AIBU to market this as a 4 bedroom house?

[MommaDuck]

Keeping this really simple, with an awful diagram…sorry!
I originally moved in to a 3 bed house, decent size living room and dining room. Very small kitchen.

I have now done some Reno work.

I have my 4 boys who are all upstairs- all bedrooms have had double beds, computers, wardrobes etc- good sizes. One room now has bunk beds instead of a double for little ones.

My room is now what was the old living room. Big room 3.5x3.5 fits my super king bed and fitted wardrobes etc. Has a double window that faces front garden (blinds and bushes for privacy).

Extension… old kitchen now utility area and downstairs shower and toilet (this is for me as boys have upstairs bathroom).

End of hallway is a large L shape kitchen/diner with living area (this is the old dining room).

So new kitchen diner is 6x6m has a large island 3x1.8m and a dining table that seats 8, plus room for a sofa down at bifold doors. So definitely big enough to be a kitchen/diner in its own right without being a squeeze.

The new living area- knocked the wall through so all open plan into kitchen/diner. A large sofa sits all 6 of us comfortably. Log burner, TV etc. a living room in its own right as well.

Now, I know how much mumsnetters have had to say when it comes to 3 bed houses marketed as a 4 bed when the fourth bedroom is tiny, or no window, or small skylight or is downstairs etc. Whilst the bedroom is downstairs, it is plenty big where it was the old living room, so surely size wouldn’t play a factor?

Husband says can absolutely market as 4 bed, as now has downstairs bathroom and the living area and new front room is all a completely separate space- I am unsure.

I know estate agent will market as 4 bed as they want to maximise their sale etc.

My floorplan drawing is shit… apologies. However, would you be pissed off if you came to view this marketed as a four bed- presumably you’d have seen the floor plan first? I don’t want to waste peoples time or drag it out.

You are not being unreasonable - Market as 4 bed.
You are being unreasonable- market as a 3 bed don’t waste people’s valuable time.

3 bed

A house needs a separate sitting room. A seating area in the kitchen is nice but it’s not the same.

A lot of people wouldn’t want to sleep on a different floor to young children (it’s a bonus with teens) so it rules a lot of buyers out.

It’s not worth as much as a 4 bed but far bigger than your usual 3, these type of conversions only suit some audiences-like house shares and student lets.

I would say versatile living accommodation. 3/4 bed

I would discount it as it's a 3 bed with a downstairs living room.

I have a big kitchen/dining/living room with a big play room and living room in two separate rooms. I wouldn't sell my house as a 6 bed house.

In Ireland one of the planning conditions for self-build houses is a downstairs bedroom and bathroom so that the house is future-proofed to accommodate the owner when they're too old to use the stairs regularly.

So a downstairs bedroom shouldn't be seen as unusual at all.

It's a 4-bedroom house if you're selling it as a student let but most people would not want to have their permanent bedroom on the ground floor of the front of the house.

Will it be cheaper than a house with 4 beds upstairs?

If so, why not market it as a cheaper 4 bed. People who have a lot of children often don't have huge amounts of money so would be grateful for the additional bedroom.

It's a three bed.

When we moved we needed a 4 bed, but due to lack of properties that weren't new builds at largely inflated prices I expanded my search to 3 beds with potential for a 4th.

What we have is a three bed with the garage conversion used as a bedroom. It was in the blurb it could be used as a bedroom (we do have a downstairs shower room) but marketed as a 3.

Oh and don't expect people to read the full details, we sold our obviously 3 bed house and still had someone come to view thinking it was a 4 bed.

I’d want a separate space downstairs that isn’t open plan so I’d see it as a living room space, but I’d really large like you say, then I’d probably change my mind, but I’d still prefer to have a separate space and not everything open plan.

If everything in your area is marketed the same way, then I’d go with that. Or with the 3/4 bedrooms.

It's a three bed house; but the floorplan can make clear that the space downstairs is flexible to make it a very decent 4th bedroom. (I'd bet It will be used by your buyer as a separate sitting room - the world is full of kids who decide to take up the trumpet or the recorder and practise in the open plan areas. This is NOT FUN)

Downstairs and looking onto the front garden isn't a standard location for a proper bedroom for me and I would absolutely not pay the premium of a 4 bedder for the house. Best of luck OP.

In my area, if I saw that house be marketed as a 4 bed I'd find that a bit irritating. I actually saw a listing like that once, snorted, and noticed it got changed quite quickly. 3 bed 2 reception rooms would be a better description. But it may be different elsewhere. Can you look to see if there are any other properties like this in your neck of the woods, and how they're marketed?

We went to view a "4 bed house" and it was actually 3 beds with 2 reception rooms, I was mightily pissed off

It's a 3 bed. If you only had one child, would you still use the downstairs room as a bedroom? I doubt it. You're using it as a bedroom because you need to/want to. Most people would use it as a lounge. I wouldn't want to pay a premium for a ; bed, when there's no other separate living space.

It’s a 3 bed. Sorry but the living space you’ve posted a pic of is way too small for a 4 bedroom house, you certainly wouldn’t fit a family of 5 comfortably relaxing in that area, so the downstairs room would be needed by most as a second reception room. It would really put me off as a buyer even if I only needed a 3 bed as it would make me think the sellers were trying to push up the value by mi-describing the number of bedrooms.

It's a 3 bed. The fact you're using a reception room as a bedroom is irrelevant.

Could you market it as 3/4 beds, which usually signifies one room is flexible. I have a downstairs extra room that has been used as a second sitting room but also as a bedroom since being here. When I eventually sell it that’s how I’m planning on marketing it. Some countries market their houses as how many rooms it has (not including kitchen and bathroom ) and it’s up to you what you use them for but here in the UK we like to be very specific.

Even allowing for the sharp practices (or blatant lies) that estate agents seem to do, I think you should call it a 3 bed house.

Oh we actually do that most days 🙈

Being frank, it's a two bed.

Bedrooms downstairs don't really count given the noise issues from the living area and one of your bedrooms is 2.5m x 3.24 that's 8ft x 10ft. That's a study.

You could push it as a three bed. But if I was looking at those measurements I'd consider the smaller bedroom to be a study and/or storage.

It's a 3 bed. It's OK to say that a reception room is currently used as a bedroom to indicate that it could be used that way, but people who want 4 beds tend to also want more room on the ground floor too. So, a sitting room and a dining room, not one that's used as a bedroom.

Just putting a bed in a 2nd reception room doesn't make it a bedroom.

We have the same. Only 4 bedrooms upstairs and our 2nd reception room is used as a bedroom.

It's still a 4 bed house, not 5.

When we bought our house it was classed as a 3/4 bedroom house with the 4th one being downstairs. There wasn't even a downstairs bathroom!
This was deliberately done to widen the market the house would appeal to.
FWIW what use to annoy me more was houses marketed as 2 bed but then bathroom and toilet were downstairs, through all the other rooms!

The kitchen diner is 6x6m, then the little room off of it which is the living area is 3.8 x3.2m.
The length of the room from the log burner to the bifolds is just under 10m.
The Sofa is quite large so I guess makes the room look smaller.
This is a picture of me on the sofa in the showroom, so you can the size of it. But yes it makes the space look smaller if that makes sense.

I would market as a 3/4 bed, mine is similar and it's what the estate agent did

It is certainly not a two bed at all. It has a double bed in that room, floor space, storage space and room for my sons computer desk.
I get that some rooms are too small for a double bed etc, but this is not a 2 bed. That’s ridiculous.

Your floor plan looks like a three bed with a separate living room. If it said bedroom four I’d be thinking student house to be honest. So many people now need separate rooms to work in so a wholly open plan downstairs is tricky. I agree too that a bedroom on the ground floor at the front is not something I’m keen on. I’ve done in when living in flats and always been slightly uncomfortable.

I’d also be a bit put off by having to remove good fitted wardrobes. It would feel like a waste, but also I wouldn’t want them in a living room.

I agree marketing it as a potential fourth bedroom on the ground floor with mention of the bathroom would hopefully mean people who actively wanted that would pick up on it.