Would you buy a house if . . . . .

[LisaLastic]

Would you buy a house if it had a 2 separate rooms downstairs - 1 currently being used as a lounge/dining room and the other room being used as a playroom? Could you see passed the fact the one room was being used as a playroom and see it as a potential dining room if there were no table and chairs in it?
My estate agent thinks not and that it will knock 10s of 1000s off what someone is willing to pay for it. Any thoughts before I create a storage nightmare and upset kids? Thanks!

The estate agent is being daft

I would. I would prefer two rooms.

If you feel the need get a table and chairs in there and show it as a dining room. You are going to have to store the toys anyway for viewings so make a start and use it for both.

I would be able to see the rooms and make my own mind up what to do with them. YANBU.

Of course. It's really not that hard to imagine a downstairs room as a dining room. Your EA must think buyers are stupid or is he the stupid one?

Of course

Most people can see past toys!

They can label it playroom/dining room or just reception room 2

If you put the toys in storage and make it easy for people to see you will sell quicker and for more.

Yep

He probably just wants it to be tidy ( not that it isn't ) and thinks it will be easier if staged as a dining room.
I would do what suits you best tbh.

Tidy is one thing and I would definitely tidy and declutter the room before viewings. But putting in a table and chairs is overkill.

Well,I have enough imagination and common sense to see that a second reception room could be a dining room , and that a room without a bed could be a bedroom. I suspect most people could; but for those without the necessaries I might put a table and chairs in the dining room, and a bed in a bedroom.

Is the playroom/dining room small or narrow or diffcult to take a photo that shows there is plenty of room? Sometimes rooms look a lot smaller in the photos because of awkward angles or it is hard to gauge the real size without proper furniture (not kids furniture). Maybe he is concerned that people will flick through the photos and think the room is too small for a dining room or think it is one of the bedrooms and reject it at that stage.

Could you stage it as a dining room just for the photos?

I once looked at a house where the owner had obviously been told to put a bed in the box room to make it appear as a viable bedroom. I was aware though that the measurements of the room made that problematic so was keen to see it. There was indeed a bed in there but my suspicions were aroused as it seemed rather short. So I lifted up the bed cover to find that it was a fake bed - made from cardboard boxes and a “mattress” made from sheets of plastic filled with crumbled newspaper! Even the estate agent found it funny! It put me off as I began to wonder what other problems they had covered up!

But a reception room used as a playroom would not have put me off as long as I had the measurements and could see that normal size dining furniture could fit in.

Well, if it's quite small then yes. It could be hard to see past the toys

The first house we bought was like that. We didn’t have children then, they were not even on our radar but it definitely didn’t put us off at all. It’s very easy to imagine a room being used as something else.

My husbands an estate agent and he says
It won't devalue your house, but in the current market it will help it sell if you set it up for its intended purpose.
So I suppose it depends how quickly you want to sell it really, as some people are able to overlook it but some might not and you don't want to risk putting (narrow minded) people off.

No your EA is being silly. It is also part of their job when they are showing potential buyers around to point out that this room is currently being used as a playroom but it could be used as a dining room/study/2nd lounge. It astounds me how rubbish EAs are when they do viewings. They should be using every minute to encourage buyers.

Is there a space in the kitchen for a table or would that be the only room to put one? If there is room in the kitchen, a playroom or second living room would be much more appealing to me than a whole room for meals but depends on your market.

EAs should be like Kirstie Allsopp in LLL where she knows what her buyers needs are, and shows them around homes helping them to imagine how it could work for their needs.

I would be suspicious of the EA motives. Maybe knows someone looking for a cheap house.
try another agent

At the moment it's hard to get buyers in let alone convince them to buy. For photographic purposes (which is the first hurdle for getting buyers in) it's worth staging rooms as much as possible.

Depends on how big it is, if it looks small might he hard for people to see how it would fit. If its a good size and obvious then I'd just keep it tidy.

The house I bought the 3rd bedroom was used as a dressing room, ikra wardrobes down one side, hard to imagine a double bed could fit but the size on the plans said it could. It didn't put me off as I had other things that were must haves that the house had. Only until I moved in and their furniture gone then I could see how big the space was.

It’s an average sized room, not huge, but also not small. Quite square in shape. I’m sat here now looking at it thinking I can see where sofas would go if it was turned into a living room and you can see by the floor space in the middle that a dining table and chairs would easily fit with plenty of room around it.
I can see that maybe it could be mistaken for a bedroom in photos, but at the same time it does have a fireplace.

This made me laugh! Maybe I should get the kids to go all Blue Peter and make a table and chairs for their playroom 😂

I have two small children and myself and my friends would see a playroom as a bonus over a dining room. Dining rooms are so old fashioned. We all want playrooms!

This is good to hear!