Would you consider a 5 bedroom house?

[AJR]

More reports from the frontlines of stressed out home selling...

My house is big--but quite in line with others in my area. It was roomy a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath originally. then a previous owner added on what's best described as an in-law suite, finishing off another big room and adding another full bath on the first floor. We use the space as a home office suite, it's been an in-law suite before, it could also be a first floor master suite (though it's proximity to the garage and kitchen makes that a little less ideal). It has a larger room with an entrance off the garage, and then a smaller room that opens to the kitchen and the full bath. There are windows and closets in both rooms, you have to pass through the smaller room to get to the larger one.

Anyway, when I went to list it last night, I was prepared to list 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths.

My realtor wanted to list it as a 4 bedroom. She had a rationale for why. But before I share that...assuming you are house hunting, are you opposed to a house--that's in your price range--that's bigger than you technically need or want?

Assuming you were looking for a 4 bedroom, would you NOT consider a 5 bedroom if it came up?

Disclaimer: I'm totally stressed out by this process, coming here for perspective because I have none.

[cjeanette]

I would prefer a 5 bedroom.

[bunch]

I actually agree with your agent. Buyers are funny and tend to check off houses before they see them for really lame reasons. I went with 4+ when I once listed a 6 br house

[ssmjlm]

I think with a setup like that, a 5 bedroom would be ideal. Even just as a guest suite so they have their own space.

[goaskalice]

I would 100% be marketing the heck out of the in-law/first floor master suite. They are like gold right now. I know sometimes buyers hear 5 bedrooms and think choppy layout and small bedrooms. Is she planning on listing it as a 4 bed with a bonus room?

[Deleted]

It wouldn't have mattered to me--I looked for 3+ bedrooms in my price range.

[ECB]

We are a family of 3 and will only be a family of 3.  When looking for houses, I was looking for a 3 bedroom and was fine w/ a 4 bedroom (which is what we ended up with).  I honestly don't recall ever even considering 5 + bedrooms.  That would have been way too much space for us.  As it stands now- the smallest of our 4 bedrooms has stood totally empty for over 2 years now.

[Deleted]

I am in the opposite camp. We only looked at 5+ when we were looking.

[ECB]

Forgot to expand.... the thing is, an "inlaw suite" would be more of a sell to me now than 5 bedrooms. DH and I were just talking about this today - the possibility that at some point, one of our parents might move in w/ us one day. If that happens, having an inlaw suite would be awesome.

[mariafromnj]

We have a 5 bedroom house, we knocked down the walls on the one next to our family room and put in bar (not attached and can be removed) and a pool table. We left the room set up so that a very quick wall can go up and turn it back to the 5th bed room.
My parents recently bought a 5 bedroom house. They have 4 up and 1 large suite with a bathroom inside on the main floor. It was listed with 1st floor in-law suite. That is the only types of houses they were looking at because the room was for my grandfather.

I don't know that people would be turned off by an extra room but they would be turned off if there was not enough room. I would think 4 beds plus office or bed room on 1st floor sounds good.

[AJR]

Bonus questions: What are you using the fifth bedroom for if you LIKE a fifth bedroom?

If the fifth bedroom is currently staged as the rec room of an office suite and opens to the garage, do you feel like it doesn't count? (the only guideline here is it must have a window and a closet..by that definition, we actually have a SIX bedroom!)

To answer a question, yes, the potential of the suite is marketed like crazy in the listing. This is strictly for the MLS, which seems to only have the option for 4 or 5 bedrooms...there's no "4plus"

Bunchanums rationale is in line with what may agent said. She also said people "don't want to clean a house that big."

My thought is, the in-law suite sold the house to us. If you are looking for that kind of space, you will jump on this house. I'd rather flag the buyers who need the extra space and stand out, then blend in with every other 4 beds/2.5 baths listed in my area. Crazy or no?

In follow up news, I got my way with the professional photog. From what I saw over her shoulder, the photos are fantastic! So worth fighting that fight! Also, I went with a letter (which, at four pages long, is more of a novella) about what I love about the neighborhood and the house that does not mention famous people. Agent LOVED it. Thanks for that suggestion.

[Deleted]

I think an in-law suite would appeal to a lot of people.

I would list as a 4/2.5 and in the description put something like "in-law or guest suite on first floor, can be converted to master"

We have a 4 bedroom house and would, and did, look at 5BR houses.

[catbus]

Feb 13, 2013 13:55:40 GMT -5 bunch said:

I actually agree with your agent. Buyers are funny and tend to check off houses before they see them for really lame reasons. I went with 4+ when I once listed a 6 br house

Ditto. I was always put off by houses with more than four bedrooms, because in my experience, the layout of houses with more bedrooms is odd (unless we're talking about mansions or something).

[Deleted]

Definitely market specific. 5 bedrooms are common here. DH and I both grew up in homes with 5 bedrooms.

[atarianna]

If I were looking now, I would only look at a 5 br+ unless there were a separate office space specified. I think you would eliminate more prospective buyers by putting 4+ than you would by putting 5.

[AJR]

Square footage is almost 3000 square feet, plus another 1500 unfinished square feet in the basement, plus a three car garage. It will be apparent from the photos and the room dimensions on the listing that the rooms are not small. My smallest bedroom is 14x14, I think.

[sillygoosegirl]

At first we search for 3+ bedrooms in our price range. After not very long we realized we really needed to be looking at square footage and ignoring the number of bedrooms. It's amazing how many bedrooms you can fit in a 900 sq ft house, lol. I don't think 5 bedrooms is a problem so long as the house is at least 2000-2500 sq ft. We certainly didn't discount houses with 5 bedrooms.

[RandZB]

I see why your realtor would want to list it as a 4-bedroom. A lot of people will just search for 3+ bedrooms or 4+ bedrooms. You would get a larger pool of people if you listed it as a 4-bedroom. I would prefer a 5-bedroom, but when I search for houses I always choose 4+ just to get a broader range.

Conversely, our house was marketed as a 4-bedroom but is technically a 3 with a bonus room that I can't put a child in. So if we have a third, two of them will have to share. We didn't have kids when we bought it and didn't plan to still be in the house, so it's something we will probably have to deal with in the next couple of years.

[Melissa W.]

We have a 5 bedroom house. The 5th bedroom is over the garage and is a play room. It would be a big bedroom. I have two kids each with their own bedroom. The extra room is my office.

[thatgirl2478]

If it's in my price range, I would LOVE a 5 bdrm house.  You don't HAVE to use all the rooms in your house & one could be an office - which would ROCK imo.

[frlcb]

I definitely think it depends on the area. Our house is 6 bedroom so clearly we would like 5 bedrooms as well

[Deleted]

Of course I would. When I search the real estate listings, I put 3 beds as my lower limit and no upper limit. The only reasons I wouldn't buy a big house are that they're in poor shape, way out in the burbs, or out of my price range. But not because they have one bedroom too many.

[Deleted]

Feb 13, 2013 14:22:02 GMT -5 RandZB said:

I see why your realtor would want to list it as a 4-bedroom. A lot of people will just search for 3+ bedrooms or 4+ bedrooms. You would get a larger pool of people if you listed it as a 4-bedroom.  

This doesn't follow.

[lolc]

To answer your questions specifically:
Yes, I would consider a 5 bedroom house, even if I was looking for a 4 bedroom house (this was actually what we ended up buying, even though the 5th room, a bonus room, wasn't even mentioned in the listing).
I have always been of the opinion that I would rather have more space and not need it, than not enough space and need it... so if it was in my price range (and in my square footage requirements) yes, I would certainly take a look.

[Deleted]

Feb 13, 2013 14:01:07 GMT -5 vigurl said:

I am in the opposite camp. We only looked at 5+ when we were looking.

this was us too. 5+ are really rare in our area. We lucked out finding a 5bd + bonus room.

[catbus]

Feb 13, 2013 14:07:46 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

In my area, since most homes are older, I'd think really tiny bedrooms and likely poor layout. Unless the square footage was huge, but that would mean it was in terrible shape or out of my price range.

I think it's really market specific and I'd be inclined to take your agent's advice.

This was basically what I was thinking, but your wording makes more sense. In Seattle proper, the listings I saw with more than four bedrooms were either wayyyy out of my price range, or were total dumps.

[stever]

I'd consider it if it was priced the same as a 4 BR. DH works from home and my IL's live 6000 miles away so it would be great if we had 3 bedrooms for the 4 of us, a dedicated office for DH and a suite for the IL's. That said, we live in a 2 BR house now and are fine with it so there's no need to pay a premium for 3 more BR's for us.

[stever]

Feb 13, 2013 14:05:28 GMT -5 AJR said:

Bonus questions: What are you using the fifth bedroom for if you LIKE a fifth bedroom?

If the fifth bedroom is currently staged as the rec room of an office suite and opens to the garage, do you feel like it doesn't count? (the only guideline here is it must have a window and a closet..by that definition, we actually have a SIX bedroom!)

To answer a question, yes, the potential of the suite is marketed like crazy in the listing. This is strictly for the MLS, which seems to only have the option for 4 or 5 bedrooms...there's no "4plus"

Bunchanums rationale is in line with what may agent said. She also said people "don't want to clean a house that big."

My thought is, the in-law suite sold the house to us. If you are looking for that kind of space, you will jump on this house. I'd rather flag the buyers who need the extra space and stand out, then blend in with every other 4 beds/2.5 baths listed in my area. Crazy or no?

In follow up news, I got my way with the professional photog. From what I saw over her shoulder, the photos are fantastic! So worth fighting that fight! Also, I went with a letter (which, at four pages long, is more of a novella) about what I love about the neighborhood and the house that does not mention famous people. Agent LOVED it. Thanks for that suggestion.

I'd use it for the IL's. Or maybe a chillout space for my boys when they're teenagers and don't wan to be anywhere near DH and I

[julygal]

We are a family of 5 living in a 3 bdrm.  I would LOVE a 5 bdrm.  We aren't actively looking, but I search the MLS as 4+, because 1) The kids are fine sharing now, but as they get older I'd like them to have their own space  2) We miss having a nice place to put guests.

[cinco]

We are looking for a 4/5 BR house right now. When I look at listings I assume 3+ is 3, and 4+ is 4. With out additional information, I would cross off the 3+, and jump at a 5.

ETA An in law suite would be huge for us, but where we are looking there aren't many listed. My parents are looking to move down South, and would give us money for an in law suite to use as their local apartment.