Marketing 3 bed house as a 4 bed…

[ViaRia01]

… or any number of bedroom…. when the “4th bedroom” is in fact downstairs and would ordinarily be a dining room or additional reception room.

Does this annoy anyone else? Have you ever done this? Why do people do it?

OK, I know people do it to try to make their house seem more desirable. But it’s just a really slimey thing to do in my opinion. Buyers are not stupid, they can see just how many actual bedrooms the place has. But what it does do is waste everyone’s time when you filter the website for 4 bed or more and keep finding 3 bedroom houses with a separate dining room.

I’m not including bungalows in this obviously, nor chalet bungalows, bungalows with loft converted to a second storey. Barn conversions are also off the hook.

My own house was sold to me as a four bedroom (the fourth bedroom is downstairs and has a small skylight but not windows, it is very small, more like the size of a utility room and it is situated right next to the kitchen, exactly where one would expect to find a utility room). When we sell it, we will market it as a 3 bed with a downstairs office.

Similar issue with bungalows, marketed as three bedrooms but the third bedroom is a reception room with a patio door, which is the only door into the garden/rear exit, so not a bedroom at all, or only an occasional guest room with a sofa bed maybe.

My house has a downstairs 4th bedroom/study. We use it as a study and spare bedroom, what is wrong with that? A room is a room, families can use them how they like.

I love a good floor plan - I don’t expect I’ll ever accidentally arrive at one of these houses and wonder where the bedroom is. I wouldn’t book a viewing if the space didn’t suit us. When I say a waste of time I’m talking about clicking links to four bed houses which actually don’t have (in my view, at least) four bedrooms. Admittedly, not a huge waste of time but when a house and area looks great and you click only to find it doesn’t tick one of your main requirements, it’s obviously annoying.

Yes it annoys me and i avoid anything that like that as it could impact your council tax and water rates for example

So did the house I grew up in. Was originally meant as an integral garage but my parents had it made into an additional room. Over the years it was a playroom, study and second sitting room. Eventually became a downstairs bedroom when mum couldn’t manage the stairs any more. When the house was sold it was as a 3/4 bedroom house.

I agree - it’s not a time waste to the extent of viewing but just annoying when you get your hopes up at the listing and then realise you’re being conned.

Downstairs rooms can obviously be used as bedrooms if that’s what the buyer wants to do that, but many people looking for a four bedroom house have a big enough family that losing a reception room isn’t an option. The house is just too small, however it’s configured.

@easylikeasundaymorn yes, I did of course consider mobility impaired people before I posted this and perhaps I should have covered that. I totally understand that many people may need to or prefer to use a ground floor room as a bedroom.
but… I would say that the vast majority of people prefer to sleep on the first or second floor. so that’s what I’m referring to really… it obviously doesn’t matter how the vendor is using their own space. I don’t think they should pretend it’s their dining room when it is in fact their bedroom. But when marketing the house, I would still say that typically bedrooms are upstairs.

Sorry, just to be clear I’m not saying that people shouldn’t sleep on the ground floor if they find that preferable/ easier. This is about pretending a house is bigger than it is to get it through the filters on a website. It’s pointless and annoying!

@Catza not quite sure what you mean there, as I bought a three bed house with a downstairs office…. Not a four bed house.

@PlantDoctor I don’t think it will affect the value really as I wasn’t tricked into buying it, I knew all along it was a three bed house. The house isn’t more valuable just because someone once claimed it has more bedrooms than it actually does

Our house is the same as yours. Three double bedrooms and a ground floor office/bedroom. We also have a large ensuite and a box room.

The house is an extended end of terrace and so if extended you get finite space. Other configurations we viewed with 4 bedrooms on the first floor didn't work as well especially when the main bathroom was then on the ground floor.

So YANBU

Yes! We're house hunting and saw two of those on Saturday. Such a waste of everyone's time, don't list it as a three bed if you can't actually fit a bed in there! Grrrrr

I have a 'bedroom' that's less than 6' wide and just under 7' long. Might get a cot and chest of drawers in there. Everyone, but everyone, on the street of identical Victorian houses, uses it as an office. But on paper a four bed sounds so spacious!

If Lenders denote it as a 3 bed they will only lend to the value of a 3 bed, regardless of how it's marketed.

Yep it’s incredibly annoying. Recently I’ve seen a few with dinings rooms with sliding patio doors leading to a conservatory and they still call them bedrooms. And I’ve also seen one where the 3rd bedroom was actually half of the living room because they said you could build a wall and use it as a bedroom.

Just to add a laugh. When viewing houses I was very keen on seeing the one advertised with a utility room.

In reality, when the agent opened a door to what had been the outside toilet I was faced with a washing machine with a drier on top. This fit, perfectly, the ‘utility room’ doorway ( leaving me in the garden, in the rain!). 😆

I disagree that bedrooms need be upstairs. There must be criteria for a bedroom, such as fitting a single bed and having a window, accessible from shared spaces (not through another bedroom)?

My grandmother's house is three bedrooms, two upstairs, one downstairs. My grandmother now sleeps downstairs, it was built as a bedroom and used as a bedroom when the children were living there also.

I just wish they had the m2 along with the bedroom numbers. And could filter with the m2 size. That would tell me much more.

Easier there as all their internal walls tend to be stud not brick.

We definitely list numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms in America, as well as total sq feet! But there are very strict rules about what can be counted as a bedroom. For instance, it has to have a window and a closet.

Yes this really annoys me! We have 4DC, often we see houses advertised as 5 bed when it's really another downstairs reception room or room above garage not joined to main house or a tiny box room which you'd only just about get a single bed in and nothing else.
I suppose sellers take EA advice on marketing but a quick look at the floor plan rules it out if you really need a certain amount of bedrooms. They used to say 4/5 beds which you knew actually meant 4 beds.
Also annoying are houses advertised as 5beds but they are currently student let's where every room except for kitchen and bathroom is a ' bedroom' living in a uni town that also screws up my search results!

But how do you search for a three bed with study? You search for a four bed.

I do get it as removing a reception room designed for a 3 bed really reduces the living space for the larger family that would need a 4 bed. But rooms can be used for whatever you like so I think I would prefer them marketed as eg x number of rooms on the first floor and on the second floor (not including kitchens and bathrooms).
Our house is very old and has 4 reception rooms downstairs. They've kept their purpose except for one which has been a snug, teens gaming room and office with sofabed as it is now. I would never call any of the downstairs room a bedroom though.

Not if you want a downstairs study though?

I’ve got a garden office (converted detached garage) that I could fit a sofa bed in but would still feel dishonest advertising my house as four bedroom!