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

"No one wants to sleep next to the 'living room' in a family home (might be fine in a small 1 bed flat etc... "
In 90% of the world this is perfectly normal really...

pic 7 is obv bed 4 as it’s downstairs and see the garden and has a sky light

I don’t have a massive issue with this example as it has an en suite, decent window, good size and no one has to walk through it. Plus there’s good reception space elsewhere. I think it would be a nice bedroom, albeit that the people in the lounge would have to be considerate.

I don’t think it can’t be a bedroom if you have to walk through it to get to the loo or another room, there’s no window (just a skylight), no separate door, you can’t stand up in it, no other reception room and/ or there’s no bathroom/ loo on the same floor.

Chalet bungalow here - 3 bedrooms downstairs and 2 upstairs. We use 2 of the downstairs bedrooms as a dining room and office, because that suits our needs presently with working from home. I love a downstairs bedroom, and as long as they represent more bedrooms than you need ie allow for a spare / versatility in room use / future proof mobility issues, then why not?

Our 4th bedroom is down stairs in the converted garage.

We have a sitting room and a playroom/second sitting room, so you don’t need it for that.

Its really handy for my 23 year old to have his own space away from the younger ones.

The previous owners converted it for their elderly mother.

It was the reason we chose the house, we wanted a downstairs bedroom for ds so he wouldn’t disturb us when he was coming to and from shift work.

ours is entered off the utility room, which is off the kitchen though, which suits us better than if it was off one of the living rooms. But I would have still bought the house if that was the case.

We specifically looked at houses like this when we were house hunting.

We knew we couldn't afford a proper 4 bed but wanted to have the option in case we ever have DC3 and it may also be handy when we get older.

The spare downstairs room is being used a playroom/office atm but we might move DS1 downstairs in a couple of years.

It is a really weird thing on MN that people can't conceive of a downstairs bedroom. The style of houses round here (west central Scotland) often has downstairs bedrooms. Chalet bungalows and similar.

The one the OP linked to has an en-suite. Who the hell has a playroom/office with an en-suite? It's clearly a bedroom. On another thread someone was told that a downstairs room with fitted wardrobes was clearly a dining room.

There is no law which says all bedrooms must be upstairs, on a different floor from the living space.

We have a downstairs bedroom and it is definitely a bedroom, we needed one on the ground floor due to disability. Not sure what your issue with it is to be honest, some bedrooms are downstairs, it’s not a big deal.

When it was just me and DH in a 3 bed flat, we used a proper bedroom (with built in wardrobes) as a dining room. The wardrobe made a great crockery cupboard!

I wouldn't say its perfectly normal for 90% of the world (in the UK at least).
I dont know a single person who has a bedroom downstairs personally and I know a good chunk of people.

The bedroom downstairs is definitely still a bedroom for me and very desirable for many.

I viewed what was listed as a 3 bed house recently, bathroom was downstairs, but whatever. The third box room upstairs had actually been turned into a shower room, with about 3 feet left over, which was being sold as a bedroom. It had a very small chest of drawers in it, but no way could you have even got a baby's cot in it, let alone a single bed. The estate agent phoned for feedback, and I politely said the house was lovely, but only 2 bed in reality and I wouldn't have even viewed it had I known this (the picture in the brochure was very deceptive). She very cheekily said "it's such a pity you couldn't make the room work for you" and hung up!

I'm more annoyed about very over dramatic, hyperbolic estate agent speech now. Viewed a house which had a "HEAVENLY EXTENSION" advertised on the board - very ordinary semi with an extra room downstairs, never in a million years could you use the word heavenly when describing it.

Local.agents write things on their social media such as:

"you better buy a bomb proof jacket as this property is going to blow you away 💣" Again, these are very bog standard 3 bed terraces, no one will be blown away by anything!

Also, more to the point, who the hell wants a bedroom with the bloody great skylight in it?

Exactly. This thread comes up intermittently with the posters seemingly shocked that EAs should dare to get creative about marketing homes. Let’s face it, we all will do what it takes to make any house we want to sell as desirable as possible!

My current 3 bedroom (upstairs) house has a large lounge and dining room downstairs. Also an additional large side room downstairs which was marketed as a family/extra bedroom.

The previous couple used the additional room as their young kids playroom but I can imagine it could easily be a fourth bedroom for say a third child or perhaps the child once they outgrow the box room.

My retired new neighbours next door recently bought that house despite it only having 2 beds upstairs because there was an additional third room downstairs which they deliberately wanted to convert to a bedroom for when they had their baby grandchild as I imagine it’s safer/easier for them to monitor her downstairs.

Also, I imagine good for future proofing as if either of them felt unwell/had surgery etc it would be easier to sleep downstairs for a while than have to drag yourself up and down stairs.

So basically, especially if a house has the traditional two rooms already downstairs, I don’t think it’s unreasonable at all to market houses as eg 3/4 bedrooms as some people specifically desire that! 🙂

I think that room with the small window is the office

Not exactly the hardest thing to resolve though is it.

On the other side as a carer, nearly everyone I met was using a downstairs room with a bed
I can think of one that was adapted - it had an upstairs but she added a downstairs extension with bedroom and shower room, and a few one level places but the majority all lived downstairs and the upstairs wasn’t used except for other family members

I’ve lived in a ground floor apartment and been v grateful for it with various things - snapped my calf muscle, spinal surgery, lap for endo

Bedroom aside, WTF did they put dark grey radiators downstairs?! I couldn’t cope with the house looking one way downstairs and completely different upstairs. How strange!

There have been several threads re: this being popular in Scotland.

People who roll up towels and put them on loos need a long hard talking to.

Hotels don't even do that anymore because ICK.

3 bed with additional room which could be a downstairs bedroom/playroom/office is a bit of a mouthful. 4 bed gives a quick idea of no of rooms at a glance.

We used an upstairs bedroom as a playroom and as an office over the years. Downstairs bedrooms are not unusual but if it doesn't work for you just look at another.

Tiny window is in the study - because working in a cell is much better than sleeping in one? You can see that they've blocked up a window as part of the extension.

It drives me mad when they make out anything beyond the main reception is a bedroom, generally. But I do think having the ensuite to it helps in this particular case.

Of course it would be the last choice as a bedroom. But definitely could be used as one. I know people who convert garage and move eldest downstairs to create more bedrooms. Or change a dining room to a bedroom rather than move.

And yes people would have to be a bit quiet in the living room at times but they work it out.

I don't know anyone with downstairs bedrooms. Bungalows aside (and I don't know anyone with a Bungalow) then bedrooms tend to be on the first floor.

I viewed a "4 bed" house with 2 good sized bedrooms on the first floor, a kitchen and living room dining room on the middle floor and a lower level (ground level was higher at the front than the back with 2 "bedrooms " but to my mind looked like storage space or possibly office or workshop. They were on the same level as the utility. Great for being woken up by the washing machine

It’s got an en suite and there’s already plenty of downstairs space. I vote bedroom

That looks like a proper downstairs bedroom in a house that already has a living room, dining room and study downstairs.

What I find weird is that they describe it as being in "a sought after part of Bristol" when it is actually in a village way down in Somerset and much closer to Bath than Bristol. Is it an online-only agency that is just going by the BS postcode?

It's a bedroom. They've built a big downstairs extension and made one of the rooms a bedroom with an en-suite.

Lots of reasons why people do this. Maybe someone in the family or a regular visitor has mobility issues. Maybe someone works odd shifts or snores loudly and doesn't want to disturb the rest of the family. Maybe they just needed an extra bedroom and that was the most cost effective means of adding it.