Families want carpet or hardwood in bedrooms?

[Brie Schmidt]

I have a SFH in North Center that I am dong some updates to as we are planning on selling it in the next few months. The main floor has 5 inch oak stained dark, there is a front and back staircase going to the upstairs which is currently carpet. From what we understand the top floor has maple floors in good condition under the carpet in the 4 bedrooms.

Because of the school district we are in and the 4+ bedrooms in the house I am assuming a family will be purchasing our house.  Our options are:

1 - carpet the top floor and front and back staircases down to the main floor in a nice carpet.  This will not be very disruptive to our personal lives as we can move things from room to room as the carpet gets done

2 - refinish the maple floors and stain dark (which requires talent) so it will be the same color throughout both levels of the house, but different wood types.  The back staircase is not hardwood underneath so that would need to be new.  We would need to move everything in the 4 bedrooms down to the main floor while this is being done and because we have dogs, it would probably be two weeks before we can move everything back and resume our normal lives.   

Obviously option 1 is better for us logistically, but we want to sell it for top dollar so hardwood would be better.  But would a family prefer carpet in the bedrooms?  I am torn!