Space Imbalance upstairs vs downstairs...

[eddies36]

How much does this matter to most people?

Would you be out off a house if it had plenty of space downstairs and your average 4 bed, 2 baths upstairs?

Do people care about this? I'm considering a garage part-conversion.

I would only care about our needs. Our house has a much bigger ground floor but we still use some of the upstairs as a living area so that almost the entire house gets used regularly.

How out of balance would your house be?

Sounds great to me. Whatever size, I like my areas to be well-defined. Bedrooms are for sleeping in, so I don't need or want them to be massive, and having plenty of room for different activities downstairs would be great.

Depends what you mean by imbalanced? If you're talking about a huge downstairs with 3 pokey bedrooms, or a 5 bedrooms house with small downstairs then yes, it matters. I think houses have to be balanced.

I don't think 4 beds, 2 baths is average... But as others have said I wouldn't care as long as I had enough bedrooms.

Adding space is great. I'd pick a house with bigger downstairs than upstairs over one with a bigger upstairs, and I'd pick a house with more living space over the same house without.

If it gets extremely unbalanced then you're into downstairs bedroom territory, which is a bit more niche, but I don't think a part garage conversion should be a concern. Single storey extensions are very, very common.

I'd happily have a large downstairs and a small upstairs, as long as in had enough bedrooms and toilets. My bil has a 5 double bedroom house - but downstairs, there isn't enough space to seat everyone should all the bedrooms be full iyswim so imo a bit pointless and v top heavy. I care not for big bedrooms.

If you have a large downstairs and 4 beds 2 baths that doesn't sound unbalanced . The problem with a lot of new builds is that they put 2 extra bedrooms in what is in effect the loft space so they can sell a 5 bedroom house on what in effect is the downstairs space of a 3 bedroom house IYSWIM . We have a detached 4 bed /2 bath and the original downstairs was kitchen / breakfast room , lounge and dining room all well proportioned .

Hmm interesting. People have given lots of different scenarios.

I suppose on re-selling the house a buyer might think that there's loads of space downstairs but upstairs is quite small in comparison. I was wondering if another usable room downstairs would tip the balance further.

To clarify - I meant it's your average SIZED 4 beds with 2 baths (upstairs).

But yes single story extensions are more the norm these days, so this wouldn't be that uncommon.

Still can't decide though!

What would be the square footage upstairs and downstairs? In terms of resale and a balanced property, you'd also need to consider the size of the plot, the appearance of the house etc.

Is sounds like it's an investment property? I probably wouldn't bother part converting the garage if there isn't a shortage of living space downstairs.

4 beds 2 baths is not average round here! Loads of 2 and 3 beds.

To me it sounds like you're asking if people would be put off a bigger house compared with a smaller one. If extended, your house might appeal less than another that was also bigger upstairs, but that's ok.

We have looked round loads of 4 beds and they were pretty much all big enough upstairs IIRC. What really distinguished the ones we wanted was a (downstairs) playroom and eat in kitchen. Other buyers will have different priorities perhaps but I think we're pretty mainstream.

It depends what you are looking for.
I've seen lots of top heavy houses which are fine if you need lots of bedrooms.
There also seems to be a lot of open plan designs around which isn't my cup of tea but each to their own.

I would want more space downstairs than up.

I would go for additional downstairs space if there are 4 bedrooms upstairs. A big sell for us was additional living space so that we could have a 'grown up' reception room that could mostly be kept tidy and an additional family room for tv, consoles, having friends over etc. As the kids get older the downstairs space has become more important.

A PP makes a good point that 3-storey, 5-bedroom houses are really common for new builds but generally have little living space - fine if everyone wants to hang out in their bedrooms but not great otherwise.

Could you make that extra space multifunctional? Put a proper bathroom down there too so it could be used as an annexe/ spare room or as extra living space?

Thanks for everyone's ideas, it's really helpful.

Currently the downstairs is about 20 pc bigger than the upstairs... the garage would make it nearer 30...

Not sure there's enough space for a shower room sadly.

The additional living space would mean our growing brood could enjoy time without us all falling over each other... But maybe that's what I'm also scared of! The arguments over the remote / best comfy chair just wouldn't happen...!

I would be put off any house where the garage has been part converted if you could no longer get a car in. If it is currently a double and you are talking about making it a single, fair enough, but we immediately rejected any house where a single garage has been converted so you couldn't use it as a garage.

If you see lots of developers houses, they tend to be top heavy. I saw a 6 bed house once with only 80 sqm of living space in the ground floor including the hallway. This is is ridiculous for a house designed for at potentially at least 7 people to live in Much much better to have a large downstairs and smaller bedrooms, as the communal areas will have the largest amount of occupants at once.

You don’t need to worry about 30% larger downstairs. That sounds perfect actually.

Our estate agent told us that converting the whole garage to living space tends to be value neutral on average. Some people prefer the garage, others prefer the living space, but both groups will pay about the same for their preferred option. In converting you'll lose buyers who want to put a car in the garage, but you'll gain buyers who appreciate the extra living space, and neither will pay a premium over the other. That's just an anecdote really and will depend on local conditions and buyers.

A part conversion of a single garage is a bit different but generally seems to go down well round here. We need storage space for bikes etc but, like everyone else I know except my parents, we never put a car in our garage, so a part conversion would be ideal for us. An estate agent could probably advise on local conditions.

Where I live people do loft loft extensions on houses with quite a small downstairs footprint, so they end up with 4/5 bedrooms over a a kitchen and a living room. I'd much rather have more living space relative to bedrooms.