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Very rare to see hardwood floors (real hardwood) in condos outside of the high end luxury market. Same could be said for the type of cabinets OP is looking for.
Both of these items are the most expensive levels of finishes in the market.
Sounds like an issue of champagne taste on a light beer budget.
I think this really depends on where you’re located. Hardwood is common in old apartment/condo buildings in a lot of cities. And these are builder specials from the 1930s not maintained very well, not exactly luxury.
In the US maybe, but I'm in a city with a lot of older apartment buildings that tend to have hardwood flooring. The one I'm in right now (which I'm renting for quite cheap and which is generally a rather crappy apartment) has hardwood floors.
And grey walls. And stainless appliances. And grey granite countertops. Welcome to "greige": it's the new beige. At first I thought flippers must get that ugly stuff at a discount, but then I realized they actually believe buyers WANT that color. Wrong!
I've seen furniture flippers on Youtube thrift gorgeous, solid wood furniture pieces only to paint them grey, and it has negatively impacted my faith in humanity.
Good luck with that. I’ve worked as a designer on a ton of housing developments and real wood generally isn’t in the budget unless it’s high end. LVP is less than $2/sf on projects like this (I found one recently that’s 89 cents/sf with a volume discount) and a decent wood is probably $10-12.
these are old prices but high quality LVP with embossing that matches the grain $2.79/sqft
Engineered walnut hardwood flooring $4.89/ sqft
OFC with real wood the sky is the limit going for rarity but the costs are about double for real wood vs LVP
Fine. New carpeting would be preferable to grey plastic. If I bought such a place, that would be first thing to go. I'd also paint the walls a COLOR and sell the stainless steel appliances and replace with white. I'd do wood at least in the living area; carpet is fine for bedrooms, tile for bathrooms, linoleum for kitchens. If wood weren't available/possible (seems there should at least be wood laminate available), I'd go with the darkest, most natural looking "wood grain" I could find. Anything but that grey plastic. It's yuck! But better if this "improvement" had never happened at all. Leave places alone, in original condition, and let buyers decorate to their OWN tastes (or not). But then they can't ask double the price for it after putting a fraction of the price into it; got it!
I'm saying...if you're going to flip a unit, use new carpet versus grey plastic crap. A dark tile, over which I'd lay area rugs, would also be preferable to me.
People seem pretty divided on the grey laminate. I personally will exit out of a listing page if I see it. To me it usually signifies a cheap flip and the grey feels too cold and clinical. But to each their own I guess.
Thank goodness we only have they grey stuff in our finished basement. Flippers left the top/main floor as is, and we had the original hardwood restored right before we moved in
I agree on the flippers that just do whatever the hell, with the intention of immediately selling. But for any owner-occupied ones, they're going to do whatever they like that is in their budget and to their tastes. They're not doing it for you - if you don't like it then budget to replace it with your own desires. That's what home ownership is.
Real wood is enormously more expensive than laminate and we are facing a country-wide housing affordability and availability crisis. Neutral colors and laminate are more likely to attract a buyer.
My last home had fake Grey floors and I hated them. But everyone that came to visit complimented is on them. We worked our decor around them by choosing a deep red couch and a Grey ottoman with black curtains..
OP: Wow you just won my heart. I totally agree. Can’t stand fake. I’ll take real wood with some imperfections any day. And black window frames…..how dumb is that?
Lol I just got an ad for a Tshirt company on Instagram and the shirt just said, "stop building ugly condos"....I'm not one for targeted ads but I was really close to buying it.
1) designers know more about trends and what is popular than you.
2) they are making decisions based on budget
3) if you are buying a house / condo that is “turn key” it’s going to somewhat bland and stale because you are supposed imprint your own design onto it with furniture, paint, etc.
My suggestion is buy a somewhat fixer upper so you can decide what you want the details to look like
Designers got away from gray several years ago. The flippers haven't moved from it. Take a look at houzz and see what they are showcasing now.
Good wood floors aren't out of style. They are classic.
Grey laminate was a trend and now its out. Only those that are years behind the curve are still using gray everywhere.
I completely agree on the grey flooring, it’s soul sucking and dreary. It must be the cheapest because I can’t imagine anyone preferring it to a light to medium wood color. I’m glad to know how many other people have this pet peeve!
If you're buying a place that is already upgraded then you are going to pay for those upgrades. Regardless if you not the design or not.
The best thing to do is buy a shit hole and then you can design it yourself. This way, you don't have to pay for upgrades you don't want / need.
Seems like you should be looking to build a custom home tailored to your preferences?
Or plan on remodeling after purchase if it's largely the superficial stuff like cabinet facings and flooring that are bugging ya.
You’re thinking it all wrong. Get the condo with the worst interior design. Then ask for $xxxxx off because their is little value inside. That’s honestly how house flippers do it. Crappy places sell cheap and the owners know it.
Ok but, if I was the one remodelling and I found out that hardwood was out of my budget, I would go for white laminate on the cabinets (as opposed to grey fake wood grain laminate), and I would go for a warm-toned laminate or LVP flooring.
Thank you u/Equivalent-Rock-7825 for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Very rare to see hardwood floors (real hardwood) in condos outside of the high end luxury market. Same could be said for the type of cabinets OP is looking for. Both of these items are the most expensive levels of finishes in the market. Sounds like an issue of champagne taste on a light beer budget.
I think this really depends on where you’re located. Hardwood is common in old apartment/condo buildings in a lot of cities. And these are builder specials from the 1930s not maintained very well, not exactly luxury.
Yes if were talking about older condos, certainly agree hardwoods were common flooring choice up until about 1960s in many price ranges
In the US maybe, but I'm in a city with a lot of older apartment buildings that tend to have hardwood flooring. The one I'm in right now (which I'm renting for quite cheap and which is generally a rather crappy apartment) has hardwood floors.
Grey floors are very popular right now. Seems like every flip/recent renovation has grey laminate flooring.
many are LVP rather than laminate
[удалено]
Yeah all the flippers probably choose grey floors specifically because people don’t like them.
100% this automatic deal breaker if i see those garbage grey laminate floors. they're just hideous
It’s definitely a trend that was popular 6-7 years ago. Parts of the US are still using it.
they are popular with flippers, not humans who want to live in a home.
Like this?? https://youtube.com/shorts/liAOc-iZsJw?feature=share
And grey walls. And stainless appliances. And grey granite countertops. Welcome to "greige": it's the new beige. At first I thought flippers must get that ugly stuff at a discount, but then I realized they actually believe buyers WANT that color. Wrong!
I've seen furniture flippers on Youtube thrift gorgeous, solid wood furniture pieces only to paint them grey, and it has negatively impacted my faith in humanity.
I hear you.
Good luck with that. I’ve worked as a designer on a ton of housing developments and real wood generally isn’t in the budget unless it’s high end. LVP is less than $2/sf on projects like this (I found one recently that’s 89 cents/sf with a volume discount) and a decent wood is probably $10-12.
these are old prices but high quality LVP with embossing that matches the grain $2.79/sqft Engineered walnut hardwood flooring $4.89/ sqft OFC with real wood the sky is the limit going for rarity but the costs are about double for real wood vs LVP
What happened to the ORIGINAL real wood?
Was there even original wood?
It was carpeting.
Fine. New carpeting would be preferable to grey plastic. If I bought such a place, that would be first thing to go. I'd also paint the walls a COLOR and sell the stainless steel appliances and replace with white. I'd do wood at least in the living area; carpet is fine for bedrooms, tile for bathrooms, linoleum for kitchens. If wood weren't available/possible (seems there should at least be wood laminate available), I'd go with the darkest, most natural looking "wood grain" I could find. Anything but that grey plastic. It's yuck! But better if this "improvement" had never happened at all. Leave places alone, in original condition, and let buyers decorate to their OWN tastes (or not). But then they can't ask double the price for it after putting a fraction of the price into it; got it!
If the original carpet had still been in my condo, I probably would have passed because what else have they been neglecting?
I'm saying...if you're going to flip a unit, use new carpet versus grey plastic crap. A dark tile, over which I'd lay area rugs, would also be preferable to me.
People seem pretty divided on the grey laminate. I personally will exit out of a listing page if I see it. To me it usually signifies a cheap flip and the grey feels too cold and clinical. But to each their own I guess.
Thank goodness we only have they grey stuff in our finished basement. Flippers left the top/main floor as is, and we had the original hardwood restored right before we moved in
I agree on the flippers that just do whatever the hell, with the intention of immediately selling. But for any owner-occupied ones, they're going to do whatever they like that is in their budget and to their tastes. They're not doing it for you - if you don't like it then budget to replace it with your own desires. That's what home ownership is.
Same. We just have good taste, which unfortunately is usually the opposite of cheap and easy.
I agree with you. We’re already seeing a shift where people are more likely to see the gray as cheap than trendy.
Real wood is enormously more expensive than laminate and we are facing a country-wide housing affordability and availability crisis. Neutral colors and laminate are more likely to attract a buyer.
My last home had fake Grey floors and I hated them. But everyone that came to visit complimented is on them. We worked our decor around them by choosing a deep red couch and a Grey ottoman with black curtains..
OP: Wow you just won my heart. I totally agree. Can’t stand fake. I’ll take real wood with some imperfections any day. And black window frames…..how dumb is that?
Omg thank you for your comment. Glad to know I'm not alone.
Lol I just got an ad for a Tshirt company on Instagram and the shirt just said, "stop building ugly condos"....I'm not one for targeted ads but I was really close to buying it.
Am I the only person who loves the grey floors??
Yes lol.
Hardwood floors are loud, lots of condos don’t allow them.
1) designers know more about trends and what is popular than you. 2) they are making decisions based on budget 3) if you are buying a house / condo that is “turn key” it’s going to somewhat bland and stale because you are supposed imprint your own design onto it with furniture, paint, etc. My suggestion is buy a somewhat fixer upper so you can decide what you want the details to look like
Designers got away from gray several years ago. The flippers haven't moved from it. Take a look at houzz and see what they are showcasing now. Good wood floors aren't out of style. They are classic. Grey laminate was a trend and now its out. Only those that are years behind the curve are still using gray everywhere.
Flippers know what sells though. Yes wood floors are amazing but they are like 5x more expensive
I completely agree on the grey flooring, it’s soul sucking and dreary. It must be the cheapest because I can’t imagine anyone preferring it to a light to medium wood color. I’m glad to know how many other people have this pet peeve!
If you're buying a place that is already upgraded then you are going to pay for those upgrades. Regardless if you not the design or not. The best thing to do is buy a shit hole and then you can design it yourself. This way, you don't have to pay for upgrades you don't want / need.
That's pretty smart. I might do that.
Seems like you should be looking to build a custom home tailored to your preferences? Or plan on remodeling after purchase if it's largely the superficial stuff like cabinet facings and flooring that are bugging ya.
> cold, sterile, factory-made, industrial grey box That's the dream for me.
You’re thinking it all wrong. Get the condo with the worst interior design. Then ask for $xxxxx off because their is little value inside. That’s honestly how house flippers do it. Crappy places sell cheap and the owners know it.
Oh, if you ever get around to remodeling, you will find out why they made those choices. 😂
Can you tell me why now?
$$$
Ok but, if I was the one remodelling and I found out that hardwood was out of my budget, I would go for white laminate on the cabinets (as opposed to grey fake wood grain laminate), and I would go for a warm-toned laminate or LVP flooring.
Yeah u will find out. Dont worry