and making things look more attractive 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 to light, cheery colors can help you sell your home faster, and for more.

But what about carpet? Shouldn’t that get changed as well?

In my experience, and in working with realtors for the last 15 years, I’ve come to the conclusion that unless your carpet is in really bad shape, cleaning it is sufficient to maximize your profit. Most buyers aren’t looking for a brand new house- otherwise they’d be talking to a builder instead of you, but they do want to be able to move into the house quickly, and they want it clean. Having recently purchased a home, the first thing my wife said when we got the keys and walked in the first time was “they didn’t even bother to clean it.” Not looking at anything else, the cleanliness is what caught her eye. Your prospective buyer will think the same thing. Cleaning the carpet and the tile or linoleum is a great way to help give the impression the home is clean.

Well, why don’t I just replace the carpet? you may ask. Carpet is expensive- I just had it laid in my house (most people replace their carpet with hardwood- we covered our hardwood with carpet… go figure!) and even though I got a FANTASTIC deal, it was still very expensive. You can figure, for a decent carpet, to spend at least $500 for a small bedroom, and at least $1200 for the living room. You will almost certainly not recoup that cost in the sale of the home, and even if you did, you picked the wrong color for your buyer. It is better to clean the carpet, and if the buyer asks, give them a small “carpet allowance.” You may spend $5000 replacing the carpet and the price stays the same (replacing the flooring doesn’t increase the value…), or you can give a $2000 allowance and come out ahead $3000!

If you will still be living in your house while you are trying to sell, you also have to contend with your furniture and life- replacing carpet requires moving everything out of the house, while cleaning can make the carpet look great without having to inconvenience your life. You’d be surprised at what cleaning the carpet well can do to improve its looks, even if you think the carpet is beyond being saved.

Odors are also an important aspect for buyers- when we looked at the house we bought, the owners were painting so all we could smell was the paint. The first thing I noticed when I walked in the door was the smell of cat and dog pee coming from the one room of carpet we had. I may be a little hypersensitive to that odor, but it stood out like a sore thumb to me. Because of my profession, dirty floors aren’t a big deal to me, but if I didn’t work with Zerorez, pet smells would be a big turnoff to me as a buyer. As we live in our homes, our noses adapt to our environment, and we become smell blind to our odors- all houses have an odor, but because we are in it all the time, we become accustomed to the smells, and it doesn’t bother us, but I guarantee your buyer will notice it. Cleaning the carpet is a great way to help get those odors out of the carpet.

I can see the reasons why to clean the carpet, but why should I have it protected as well? That is a great question! You are about to spend some money getting your carpet to look great, smell great, and be fresh for your buyers. I may be wrong, but we are trying to save money here, right? Protecting the carpet with Zerorez Premium Fiber Protector does just that- it protects the carpet. While designed to keep dirt from getting ground in, it makes vacuuming much more effective, so your daily maintenance is that much better, and your carpets will stay clean looking much longer. And if you are still living in your house, spills will happen. Protectors help the stain cleanup, keeping the investment in cleaning the carpet far more effective than if you had just had the carpets cleaned. Not to mention realtors walking in with their lattes and potential buyers tromping though your home- protector makes absolute sense if you are trying to sell your home and want to keep it looking great as long as possible.

Professionally cleaning and protecting your carpet when you are trying to sell your house just makes sense. At Zerorez Boise, we are here to help you maximize your profit, and get the most out of your house. Give us a call to see how we can help you sell your house faster and make more profit!