Does my house count as two or three bedroom?

moneyistooshorttomention

GDB2222 wrote: »

You can get the EA to state that the dining room is dining room/3rd bedroom, and it can be described as 2/3 bedrooms.

Thank you. Guess that sounds like a plan then - so "dining room/3rd bedroom and 2/3 bedrooms" it is then.

No-one who reads the description and plan will turn up unaware of the layout of the place that way.

becominganobsessivesaver

Unless you live in a student area I would say marketing at anything but a 2 bed would be silly. A 10 x 11 lounge is a small reception room for living and dining for a minimum of 3 people (unless theres a huge kitchen).
To be honest I think you need to be realistic with yourself, in this market you are highly unlikely to generate a premium on other 2 beds because of a partition wall on your dining room.
In the current market you need to be realistic more than trying to trick buyers (they're savvier than they used to be!!)
Good luck

notanewuser

I don't believe people pay a premium for "versatility" these days. You describe the house as a "2 up 2 downer" on another thread.

To be honest, any value in being able to use the dining room as a bedroom is eradicated by the damp wall, wood chip, boarded up fireplaces, gas fire and Upvc windows. You also say you had the dividing wall rebuilt. Most people would probably orefer a through room these days, so your odds of finding a seller prepared to pay top dollar are diminishing the more you post.

I lived very happily in a similar house years ago, and sold for a large profit, but I'm no idiot. You could fit a double bed in my current kitchen, but that doesn't make it a bedroom!!!

Fire_Fox

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Looks - from replies to date - that maybe I have to describe the house as "2/3 bedrooms and 1/2 reception rooms" and, of course, people will see that 2 of the rooms are upstairs and 2 downstairs from the description and floorplan. No-one would turn up expecting the room concerned to be upstairs from that.

Still wondering how much extra I can price the house at for "versatility" or do I just have to price it at the same price as a 4 rooms house with a non-versatile 2nd reception room and at least feel pleased that my house would sell more easily than theirs because of its extra versatility?

Why are you still saying "from replies to date 2/3 bedrooms"? Nobody here has said that except you!! What is the point of the thread if you are going to completely ignore the opinions? Everyone is telling you two bedrooms for sale, it's only a third bedroom for the student rental market but you are not letting.

Research land registry sold prices for houses in your street and area. Very few people will want a third bedroom downstairs, most are quite happy to have a dining room or office attached to the kitchen or with outside access. These days many people knock through to make one large living space or a one large kitchen-diner. What you think of as versatile many would deem a rabbit warren.

GDB2222

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Why are you still saying "from replies to date 2/3 bedrooms"? Nobody here has said that except you!! What is the point of the thread if you are going to completely ignore the opinions? Everyone is telling you two bedrooms for sale, it's only a third bedroom for the student rental market but you are not letting.

Research land registry sold prices for houses in your street and area. Very few people will want a third bedroom downstairs, most are quite happy to have a dining room or office attached to the kitchen or with outside access. These days many people knock through to make one large living space or a one large kitchen-diner. What you think of as versatile many would deem a rabbit warren.

Well, a few posts back, I suggested "You can get the EA to state that the dining room is dining room/3rd bedroom, and it can be described as 2/3 bedrooms." So, maybe a minor apology to the OP is in order.

I agree with everything else you said, except that he can try to position the house as both a 2 bed family house and a 3 bed student house. He may end up not appealing to either market, but he can try.

Fire_Fox

GDB2222 wrote: »

Well, a few posts back, I suggested "You can get the EA to state that the dining room is dining room/3rd bedroom, and it can be described as 2/3 bedrooms." So, maybe a minor apology to the OP is in order.

I agree with everything else you said, except that he can try to position the house as both a 2 bed family house and a 3 bed student house. He may end up not appealing to either market, but he can try.

'Can' and 'try' doesn't indicate that is a wise or recommended course of action, did you mean something different? The OP seems to have interpreted that as "maybe I have to describe the house" - is that what you meant?

HappyMJ

I would only advertise this as a traditional 2 up 2 down property. Anyone could see it's that anyway but if you put 2/3 bedrooms on the description I would assume there would be a 3rd bedroom on the back somewhere or maybe in the roof space that was probably a bit too small to be described as a bedroom and is more suitable as a study. I would still assume there would be 2 reception rooms. When viewing I would be very disappointed and leave. If you were to have 2 people per bedroom you would have 6 people crammed into a 10' by 11' space when dining and watching telly. It just wouldn't work. You need more space than that. At least with 2 reception rooms the maximum occupancy of 2 bedrooms would only be 4 people and they could fit in either reception room quite comfortably.

GDB2222

Fire_Fox wrote: »

'Can' and 'try' doesn't indicate that is a wise or recommended course of action, did you mean something different? The OP seems to have interpreted that as "maybe I have to describe the house" - is that what you meant?

I haven't seen the house or even the other thread describing it, so I can't say whether it's a good idea. The OP says "Guess that sounds like a plan then", so he'll presumably think about it and discuss it with the EA.

I don't see anywhere that I implied that he ought to use that wording or he said that he had to, but maybe I need to go to the opticians again. Anyway, the weather's far too nice to spend the day indoors bickering on the internet.....

moneyistooshorttomention

Thanks for replies to date.

Part of the versatility of the house is the 2 reception rooms could easily be knocked through into a "through lounge" if anyone wanted to.

I'm just trying to weigh up pros and cons of the house as objectively as I can and I know that the "down" side is its "reasonably well-maintained" (rather than "immaculate") on the one hand. Hence the looking for the "plus" side as to how it's a lot more versatile than many houses in this area on the other hand.

I'm looking for the plus points - to help with the minus points - and come to a "balance" that tells me exactly what the house is worth.

Having had an ENORMOUS amount of work left to me by the previous owners of this house - and done/paid for a heck of a lot of it myself (and..boy...was that a struggle and a half on my income)- then I think that's quite a rational viewpoint to take. That is - I can see what still needs to be done (as in I couldnt cope with the HUGE amount of work left needing doing by previous owners - but I did a lot of it) versus the versatility.

I chose this house in the first place on the grounds of:
- good location
- I knew/know more people in this area than any other terrace house area in my location and (with that) believed the area wouldn't be allowed to deteriorate
- correct layout
- versatile

whilst having to ignore that it was A Wreck that I was having to pay "standard rate" for (because it was a sellers market at the time).

I think I've done pretty well to take it from A Wreck to "reasonably well-maintained" in the circumstances:rotfl::rotfl:

JQ.

It's a 2 bed house - market it as such.

There's nothing illegal as marketing as a 3 bed, but all you'll do is end up with lots of confused / annoyed viewers when they realise that it's actually a 2 bed. You'll just end up wasting your own time.

I've seen a few brochures where vendors have tried to artificially increase the number of beds and it puts me off, as it makes me think what other facts have they miss-represented.