4 or 5 beds?

[itstheyearzero]

Wuld be interested to see what you all think of a current disagreement I have with my OH. We have a 5 bed house (4 doubles and one box room). The box room isn't tiny, you could certainly fit a single bed, wardrobe, dressing table etc in there and still have a bit of room to spare. Now the box room is right next to the master bedroom, and would lend itself really well to being an en-suite. My OH thinks it would devalue the house as 5 bed is worth more than 4 bed. I tend to disagree though. There is also a large family bathroom and a downstairs loo, don't know if that makes any difference. Any thoughts?

[thisisyesterday]

personally i would rather have 5 beds than 4

i think en-suites are a waste of space, but i am probably in a minority on that one!!!

i have no idea about how it would affect value though

[itstheyearzero]

Yes plus it's one more bathroom to clean...thats the one thing thats putting me off!

[Effjay]

Speak to an estate agent for their opinion. They're the ones who are usually in touch with the local property market. If there's a shortage of 5 bed houses in the area, it might be a bad idea. Then again, there may not be much of a price differentail between 4 and 5 bed houses, in which case, you win!

[Quattrocento]

Most four bed houses have at least two bathrooms plus downstairs wc don't they?

so a five bed house with only one bathroom and one downstairs wc would seem decidedly under-bathroomed to me

[CMOTdibbler]

It really depends on what someone is looking for - some may say that a 5 bed house needs a second shower - but mostly 5 beds are going to cost more than a 4 bed.

That said, our neighbours have reduced their 5 bed to 4 to make a dressing room for them and an ensuite for their son. But they are a bit mad

[Quattrocento]

I'd never buy a house with only one bathroom

[thisisyesterday]

you could always covert the attic into a bedroom and en-suite!

[teta]

I would convert the 5th bedroom to an ensuite.A 5 bedroomed house with 1 bathroom is not very sellable these days.A large glamorous ensuite com dressing room would increase the value for sure.

[HerHonesty]

personally, i would rather buy a 4 bed with 2 bathrooms than a 5 bed with one bathroom. When you look at floor plan for a 5 with 1 it looks wrong. so then you are caught in a different quandry .... people may look a the house and say "ah but how much will it cost me to convert the 5th bedroom.."

we have 3 with 2 and the option to make it 4 upstairs and a new study/spareroom with shower room downstairs... am trying to convince dh that 4th could be my dressing room. its not really working..

[kickassangel]

speak to an estate agent, but not many people have 4 kids, or if they do, they expect/accept kids sharing.

5 bed may fetch slightly more than 4 bed 1 bath, but not as much as 4 bed, 1 bath & 'master suite'

are you intending to sell soon? if not, do what suits you, not what gets best price.

when looking at cost of houses, remember cost of conversion - do you have plumbing nearby? toilet waste pipes are diff & can be expensive to put in.

[PrettyCandles]

One bathroom for five bedrooms means that that one bathroom has to serve six people (2 in the master bedroom). That's just not enough nowadays.

I think potential buyers are far more likely to want 4-bed 2-bath than 5-bed 1-bath. House values are not purely based upon number of bedrooms.

Previous owners of our house had the boxroom converted into an ensuite to the master bedroom, which is an extention. We could easily refit the ensuite, close up the existing door, and reopen the original door to turn into a second family bathroom.

Double bedrooms can easily accommodate children sharing, bt theres not much point if you can't wash them!

[Butterpie]

Is that true- that 4 beds needs more toilets than two?? Wow. I grew up in various four bed houses, we only ever had one toilet and for a while had no bath, only a shower, and we didn't think it odd and no-one ever said anything.

I always thought that was pretty normal. I have 2 bedrooms now (four people), and two toilets (one bathroom, one shower) and I thought that was excessive!

[LynetteScavo]

En -suite.

As teta says.

[littlemissindecisive]

We have 5 and could do the same with bedroom 5...in the long-run as its DS's room at the moment.

I'd leave it as it is - we use one of our rooms as an office/guestroom. Unless you're desperate for an en-suite i'd just leave it, or make it into a lovely dressing room for just you.

[itstheyearzero]

Thanks. Some different opinions there! A couple of things still putting me off 1) more bathrooms to clean as I said before and 2) The landing is beautiful with original oak bedroom doors. To lose the box room bedroom door would be a sin, and the landing wouldn't look right IYKWIM. I suppose we could block off the door on the inside, thus leaving the door on the landing in situ (but leading nowhere!) , but then the cornicing in the en-suite would be ruined. Decisions, decisions... I do tend to agree that 4 bed (master with en suite) would be better for a large family, but there's just em, my OH and DS at the moment, and we are not intending to sell anytime soon. Thnaks for your input, it is food for thought

[PrettyCandles]

Why would thecornicing be ruined?

[kickassangel]

you could have a 'jack & jill' bathroom - entrance to your room & the hallway?

you could also have big cupboards built into the entrance way to the bathroom from your bedroom, then another door into the bathroom itself? (hard to explain, but a friend put it in an old house that needed more storage) you effectively enter the bathroom through walk through closet.

[Fizzylemonade]

I'm another for an en-suite. We have a 4 bed with an en-suite, family bathroom & downstairs toilet.

I wouldn't consider buying a house with 4 beds and one bathroom let alone 5 beds.

Block the door from the inside, giving someone the option at a later date to either have2 doors into it or reinstate a bedroom.

[Deux]

I would turn the box room into a walk through dressing room with the ensuite at the end. Very Narnia.

5 bed and 1 bath seems a bit unbalanced. That's what we have and we are converting the box room to an ensuite. I have had several EAs around and they have all said the same. People are expecting 2 baths with 4 beds. We are in the SE.

Having said all that, I do think people are a bit obsessed with the number of toilets these days. [Fogey]