5 small or 4 large bedrooms?

[Notsoskinnyminny]

Our house was built with 5 bedrooms. 2 large with ensuites (1 with a dressing room), bed 3 is a small double 12ft x10ft (currently used as home office/sewing room). Beds 4 & 5 were 7 x 10 singles which we converted to 1 room. Had a valuation last night and agent said we'd knocked £15k off the value and recommended we put the wall back.

If you were buying would you prefer 4 good sized rooms or the status of living in a 5 bed house? Would the lack of a bed in room 3 put you off?

4 doubles. I disagree that 5 bedrooms confers higher status - it depends on the rest of the house. I've seen plenty where a 5th bedroom has been shoe-horned in so that it can be described as such, but the rest of the house wasn't big enough or nice enough for the kind of people who are actively looking for a 5 bed. Likewise, we viewed a house last week that was only a 3 bed (2 doubles and a box room) but the downstairs space was amazing - it sold in less than a week for more than most 4 beds go for.

Up until this year I would have said 4 large.

Now with wfh being so common and I suspect likely to continue for many (at least 2/3 days a week) having a small designated study is quite valuable.

Thanks for all the responses. It was an EA who advised taking the wall down when we bought the house so the kids (teens) didn't squabble over rooms. DH can do the work so we might put it up as a 4-5 and offer to do the work if new owner wants 5 and let them pick carpets etc

It is interesting that 5 bedrooms is seen as so much more desirable. I've been working on a seriously big house in the last year, as in more than 4000 sq ft, and they only wanted 4 bedrooms. Each one is basically a suite with dressing room and bathroom though, and there is a separate study.

How does that price compare to other 4 beds in the area and would you consider your house a "good" 4 bed.

Depends on the area/market you're targeting but often just down to whether the house feels like a home and the layout "works".

I've looked at so many houses where they've shoe horned tiny bedrooms in and they're like rabbit warrens.

Honestly I'd just put it on the market and see what happens

A buyer would be advised not to have you do the work partitioning the room part way through the purchase process and after survey. If you restore the two rooms before marketing it for sale it will be more straightforward all round - not least because you'll have to declare making alterations and potentially provide certificates from building control, for electrical work, etc.

If someone is specifically looking for a 5 bed, the house in it's current configuration won't appear in their Rightmove search and they may never know about it. Whereas the other way round, those looking for a 4 bed will also see houses with 5 beds, if in budget.

I'd prefer 4 large but only have the two kids. People with bigger families or who often have guests or want multiple home offices might want the 5.

If Yiu don't want to do the work, it's worth mentioning in your marketing that the big room is 2 knocked together and easily reversible, if needed.

I agree with landlockedblues. We have 3 kids and wfh so the extra bedroom would be useful, otherwise your house wouldn’t come up in our search.

I wouldn’t market it as 4/5 as that makes it seem like you have a box room. Just make a note in the wording that it could be converted to 4 double bedrooms easily.

I've seen houses advertised where I am as 4/5 bedrooms and the text, used to be 5 bedrooms, owners converted to 4 but could easily be changed back to 5.

Would that sort of thing help in your case?

I think 2 bedrooms of 7 x 10 is not that bad, I've seen a few 5 bed houses where the 2 smallest rooms are basically either in a narrow extension (so 5ft wide x 11ft say) or a subdivided larger room producing effectively 2 boxrooms of 7ft x 6ft or similar. I think in those cases it's probably better to sell as a 4 bed, but for yours I'd consider putting the wall back, selling as a 5 double bed house is going to considerably increase the value - if it was 3 doubles, 2 singles maybe not so much.

We have 4 doubles but then a smallish single of 8ft square (although slightly less in reality as it has the stair bulkhead in it) which I use as my study, although there is also a daybed in there for guests. Hoping to change that to a Murphy bed at some point so I have more room to work!

Do the work before it goes on the market. Or decide to keep it as a 4-bed and market accordingly.

Saying you'll reinstate the wall if a buyer wants is the worst of both worlds - personally I wouldn't touch something based on the promise the vendor would do something. You might completely bodge it!

Exactly! Marketing as 4/5 bedrooms is not a good idea imho as all too often that means that is another room somewhere in the house which is big enough to put a bed in, but is probably best utilised as a study/playroom/TV room. Often on the ground floor.

When you market a house for sale you want to reach as many people of possible rather than put them off and have them not see the listing.

I’d be presenting one of the small ones as the sewing room / workspace.

If I needed or wanted 5 beds, I’d look at houses with 5 beds.

People search by minimum number of bedrooms, so you are missing all the people who search for 5 beds.

Whereas the people who put a minimum of 4 will still see 6 bed houses.

I’d go for 5 bedrooms. It’s not a status thing, it’s a having 4dc thing!

In this circumstance i'd prefer the 5 bedrooms - I see more value in being able to separate out children/guest room/home office & they don't need to be huge - 7 x 10 is a reasonable size.

A “status” thing? YABU for turning it into snob value.

We have 5 bedrooms because we have 3 children plus work from home and have visiting family a lot. We didn’t just want to announce to everyone we have 5 bedrooms to up our social standing. We actually wanted them and wouldn’t even consider 4 beds when we were viewing places.