New home question - which would you prefer?

[nextbigthing]

I'm seriously considering building a new home.

I have two that I'm considering. Same size lots, same neighborhood (across the street from each other), same builder, same square footage (40sf difference). Trying to see all pros and cons. Price difference between the 2 is $10k

Home 1
1 story which I've always wanted
Smaller yard bc of 1 story
4 bedroom
Smaller gameroom
3 car garage (1 on one side, 2 on other)
Smaller master bathroom
Backs up to an existing older home on about 2 acres that will eventually be more new homes


Home 2
2 story (only gameroom and half bath upstairs)
3 bedroom
Big master bedroom and bath
3 car garage but one big garage, not split
Larger patio in back
Across the street from house 1 but in cul de sac and backs up to an existing home in same neighborhood.



Home 2 has a lot more that I like but I really think 4 bedroom is better, especially for resale.


Would you buy a 3br home if 4br was an option?

[countthestars]

I prefer option 2 in your case. My family doesn’t need a 4th bedroom, so I’d rather have bigger bedrooms in the number that we actually need.

[gummybear]

I’d pick 2 bc I prefer one large garage area, the outdoor living space, the fact that there’s no unknown with development of the adjacent area, and the two stories (at this point in my life I do not want one-story living).

Can the game room be considered a bedroom? I have no use for a game room but I agree with your assessment that the 4th bedroom increases resale.

[nextbigthing]

Sept 9, 2021 6:20:35 GMT -5 gummybear said:

I’d pick 2 bc I prefer one large garage area, the outdoor living space, the fact that there’s no unknown with development of the adjacent area, and the two stories (at this point in my life I do not want one-story living).

Can the game room be considered a bedroom? I have no use for a game room but I agree with your assessment that the 4th bedroom increases resale.

There's only a half bath up there so I guess it could be a br but there's no shower.


It's just my 6 year old DS and me. I don't need 4 br, I was just thinking resale and if I needed to care for my parents down the line (but I could certainly cross that bridge, they're in early 70s and good health). I like the game room upstairs so I can send DS and his friends up there

[joy]

I prefer more bedrooms. I also prefer second floors for many reasons so I may not be the best opinion on this situation.

[maudefindlay]

#2 for more outdoor space and for the gameroom being separate. 3 bedrooms is a pretty common number to find when house hunting, they must sell well.

[candreco]

I'd go with the 3BR- I get resale, but you're still going to be living in it, so it should meet your needs first. I also wouldn't like the potential for a lot of construction going on in my backyard when the new homes are built behind the first house. I could go either way on the yard size vs. larger patio- having a smaller yard means less upkeep, but depending on your weather the larger patio could be a plus.

[jinkies]

Home 2 sounds like a better choice for a lot of reasons. If you are having the house built, could you upgrade to a full bath upstairs to make it easier to convert that area to a bedroom if needed?

[fryjack2]

#2 for sure.

You can convert some of the one big 3 car garage into a smaller 4th bedroom down the road if you want.

[maudefindlay]

Sept 9, 2021 6:41:54 GMT -5 jinkies said:

Home 2 sounds like a better choice for a lot of reasons. If you are having the house built, could you upgrade to a full bath upstairs to make it easier to convert that area to a bedroom if needed?

This. Even just a shower stall. Just make sure the gameroom has a closet. Even if you don't use it as a bedroom that closet can be for all the toys. We put a toy closet in our basement off of our family room which is the main kid play area besides their rooms. That closet has paid for itself tenfold.

Eta Having the kid play area on a different level of the house is awesome all year, but especially when the weather makes it hard to go outside to play (winter, rain, too hot/humid). DH and I hang out in our main level living room and send the kids to the basement where they can let it all out.

[cosmowife]

#2 for sure. My parents bought a house in a new neighborhood that backed up to a 3 acre lot with one house. A developer bought the lot and now my parents are trying to fight to prevent a three-story apartment building from being built 25 ft from their back property line.

[expectantsteelerfan]

Sept 9, 2021 6:38:39 GMT -5 maudefindlay said:

#2 for more outdoor space and for the gameroom being separate. 3 bedrooms is a pretty common number to find when house hunting, they must sell well.

This.  We love having space for kids on a separate floor than the main living area.  I also prefer having 1 big garage.  

[ssmjlm]

I would do #2, can you make the bathroom into a 3/4 with a shower upstairs?

[cuadrado]

I would go with option 2. When we renovated our house, we prioritized resale value above everything else. I think considering resale is important but so is how you will enjoy the house while you're living in it. I agree with PPs that I would ask about putting a small full bath and closed upstairs. Then the room would have more functionality, like being used as a guest space when people come to visit.

Also, the unknown of what will end up being built behind option #1 would be enough for me to not be interested in that house.

[nextbigthing]

Sept 9, 2021 6:41:54 GMT -5 jinkies said:

Home 2 sounds like a better choice for a lot of reasons. If you are having the house built, could you upgrade to a full bath upstairs to make it easier to convert that area to a bedroom if needed?

I love this idea but the house is already engineered and permitted so it's too late to make any big changes like that otherwise I totally would

[twinmomma]

If someone else someday wants to use the game room as a bedroom, the bathroom up there has nothing to do with it. I have 4 bedrooms. My 2 biggest, main bedrooms are upstairs. When I moved in, the only bathroom was a full bath on the first floor. Eventually I put in a half bath upstairs just to make life easier with kids, but we lived without it for like 7 years before I did that.

In this situation, I'd vote house #2 all day long! I also agree with people who say sending the kids to play on a different floor is a game changer. It makes such a difference to keeping your house under control!

[gerberdaisy]

House #2, no question. Large separate space for kid(s), larger patio, bigger yard. Like other said, someone else can convert the upstairs to a bedroom if they want, you need it to work for you now.

[VillainV]

House #2 sounds like it’s laid out better to meet your family’s needs — which means it will probably be laid out better to meet other families’ needs down the road which will make it attractive for sale. If you want, you can build out a closet in the game room to make it meet the legal requirements to be called a “bedroom” (and also see if maybe you can add a shower stall, if you’re worried about that).

This sounds very much like a home I used to live in, and we had a 3/4 bath upstairs (sink, toilet, shower stall) and used it as guest space. No closet so technically it was considered a “bonus room” and not a bedroom, but it essentially made it a 4BR house. I had no trouble selling, and it was a great house.

[bittybomb]

If I didn't need 4 bedrooms id go with number 2. But if I was considering only 4 bedroom houses, I think I'd be wary of house 1 only because of the potential for neighbors right up on me in the future.

[aprilsails]

House #2 for sure. We had the option of building on a teeny strip of farmland at the back of our development for an up sell fee of $20k. Guess who is having a row of three storey town homes built on top of their backyards? Whoops, the farmer sold the land and there is nothing they can do about it.

[nicolewi]

I like single story in theory, but in your case, I would go with whichever offered the option to have more separated hanging-out spaces, which sounds maybe like house 2? You may want to be able to have your kid and friends hang out upstairs in a few years, while you watch TV or whatever downstairs.

I didn't really understand which lot is better. What about direction of sunlight through windows? That can be a big deal.

[puppylove64]

I’d rather have a bigger master than an unneeded bedroom that collects junk. My biggest complaint about our old house was all the wasted space in places we didn’t need it. Having the game room upstairs will be nice as your child gets older too.

[Deleted]

3br has fine resale around my area

[Aloe Vera]

What is your family situation? If you don't have any children, for sure house #2. If you have 3 small children for example, I would consider the 4 bedrooms.
Also for resale value, what's the make up of the neighborhood? People looking to downgrade don't necessarily need 4 bedrooms. I am thinking about this because there is a new development being built in my neighborhood and house #1 and #2 sound similar. The target is retired people looking to downgrade. They all have 3 bedrooms.

[Susie]

#2 for sure.  Having a game room + 1/2 bath upstairs isn't that big a change from single story, and I love the idea of sending kids to a separate level to play with their friends and hang out.  In our house it'll someday be a finished basement room, but same idea.

[notaregular]

Another vote for house 2, ditto all the reasons above.

[pandorica]

Voting for house 2. We live in a 2 story house and the only bathroom is on the first floor, so I'm really confused by all of the comments that you need to make the second story bathroom a full or 3/4 bath.

[dochas]

Sept 9, 2021 7:02:50 GMT -5 cosmowife said:

#2 for sure. My parents bought a house in a new neighborhood that backed up to a 3 acre lot with one house. A developer bought the lot and now my parents are trying to fight to prevent a three-story apartment building from being built 25 ft from their back property line.

For this reason alone, definitely not option 1.

[lucybrown]

Home 2, for sure.

In our area 3 and 4 bedroom homes are comparable in price if the square footage is the same. The cul de sac and larger rooms sound very appealing. I live in an old 4 bedroom, 2 bath house with small rooms. I'd rather have bigger rooms and one less bedroom. The game room would serve us in any way we'd ever need the fourth bedroom for (office, guest space, etc).

[af1212]

Not sure why people are saying it can’t be a bedroom with only a half bath? To my knowledge bathrooms have nothing to do with whether or not something is officially a bedroom.

Where I live a bedroom has to have an egress and a closet to officially be called a bedroom. I assume that type of code is pretty standard.