Engineered Hardwoods Versus Solid Hardwoods

If you’ve been following along on Instagram or Facebook you’d know we still haven’t closed on our newest flip, the house of loyal socks.

We’re definitely not surprised that we’re closing a week late, mainly because it took them two weeks to get our original contract ready (with no word on what was going on) and I had a feeling that would put them behind.

But why the lack of the communication? All I can say is that we are more than used to this. When you’re dealing with an entity homeowner instead of a human being, balls just get dropped. We’ve experienced this with Hubzu.com, HUD homes, some REO’s and now Xome.com. Luckily Todd tells me I’m a really patient person, although I don’t feel that way usually.

It’s a long story but just know we were prepared for a delayed closing (and it even has some benefits) and are now all set to close on Monday 12/17!

So I’ve decided to write a second update post (yep, a second one even before we’ve closed) all about why we’ve decided to go with engineered hardwoods versus solid hardwoods for this flip house.

I want to write up more posts for you guys about the reasoning behind some of the decisions we make so that it may help other people out there who are either flipping, remodeling or just get high on home improvement stuff like this. What better place to start than the flooring since it’s likely to be a huge chunk of any remodeling budget.

Engineered hardwoods versus solid hardwoods

Reason 1 – It’s a flip

For this flip, we decided to go with engineered hardwoods versus solid hardwoods. My first reason behind this is just that – it’s a flip. You get my point? Like, I would love love love to spend $7.99 sq/ft on beautiful 3/4″ solid hardwood floors. But why would I do that? Especially combined with the reasons I list below.

We’re not looking to flip this house for as cheap as possible, it’s the opposite actually. We like be able to provide value to the end buyer and buy cutting down some of the flooring budget where it makes sense to, we’ll be able to add something somewhere else. Can anyone say crown molding in the master suite?

Of course there’s a time and place for expensive solid hardwood floors (like on those million dollar flips) but for a flip that has an ARV (after repair value) of somewhere around $300,000 it’s not a good use of money.

One way to make sure of this is to check the comps!

Reason 2 – The comps don’t support solid hardwood

Another factor that weighs heavily in the decision to use engineered hardwoods versus solid hardwoods is the comps actually don’t support it! Installing hardwoods might be an over improvement for the area.

I checked recently sold, comparable homes (comparable in square footage, bedrooms, upgrades, etc.) and read through every write up and scanned every picture to find out what types of materials were used (I even have an excel spreadsheet to keep track of it all.)

For this flip house specifically, most of the neighborhood has carpet throughout the first floor… even in the dining room. I’m not a huge fan of carpet in the dining room. Because well… food, spills, kids, ME!

The homes that do have hardwoods only have them in one or two rooms and it’s actually quite difficult to tell if they’re solid wood or engineered wood – heck, some of the houses had laminate!

Don’t forget these prices don’t include a pad which can be an additional $.70 per sqft.

Reason 3 – Consumers don’t know the difference

I am a believer that the average consumer (although we’re all getting smarter aka more researched thanks to the internet) doesn’t really know the difference between engineered hardwoods versus solid hardwoods.

That said though, a consumer not knowing the difference between flooring isn’t reason enough to not go with the “better” flooring. But who’s to say which is the better flooring. Some people prefer engineered hardwood because they believe it’s more durable (which is debatable) and moisture resistant than solid hardwood.

So for our situation, I don’t see a reason to spend 4x the amount of money for something I’m not sure will return more than my investment.

And that my friends, is why we decided to go with engineered hardwoods versus solid hardwoods! What do you think? What’s your opinion on the topic?

We plan on getting started on the flip 12/18 and we’ll be Instagramming, Facebooking and blogging about it all! So find me on social media and jump in on the conversation about what you think we should do to make this house a beautiful home for the future buyer.

Be sure to reach out on Instagram, Pinterest and subscribe to this blog to be notified when new blog posts are up – who would want to miss those!?! (And if you’re a fellow blogger submit your website! I love finding new blogs to read, pin and share!!! It’s so hard to find a good quality blog nowadays, you know what I’m saying?)

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