Best option 3 or 4 bedrooms

[somewhereovertherain]

Currently we live in a 1930s semi with a loft conversion. We have 3 large double bedrooms with the original box room as an ensuite to the master.

Looking at moving in a couple of years and wondering would we be better with 4 bedrooms. 2 Large doubles and 2 singles.

Will be asking a local estate agent for their opinion but wondered what Mumsnet things

What a strange question. What suits your family? How many are you? Would that mean living in a not so nice area?

How do you mean now? To shave a bit off one you your bigger bedroom to make the box bigger?
I wouldn't personally, most people expect a box bedroom in a 30s house and often jut want it as a nursery / study. If not they can change it themselves.

It suits our family as it is.

But with looking at moving wonder if better splitting the massive loft in two single bedrooms.

Would put a partion wall down the middle of the loft.

Don't split the loft, it's a selling point, a lovely huge bedroom. Live with what suits you, you can't anticipate other people's needs.

Looking at maximising the value when selling.

Are you proposing dividing one of your rooms before selling?

I'd keep 3 big doubles. Thing with needing 4 bedrooms is you often need the bigger downstairs space a 4 bedroom house has. I looked at so many 4 bedroom places where the bedrooms were tiny too, we actually said we'd had preferred 3 big rooms and had 2 children share.

Keep the loft as a large room like pp said. It won't fool anyone when they look around - even if it might look better on the particulars.

Agree with ILikeMyChickenFried, people looking for 4 beds are usually looking for a large downstairs footprint. 3 stories tend to be smaller downstairs. I’d keep it as a 3 bed.

Is it possible to see a plan or give us ideas of dimensions?

Personally I would rather have more bedrooms. If you have two children then it's good to have a bedroom each and a spare bedroom or even office / playroom upstairs - but obviously not if they end up as box rooms.

My last house was a 4 bed townhouse with 2 beds on the 1st floor and 2 on the 2nd and our neighbours was identical except they had knocked a wall down on the 2nd floor and had one large bedroom. It was a stunning light room with views to the front and back but we were able to accommodate visitors at Christmas. And we had extra storage so while my house didn't have the wow factor theirs did it was more practical.

Have you extended downstairs too? We're in a 30s semi too and due to the roof shape / position, 2 singles I imagine would be small with limited head height at certain positions. I think maximising value will depend on what you've done downstairs. It's the square footage which is the key driver. I think there's very little difference in value between a fab 3 (double) bedroom house and a small 4 bed.

Exactly how big is the loft room, and how big would the singles be?

Either way, I wouldn't bother just for the sale. It's the easiest thing surely to convert to two if that is what the buyer wants - after they've purchased. Someone looking for a 4 bed might prefer 3 doubles and a single/guest only double (what I'd look for in a 4 bed).

There's a house on the market near me that has been on for over a year - 8 bed. Except they achieved it by slicing the loft into ridiculously small rooms and the downstairs space doesn't match at all (six seater dining room etc).

Will try and do a plan

Downstairs is Lounge 14ft x 12ft
Dining room is 13.6ft x 11ft
Kitchen is 8ft x 8ft

First floor
Bed 1 is 14ft x 12ft
Bed 2 is 13.6 x 12ft
Ensuite is 7.11 x 7ft
Main bathroom is 8ft x 7.8ft

Loft bedroom is 22ft x 18ft + eves storage

We put a dormer on the side so the stairs are over the stairs so the whole loft bedroom is useable space with restricted hieght into the eves.

I know we have more space than most new build detached four beds round here.

The downstairs is relatively small for a 4 bed. I wouldn't change it. I doubt you'll get more money by dividing the loft.

I anticipate too that if you still have the 3 separate rooms downstairs, with a small kitchen, it wouldn't work for families with say 3DC (who need 4 beds) because none of the downstairs rooms is big enough to congregate as a family (I say this as a family of 5 with a 1930s semi).

I'd suggest that if you want to maximise value / increase saleability you consider knocking the kitchen & dining room together. Far better use of your money.

Hmm - so potentially quite large 'singles' then? Depends how low the eaves come then.

Some people are also picky about bathrooms on each floor too - could you afford to put in a sensible loo at the very least that the bedrooms could share?

Looking at those room dimensions i would say that you are lacking in downstairs space, not upstairs. I would make the kitchen bigger, or if thats not an option can you knock through to the dining room as most people these days want a kitchen/diner at least.

Rooms down stairs all big enough for a family of 5 or 6 to congregate we do often can seat 10 round our dining table. Our down stairs is larger than the new build 4 beds down the road.

Wouldn’t be knocking through as not looking to spend loads.

Thanks for all the feedback

I think the point with new builds is that the living space is generally split over 2 floors - so there's often a large kitchen diner on the ground floor (and yep, your downstairs will be larger than that) but then they usually have a large living room and 1 or 2 bedrooms on the 2nd floor and the other bedrooms on the 2nd floor.

So they generally have more living accommodation, plus the 4 bedrooms, than a 30s semi that hasn't been extended downstairs. You'll no doubt have a bigger plot / more scope to extend etc though.

I'd say that the downstairs fits with a good size 3 bedroom house rather than a 4 bed. If you can extend (some sort of extension onto the kitchen?) then perhaps go for 4 bedrooms but otherwise I'd save your money for the next house if you are thinking of moving in a few years.

No the 4 beds im comparing two are two storey and three story with two beds on each floor.

Think the consensus is to stick with what we have.