Have you talked with a realtor about whether the flooring changes are going to bring a return on your investment? We will be selling very soon because we are under contract on a lot and our agent has recommended against putting any more money into our current house before we sell. At least in our area the inventory of homes for sale is extremely low so it is quite the sellers market. We will be looking for a rental while we build. We'd considered staying in our house during the build, but the market is so hot right now that it seems wise to try to get out while we know it's good.

We are in the same predicament. However we need the equity out of house before I think we can build. Our market is also very hot and we want to take advantage of that. There is damage to the hardwood floors and the carpet is hideous...see, I can still have a small sense of humor! The changes that have been suggested are from our realtor. Due to my disabilities and my husband as my caretaker, we have not been able to do the basic maintenance on our home and property.

Tish...I just saw your last note. I feel for you. My SIL had a stroke at 51 and her dh is her caretaker. Despite this she was able to work part time until retirement as a teacher. Then they moved closer to home..near us.

It was very difficult trying to get their home ready to sell on his own and with no family around. Very difficult.

We moved out of the house we sold a few years ago to have the hardwood floors refinished before putting it on the market. We lived with my parents for a couple of weeks. Luckily, we were under contact within a week and then moved back in until the sale closed.

Then, we moved into the new house that we thought we were going to remodel. I say moved in lightly, because we only moved in a mattress, folding chairs and our clothes. We lived that way for 8 weeks before the house was ultimately torn down.

Then we moved to a family vacation cottage about 1.5 hours away from the new build/jobs and lived there for a year while the new house was built.

Moving in/out for the floors and then in/out again for the new house was not a fun part of the process. We were lucky we had parents/family property available for us to use. If not, we would have rented something short term.

Best of luck to you!

Rent a storage garage and put a mountain of totes with all your small stuff in it.

Might be a pain, but you should be able to pile everything into mountains on the hardwood for a few days to get carpet replaced.

I'd be hesitant to refinish hardwood - many people expect normal wear, wont care, or maybe offer a credit if it's brought up. I'd never not buy a house because hardwood needed to be redone.

We are in a market where we were selling our condo in a luxury building. Around us 7 new luxury buildings were going up so we felt we should sell when we did, which was this past spring. We're now renting until our place is built.

If I were you, I'd do as sprinkles suggested. Replace the carpet. Leave the hardwood. Then declutter.

We were in the same boat as well. We made our last home as neutral as possible and did some major staging as that is what sells a home in our area. Our last home was 5000 sq ft with 2.5 acres. It had 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms so it was a long process to get the home ready and on the market. We needed the $ from that home to build a new smaller home so we put a lot of our stuff in storage units and took a lot of stuff to Goodwill. It took over a year for our home to sell because the size and price point we were at. We moved to a townhome after our house sold and then the planning started on our new home. It was a very stressful time but are kids are grown and moved on so with it being just my husband and I we made an adventure out of it.

We stayed in our current home while building our new home. We just put our current house in the market since we have less than 2 months for our new build to be completed. It is currently a seller's market in this area so we are hoping our current house sells quickly but not too quickly! Definitely a gamble but the alternative was moving twice in a year with 3 kids (and finding something to rent within the school district which isn't an easy task here) didn't sound very appealing. We rented a storage unit a month ago and filled it with everything we don't need from our current home. We also repainted and replaced the family room carpet. Other than that, we just cleaned and decluttered. Keeping the house clean and staged is not going to be fun but I'll make it work for a couple of months if I have to.

Update-11/12/17. We received a letter and email from the family that built our current beautiful home stating, "It has always been a dream of theirs to possibly come back to their home!" They had asked if they could possibly have first refusal of our home if we were thinking of selling in the near future! I am in a panic mode! I have 4 days before they come see 'their' house. It is so tired, both inside and outside. I will have help the next 4 days. I guess my question is how to find calm? The picture below was taken several Christmases ago.

Tish all you need to do is make sure the interior is clean, you've decluttered (I'm a firm believer of throwing lots under the beds where it won't be seen) the beds are made and the faucets shine. Then just relax.

Tish.....that’s pretty amazing! Well, if you haven’t done any updates, then it should be pretty much they way they remember it. Like cpartist mentioned, make your house spic and span and declutter......raise the blinds, turn on all the lights and let the fresh air in.

Oh my goodness! I am so happy for you!

Well it's just meant to be!!!!

Agree with CP - declutter like crazy (and even if you need to fake it) and make sinks and baths sparkle.

Talk to your neighbors to see if they have a cleaning service they can recommend, so that you can focus on the personal stuff and they can do the "regular" cleaning.