Do the right thing and refinish the floors. It might not get you more money for the house, but will certainly make it more desirable.

Sand and refinish is the best boost for market value and desirability as well as being relatively cheap. Around my area, the floors in houses from that era are typically good quality 2.25 inch strip oak, 3/4 inch thick. They refinish beautifully as long as a prior owner did not let animals destroy them. You may need a darker stain than just leaving them natural color, but a medium brown will minimize lots of smaller stains and marks without destroying the character.

My plan would be to remove the carpet and padding and clean them like crazy but don't use any restoration products with silicon, oil soap, or wax. If I could not refinish for whatever reason, I would clean well and put on a coat of a dark shellac. It is quick to do, relatively cheap and won't hurt anything

Don't paint the floors.

Do as the others above mentioned.

No one here can tell you how much money you will lose as a result of painted wood floors. A Realtor in your area can run the comps for you with wood floors and with painted wood floors so you can see the difference. If there are no painted wood floors that have closed in the past 12 months, then that's your answer.

Painted wood is a remuddling ick factor that no amount of fresh anything else would overcome.

I'd recommend either cleaning it up as much as possible and applying a crappy acrylic sealer or do a total refinish. People might look at a painted floor and suspect there's an issue with it. Painting a floor correctly so it will look good, and last, takes a bit of work. There's no guarantee it will adhere so you're really taking your time and money to paint it, then putting the responsibility to do it right on the next guy.

A recent study indicates that one can recover more than 100% of the cost of refinishing a wood floor. The major issues with doing it now are the cash outlay and the real possibility that potential buyers won't like your choice of finish.

You might want to consider cleaning up the floors a bit and getting a bid or two for refinishing. You can either provide the buyer with the bids or include the refinishing cost in the selling price, then either have it done just before it changes hands, to the buyers choice, or drop the price by the bid amount and let them handle it.

https://www.woodfloorbusiness.com/news/remodeling-report-new-wood-floors-have-106-value-recovery-for-homeowners.html

A friend of mine painted her hardwood floors (which were in good condition) and they look awful now. Scratches, worn, etc. after 3 years

Leave the flooring as is. Do not paint. Carpet or Price your house giving an allowance for refinishing the hardwood.

Don't paint! That would devalue it to me. Your refinishing will likely not make them look pristine, but people expect "character" in old home flooring.

SJ McCarthy is a pro, so there is logic behind his numbers, but take with a grain of salt. Renting a sander is cheap, but the sandpaper adds up. When we refinished our 100 year old floors, the top finish, whatever it was, gummed up the sandpaper on the drum sander we rented and we went through a few hundred dollars worth of sandpaper. We also used Bona Traffic, which is a pricey sealer/poly. So we spent more than $1000.

But it's still cheaper than, and better than, carpet.

If the hardwood can be refinished then I would do it. If not put in carpet. Painting wood floors is as bad as painting wood kitchen cabinets. Cheap last ditch effort.

Well, the reality of the situation is that I do NOT have the money left to hire someone to recarpet all the floors. I certainly wish I did. I've been renovating this house alone over a year, and have already racked up critical debt. I also don't have any help, so this is a one-man job.

As far as refinishing, wood floor purists may be disappointed to see what was underneath (I hauled out the current carpet and underlayment, which was incredibly nasty and a huge job).

Most of the floor in the four rooms are okay, but there are some areas that look as if there was some water damage- I don't believe termites, because the location is in the center of the room.

It looks like what they did was, schlopped a bunch of wood putty over the wounds to hide and then carpeted everything.

There is also some deep fissuring in some areas. I don't quite know if there is some way to fill this so that it would not look horrible when refinished. Certainly the wood putty that is currently there now would have to be chiseled out. It seems to crumble out without a huge amount of difficulty, but then what? If the putty were stained, it would be completely off color.

One has to make hard choices and can't always do what is ideal. The truth is a freshly painted floor looks better than this. But if anyone wants to spot me a couple grand for new carpet, I'll be glad to go that route lol.

If you don't have the time, money and energy to refinish the floors, price the listing accordingly and disclose that the floors need refinishing. An alternative that might work - offer to give a credit of $X for the floors to be refinished to the buyer at closing. See if your Realtor has another suggestion.

I'm seeing structural damage to some of the wood planks. Your second to last photo shows a wood plank that is most likely hollow. It has the look of having been eaten from the bottom up.

Do you live in an area where termites are common? If so, you may need repairs that are beyond your budget. With critical debt loads, you will need to make an informed decision to list this "As Is; Where Is" to get out of the debt.

If I'm right and some/many of those planks are damaged beyond repair, they will need replacement. And that means professional help. You can't paint over a plank that isn't there. I'm guessing the previous owner used some putty/filler to give a flat surface (get rid of some splinters) as well as to add some bulk to a failing floor. And then carpeted it to ensure no one saw it at the time of sale.

I'm sorry but paint isn't going to get you out of this hole. As soon as someone puts a leg through the floor, you will have a nasty fight on your hands. And for that reason alone, I recommend selling it "As Is; Where Is" and get yourself out from under your crushing debt. You do not have the finances to repair this to a livable condition.

At this point, start talking to a couple local real estate agents about your options. They will have a much better feel for the local market than we do and the current market conditions in your area. If the market is hot, clean the existing floors, put it on the market AS-IS and see what offers you get. I wouldn't recommend an allowance for the floors unless your target is a cash strapped first time buyer. Allowances just end up getting taken off the price of the house and don't help the buyer get the work done.

Be honest with the agents you interview about your financial situation and timeline. Trust me, you won't be the first or the last time they have dealt with a seller in your position. An experienced, well connected agent is a great resource