Why do estate agents keep listing any spare room as a bedroom?

[Kisbsikf]

We’ve had our eye on this house lately, but it’s listed as a 4-bed… the thing is, one of those “bedrooms” is actually downstairs! To me it feels way more like a playroom or office than an actual bedroom.

Maybe I’m being a bit fussy, but it really feels more like a 3-bed that’s been dressed up as a 4-bed to get a few extra quid.

4 bedroom detached house for sale in High Street, Bristol, BS39 6HU, BS39

Some people need a downstairs bedroom for an elderly parent or disabled relative etc. The more bedrooms the higher the price….

A room off the lounge wouldn't be a bedroom to me either. I suppose in this case at least it has an ensuite, but that tiny window makes it look like a cell.
Estate agents are doing this so they can inflate prices.

Its a downstairs bedroom and it has an en-suite to it.

Lots of people have them now for whatever reason (illness/immobility/elderly parent) but its classed as an extra bedroom due to the attached en-suite facilities it has. But you can use it for whatever you want to.

That's not the bedroom, that's the 3rd reception room/study.

"Estate agents are doing this so they can inflate prices"

Of course they are. That's their job. The estate agent is acting for the seller in order to obtain the highest possible price for the property.

Since this downstairs room has an en-suite, then I think it could be considered as a bedroom, and people looking for a property suitable for a multi-generational household could find a downstairs bedroom with its own facilities very useful.

It’s no smaller than bedroom 3

and the ! After the word downstairs rather says it’s your preconceptions that bedrooms must be upstairs that is the problem here

Is the only entrance to the fourth bedroom through the sitting room? As there is an office already, I agree that it's more of a playroom or something, but obviously how it is used depends on the structure of the family who lives there.

It doesn't really matter what it's called, does it? It's whether the layout works for you that matters.

I will advertise mine as a 4 bed when I sell. I bought as a 3 bed and added a downstairs bedroom and ensuite for mobility reasons. When I applied for planning permission I requested it as a bedroom (not a general use room) the difference seemed to be to do with fire exit directly from the bedroom (the window opening had to be a certain size when opened). So if the house had the extension built and the planning/building regulations state a bedroom they can advertise it as a bedroom.
I do agree though that often a downstairs room (with no downstairs bathroom) and not really suitable as a bedroom is advertised as one.

Why can’t you go from living room to bedroom direct? This seems snobbish to me

They’ve over developed the bottom floor and not the top. I wouldn’t want a bedroom right off the lounge and the window makes it look like a cell. Does the window even open?

I would think some families would find a downstairs bedroom with an en suite a blessing.

Downstairs bedrooms are very, very normal

Nothing to do with being snobbish. I would be concerned about noise. If that person goes to bed early or lays in late I'd be concerned about the noise from the living room disturbing them. Just like I don't like houses where the stairs go straight off the lounge, the noise travels.
That's just my preference, others may not feel the same. I'm not sure how it's snobby though!!

Agree. Where we are, there are a lot of chalet bungalows. We have 3 beds upstairs and 2 downstairs.

Whilst EAs do seem to have a habit of calling any ground floor room with obvious purpose an additional bedroom, I do agree with @ShyMaryEllen - the important consideration is how the potential buyers plan to use the space.

We once purchased a fairly odd house (dating from the Tudor period, but dismantled and rebuilt in a new location in the 1930s and now resembling a Tudor chalet bungalow!) that had two rooms plus an ensuite on the first floor and a whopping six - plus kitchen and two bathrooms - on the ground floor. The EA marketing the property called everything except the kitchen, bathrooms and one reception on the ground floor a 'bedroom'.

DS had just gone to university so there were just two of us at home most of the time, with the occasional overnight guest or two, and therefore we had no need to use all of those additional rooms as bedrooms. We used them as - main living room, dining room, breakfast room (it led off the small kitchen so was kind of like an overflow of that space with dresser etc), office, music room, guest room for my elderly parents.

If we'd settled in that location and not sold after three years, we were planning to knock through two rooms to make a larger kitchen and convert another room to a walk-in pantry.

When we sold, we got our EA to label most rooms as we'd used them, with a couple as 'reception 3/bedroom' etc. Our buyers had six DC so did actually use them as bedrooms.

I have a downstairs room with an en suite off the kitchen diner. We have always used it as the spare room- it's great as visitors don't need to come upstairs and can get up when they like without disturbing the permanent residents. We use it as the downstairs loo if no one is sleeping in there. It's particularly good for DPs who live in a bungalow so are not used to stairs.
Ours could be a study, or a snug, but it was sold/bought as a 4 bed and will be again when the time comes.

That should read "any ground floor room with no obvious purpose"

This seems to be a big thing in Scotland too. Two reception rooms downstairs with one listed as a bedroom. So you think you're looking at a 3/4 bed but they're always 2/3 beds with two reception rooms.

Is the tiny window room the fourth bedroom?

I don’t think so - if you look at pictures 16 it’s clear it’s a proper window from the outside.

I think the tiny window might be somewhere else. Bedroom 4 is picture 7, with the sky light.

Either way, I think the boundary between a downstairs bedroom and an additional reception room can be a bit vague.

Because it has 3 living /dining/study rooms already

so another room can be a bedroom esp as has toilet sink shower

To be fair, in that example there's an en suite bathroom, so it's at least a planned bedroom!

You answered your own question OP. Of course they do it to justify pricing it as high as possible.

there is no rule that says bedrooms need to be upstairs only. Many people prefer downstairs bedrooms actually. So yes, it could indeed be listed as such.

If you look at how much communal space that has, its clear that bedroom 4 (picture 7) is a proper downstairs bedroom. Not just spare space.

As a disabled person... I HATE it too OP.

People always love to throw out that its for 'disabled people', it really is not. I'm disabled, my mother was bedbound and many people I knew growing up (mams friends met through her disability etc...) had all sorts of mobility issues and NONE slept in the dining room and called it a bedroom.

There where two houses near me for sale with custom 'annex' extension that where clearly for a disabled person (full lift system, shower rooms, hospital beds) and neither sold. The actually devalue themselves because people with disabilities need THEIR disability catered for. You get funding and assistance to adapt your own house to YOUR specific needs, no one is look to buy and expensive house to live in a way adapted to someone else's needs thats expensive to change to suit.

Most people will get stair/floor lift system installed because part of being disabled is not wanting to be 'crammed' wheres easiest for others to fit like a 2nd class citizen in your own home. Sleeping upstairs is the norm and its the norm for disabled people too. No one wants to sleep next to the 'living room' in a family home (might be fine in a small 1 bed flat etc... but not if you live with others). Even Bungalows where often designed with hallways and such so bedroom aren't against the 'hub' rooms where people will be making noise.