What would you prefer if you were buying my house

[planforeverything]

Hi All,

Currently doing a back to brick renovation of a terraced house in London and there’s a room just off a bedroom that’s decent sized for an en-suite…or walk in wardrobe. I’m 50/50 on what to do with it and am thinking more about the resale value now to help me make the decision as this is unlikely our forever home (hate that phrase) and need to decide this week.

First floor has a master bedroom with wall to wall wardrobes and big en-suite and a guest bedroom with good sized en-suite and wall to wall wardrobes

2nd floor has two double bedrooms (one with no wardrobe, one with eaves wardrobes) and the family bathroom. One of these bedrooms (the larger and one with eaves wardrobes) is the one with the room off it for either an en-suite or walk in wardrobe. If we don’t go for an en-suite 2 bedrooms will share one bathroom.

When we do sell we’re looking to fetch top $$$ - our house was the cheapest on the street at £1.25m (sorry I wanted to avoid the money talk and its ridiculous that a terraced house in zone 2 London costs that these days) but trying to gauge what people would prefer at that price point. If you were spending >£1.8m on a terrace house in London would you prefer an en-suite or walk in wardrobe?

There’s also a downstairs loo (destined to be cleaning toilets forever)

Storage / home office

Storage! I hate en suites and live storage. You could even turn it into an upstairs laundry room if plumbing is easy? That I’d really love.

How much living space is on the ground floor? It sounds potentially a bit too top heavy, with bedrooms and bathrooms on two floors out of three.

This is a house for you to live in primarily. So what you need is a priority over what any guests might need. And the same will be true for any potential future buyers.

You should really design your house for you to live in rather than design it for someone else in the future and putting investment thoughts first.

Its clear from what you've said that storage is the issue in the house, so go with that.

Me, totally storage/wardrobe.

There are plenty of bathroom and some of us prefer some distance between where we sleep and where other people poop.

I’d do the storage option but style it as a dressing room which includes a sink/vanity with a well lit mirror.

At that level, many will want a separate space with bathroom for the nanny / au pair so they don't have to share with the family. But agree you should do whatever suits your needs while you're there.

With the number of bathrooms you already have I would go for a dressing room/walk in wardrobe.

With the caveat I am at least £1m short of being your target buyer!

Teenage den or study space depends on size of room you could add some built in cupboards for storage

yiu have plenty of bathrooms.

I would make it a study

Can you have storage and make the bathroom into a Jack and Jill?

That’s verging on too many bathrooms as it is! Wardrobe for sure

Ground floor is 2 living rooms and kitchen (which will also have a sofa and TV in) and basement has a living room, utility room (which I’ve made large for loads of storage) and a toilet and then some built in cupboards in the hallway.

All of the bedrooms have fitted wardrobes/storage

Going against either option but would a study space work?

I'm liking this idea, I hate carrying my laundry up several flights of stairs as ours is in the garage/utility on the basement floor.

I'd go storage over yet another bathroom to clean, but I don't really get the en-suite obsession.

This.

More plumbing is just one more thing to go wrong. Can't beat a large storage area.

4 beds and 5 loos seems overkill to me

If I had 1.8m I wouldn't be buying something done up as I would I make a profit on it however lack of storage annoys me.

Home office

In your situation, i would go storage. In terms of re-sale, i dont think anyone will walk in and say there are not enough bathrooms (and if they do, it can be pointed out to them that it would be very easy to convert the storage to an ensuite, esp if you put in the basic plumbing).
However, some people might walk in and think there is not enough storage if you go with the ensuite. I have also heard some people say they would not want an ensuite off their young children's bedroom. Maybe safety, not sure.

I would also be minded to go with more flexible storage than fitted wardrobe, e.g. so it could be used as toy storage etc. Maybe also with a pull down desk/dressing table.

Really it depends who your target market are though. If families I would go no ensuite and general flexible storage. If more likely an older couple where the bedrooms would be used for guests, i might go ensuite.