For many buyers, flooring is an unexpectedly key factor in the choice of a home. Flooring can unify a space and make it stand out — or can draw unnecessary attention to itself and be a stumbling block to a sale. When preparing your next property for sale, flooring should be a focus, not an afterthought.

In-demand flooring styles are changing. Here, three top agents — Taylor Heslop, Broker Associate at LIV Sotheby’s International Realty, and Jo Stewart and Tanner Peacock, REALTORS® with Scenic Sotheby’s International Realty — share their insights on what types are sought after by today’s luxury clients, and how agents can help their sellers see the value of revitalizing their floors.

Materials of the moment

Light-colored hardwood

LIV Sotheby’s International Realty

Tanner Peacock

Clean, elegant, and versatile hardwood is preferred over carpeting and tile throughout high-end homes — excluding, usually, bathrooms. Hardwood has become such a basic expectation that if your seller doesn’t have the flooring installed and the flooring suits the style and era of the home, it’s worth having a conversation about adding it before listing.

“Wide-plank weathered hardwoods in lighter colors, such as white oak, are popular in coastal homes,” say Stewart and Peacock. “Hardwoods with wider planks are also preferred in the more traditional neighborhoods.”

They note that hardwood is increasingly being put into areas of the home where other types of flooring were once favored. “Buyers seem to be taking carpet out of the master bedrooms and installing wood floors and adding rugs.”

Warm-tone natural stone

Scenic Sotheby’s International Realty