Carpet of vinyl for appraisal purposes!

[Taylor Holden]

Hey all!

I'm just starting my first BRRRR.

I bought a great house from the foreclosure sale. It’s just cosmetically ugly. I was figuring on painting everything and laying all new floors as it has some ugly blue 80’s carpet in it.

I had another more seasoned investor come look at the property with me. He's never BRRRR'd so as he see it's the house is already fit for a renter.

I personally want to get the highest appraisal possible.

He told me that everything that was already ugly carpet would get me a higher appraisal if I redid that with nicer carpet rather then peel and stick vinyl wood style flooring.

I was wanting to lay peel and stick throughout the house but he says that that wouldn’t give me a higher appraisal and that nice carpet would.

So BP world what have you found? I want this property to be tenant proof yet I don’t like doing things twice.

Which will get me a higher appraisal?

[Satyam Mistry]

@Taylor Holden Hello Taylor, LVP luxury vinyl plank flooring is going to be a much better long term solution to flooring than carpet. It is waterproof, scratch proof, durable, & easier to clean in between tenants. It also looks much nicer which can help in attracting better tenants and charging little more in rent. 

An appraiser should know the value of LVP over carpet, but make sure you do select a quality LVP and not just the cheapest one available. You can also provide the appraiser a list of improvements you have made to the property for reference. I use the Authentic Plank product from Southwind which is an 8mm thick plank and does not require an underlayment. I took pair of keys and would scratch the sample pieces I had to see how resistant they were. These types of durable LVP flooring come with lifetime residential warranties. If doing LVP throughout the home you could consider using carpet just in the bedrooms depending on personal preference. 

This has been a very common discussion on BP & you will find nearly all investors will choose to go with LVP flooring over carpet. It will cost about 2.5 times more on material as well as install, but something that will look nice & last you many years to come.