anyone know if this will increase or decrease the value of our home?

[purbeast0]

Check with your town zoning and tax assessment office. By "downgrading" to a 4 bedroom house, you may be assessed at a lower tax rate. Something to consider.

I also think that if you are going to sell this house in the future, large bedroooms and bathrooms drive sales and gain buyer attention. What is the sq footage of the home?

sqft is about 2200.

 

[Scarpozzi]

It may decrease the value of your home.....but only slightly if at all. The real question is what the condition of the rest of the house is in. If you make the master larger and do a good enough job planning it out so it doesn't look like a remodel, you'll be alright. I'm building a new master with about 550 square feet of space and 10 foot ceilings....large masters are nice.

You just have to consider people get it set in their mind what they need for their families. People searching for 5br or 4br homes will typically stick to the minimum of what they feel is acceptable. So if someone decides they NEED a 5br, your home won't be on their list. If you're not planning on selling for years and want ot stay in the home....don't worry about it. Live there and enjoy it.

 

[Eug]

I was going to post that. I wouldn't recommend planning anything until you know it isn't load bearing. And if it is load bearing, things just got way more complicated (and expensive).

BTW, we prefer large open rooms, and open concept. So, when we were looking, any homes from the 1950s-1960s with 5 main/2nd floor bedrooms in the home sizes we were looking for were usually immediately removed from our list.

Why? Because as you say, homes from that era tend to have more rooms, and rooms that are small. They generally had tiny bedrooms, and walled off kitchens and formal dining rooms. To us, that was a very inefficient use of space, and those homes were immediately deleted from the list.

It varies from place to place, but from my readings I gather more and more people are thinking like us. The general trend is fewer but larger rooms, especially with larger master bedrooms, kitchens, and living/family rooms, with the elimination of formal dining rooms.

Obviously there is a limit to this. If a detached home has only 3 bedrooms to begin with, then eliminating one for a 2 bedroom house is a problem. However, if you have 5 bedrooms, and your modifications bring it down to 4, then that's different.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

sqft is about 2200.

Yeah, go with 4BR. At least one of the current rooms has got to be tiny. Move the MB adjacent wall back, make a big walk in closet, and you've got a sales point. The ladies love a nice lighted and mirrored attire/shoe zone.

 

[alkemyst]

I just don't think there is a lot of demand for 5 bed houses so I think 4 bed with bigger master would be more appealing. WTF do I know though. Do you also have an office already? Because if you do the only people interested in a 5 bed house would be parents with 4 kids and who does that anymore?

Guest rooms sort of are needed for those that have like friends and relatives they may want to visit.

 

[Eug]

Does the house have a finished basement? If the basement is finished, and it includes a bedroom or two, then even more reason to get rid of an upstairs bedroom. No need to put guests on a second floor or main floor.

BTW, my house is much bigger than the one the OP is looking at, and has only three 2nd floor bedrooms, and no main floor bedrooms. However, it does have a open home office area that could theoretically be walled off in a reno into a 4th bedroom if necessary. We prefer it open though, but we do have a sofabed in there so a guest could stay there if necessary. Also, we have two extra basement bedrooms. (Basement bedrooms are not usually counted as proper "bedrooms", at least around here.)

 

[alkemyst]

First, you really can't expect a 1:1 ratio on resale; these are things known to add value that you are doing:

Opening up a floor plan which adds in more light is a definite plus. That master bedroom will look better.

Bathroom improvements are highly desired

Losing a bedroom may hurt re-sale. Adding a bedroom is a definite sales plus (within reason...bedrooms should be a minimum size that's common for the area).

 

[Eug]

Losing a bedroom may hurt re-sale.

As I was suggesting earlier, it may also improve re-sale.

The general trend in many areas is fewer but bigger rooms. In many of the local places I was looking, the ones that commanded a premium were the ones that had been reno'd, often with fewer bedrooms than the original. However, it's hard to gauge the effect of any one change because the renos included other changes as well (like bigger, open kitchens, with modern amenities).

 

[z1ggy]

If you plan on staying in this house for a long time, do whatever makes you happy. Why would you worry about resale value if you won't be moving any time soon, if ever?

 

[purbeast0]

Does the house have a finished basement? If the basement is finished, and it includes a bedroom or two, then even more reason to get rid of an upstairs bedroom. No need to put guests on a second floor or main floor.

BTW, my house is much bigger than the one the OP is looking at, and has only three 2nd floor bedrooms, and no main floor bedrooms. However, it does have a open home office area that could theoretically be walled off in a reno into a 4th bedroom if necessary. We prefer it open though, but we do have a sofabed in there so a guest could stay there if necessary. Also, we have two extra basement bedrooms. (Basement bedrooms are not usually counted as proper "bedrooms", at least around here.)

its a 4 level split level home. the basement is fully finished and is my home theater. the other bedroom is on the 2nd level. the entrance to the house is on the 3rd level, which immediately has 3 stairs that take it down to the 2nd level right next to the entrance.

 

[purbeast0]

If you plan on staying in this house for a long time, do whatever makes you happy. Why would you worry about resale value if you won't be moving any time soon, if ever?

have you read my op? i am going to do it regardless. im not "worried" about the resale value, i'm simply asking about it.

 

[zinfamous]

well a bedroom should also be for changing and getting ready for the day. and this is the kind of "walk-in-open-closet" type of closet we're thinking of doing with the extra space.

http://hgrm.sndimg.com/HGRM/2011/08/23/RX-CEDIA-2011_large-walk-in_s4x3_lg.jpg
http://www.thelifeofluxury.com/images/la_closet_design_luxury_closet_1.jpg

something of that nature, where it would kind of be part of the room itself.

i also don't like bedrooms that have "paths" you have to walk through in order to get around, because with the bed and furniture, there simply just isn't that much room. ours isn't anything like that right now, but right now we don't even have dressers in our bedroom - they are in one of the other bedrooms so that we can have space and not feel cramped in our bedroom.

But this is an older house so the bedroom might be cramped with only a bed and a couple of dressers. Otherwise i agree with you which is ironic since my bedroom is twice as big as it needs to be. I would have preferred to take that space and put it into a larger living room (but not another bedroom since we already have 4).

Yeah, that's fair. I don't like paths either, and you should have space for dressers and still not have to walk around a queen or king bed just to go from one to the other.

That's definitely true of older houses. These days, you see new homes with goddamn suites that take up nearly 40% of that level's floor space. It's nuts!

 

[Midwayman]

I would consider buying a 4 bedroom with larger bedrooms long before I would consider a 5 bedroom house with tiny 60's style bedrooms. The thing is you already have a master bath and a walk-in closet. Those are two things normally missing from a lot of 5 bedroom houses. If you didn't already have those, I'd say its a win-win. As-is I don't know if you're be increasing value- at least by the cost of the renovation.

 

[NetWareHead]

I would consider buying a 4 bedroom with larger bedrooms long before I would consider a 5 bedroom house with tiny 60's style bedrooms.

Well said. Go for quality than quantity. I think the 4 BR house with nice master suite is better.

 

[purbeast0]

I would consider buying a 4 bedroom with larger bedrooms long before I would consider a 5 bedroom house with tiny 60's style bedrooms. The thing is you already have a master bath and a walk-in closet. Those are two things normally missing from a lot of 5 bedroom houses. If you didn't already have those, I'd say its a win-win. As-is I don't know if you're be increasing value- at least by the cost of the renovation.

the walk-in closet is not very big. like the one we had at our apartment before could hold all of my wife's shit and was probably 2x the size of this one. this one can't hold all her stuff. and the master bathroom isn't a "master bathroom" other than it's in the bedroom. it's pretty cramped in there in general so it would be nice to make it larger as well.

 

[lykaon78]

The average american family barely has two kids. Certainly the family that can afford your home doesn't 'need' 5 bedrooms for 4 kids. At minimum you've broken even, more than likely you've made your home more attractive to more buyers.

 

[alkemyst]

the walk-in closet is not very big. like the one we had at our apartment before could hold all of my wife's shit and was probably 2x the size of this one. this one can't hold all her stuff. and the master bathroom isn't a "master bathroom" other than it's in the bedroom. it's pretty cramped in there in general so it would be nice to make it larger as well.

Building a closet like you linked is going to be very expensive.

If you love it I'd do it. It will probably be over-improved for your neighborhood.

 

[Eug]

You don't have to build it like in that picture. Those look like higher end custom cabinets. What you can do is build it using much cheaper shelving and pre-built cabinets and it would still do the job.

For my mom's walk-in I just bought IKEA bookshelves with glass doors and she was overjoyed.

 

[Number1]

You can't be bothered to use capitalization, I can't be bothered to read you post. I suspect many other people feel the same way.

 

[Hacp]

What are the dimensions of the adjacent bedroom? If anything, you can just reduce the size of the bedroom to 7x10 and use it as a nursery/guest bedroom/office. You'd still have "5" beds, but you would have more space for a closet and bathroom.

 

[purbeast0]

You don't have to build it like in that picture. Those look like higher end custom cabinets. What you can do is build it using much cheaper shelving and pre-built cabinets and it would still do the job.

For my mom's walk-in I just bought IKEA bookshelves with glass doors and she was overjoyed.

yeah it's not going to be just like those pictures, but that is the idea of the size we're going for. i've seen those things at ikea and they are kinda nice. we'd like to do something more "built in" than that though, but again, we're in the early stages of this happening.

as far as the size of the room next to it, i'll have to take measurements i'm not 100% sure what it is. pretty sure it's bigger than 7x10 though.

EDIT:

ok i just measured. the master bedroom is about 16'x11' + the bathroom and walkin closet.

the adjacent room is 10'x12' with a little sliding door closet in one of the walls.

 

[Hacp]

yeah it's not going to be just like those pictures, but that is the idea of the size we're going for. i've seen those things at ikea and they are kinda nice. we'd like to do something more "built in" than that though, but again, we're in the early stages of this happening.

as far as the size of the room next to it, i'll have to take measurements i'm not 100% sure what it is. pretty sure it's bigger than 7x10 though.

EDIT:

ok i just measured. the master bedroom is about 16'x11' + the bathroom and walkin closet.

the adjacent room is 10'x12' with a little sliding door closet in one of the walls.

I would take off 5 feet from the bedroom(to make it 7x10) and get rid of the sliding door closet. Then, I would make a 6x10 foot walk-in and use the old walk-in as extra space for the bathroom.

Most people will use the 5th bedroom as office space or a guest bedroom, so shrinking it won't matter much.