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I would take the 5th bedroom only because having an extra room does not hurt. could not care less about what the future people that might live there would want. Then again my thoughts go for the long term. Imagine a room that you have but don't need. Could it be a game room? Play room for the kids? Hobby room? Can you get a home office and your wife get a home office? A couple I know built a 5 bedroom home and they are retired with the kids all grown. They did it for the fun of having the extra rooms. He has a home office, she has a sewing room, they turned one room into a sitting room, and had a guest bedroom for when the grand kids visited. I love their home.
On top of that they turned a closet space under the stairwell into a gun safe reloading room. He had the door in the house framed in and made a fake door in the garage that entered the space. Few people know about the gun safe room.
I personally wouldn't buy a home with split bedrooms like that. I also say add the 5th bedroom. Some people wouldn't even like having the Master on the 1st floor with the kids upstairs, so if that's the case I would ask about that as well! Our old home had the master upstairs with 2 other bedrooms and then a 4th bedroom downstairs that could also be used as an office. 10 ft ceilings are good for a master. If you can do a tray ceiling that gives it character!
Our next home will be a single level, but I have seen some plans that have a Bonus Room over the 3 car garage.
This could easily be turned into a Mother in Law apt or caregiver quarters in a pinch.
I think it could be a good feature for our retirement home.
I personally wouldn't buy a home with split bedrooms like that. I also say add the 5th bedroom. Some people wouldn't even like having the Master on the 1st floor with the kids upstairs, so if that's the case I would ask about that as well! Our old home had the master upstairs with 2 other bedrooms and then a 4th bedroom downstairs that could also be used as an office. 10 ft ceilings are good for a master. If you can do a tray ceiling that gives it character!
I see no problem with the split bedrooms - if the rooms are needed because of 3 or more kids then I'd assume some are substantially older and you'd be comfortable with them being downstairs with the youngest upstairs, even if two might be sharing a room for a few years. And if they're to be used as offices, game room, etc., I'd rather have them on the main level than so far from the rest of the activity going on.
I'd take the 5th bedroom over a cathedral ceiling, and I have two cathedral ceilings in my current home, as well as in my last house. Ten-foot ceiling is plenty high, and that 5th bedroom would be handy for storage, sewing/hobby room, office, or just as a guest room. I had 5 bedrooms in my last home, and one was never used for anything other than storage. (One became my office with a sofa bed, as we only had 2 kids.)
IMHO, I would rather have a utilitarian house, that one which has a higher resale value.
I'd be more inclined to spend on superinsulation, airtightness, air to air heat exchanger, and reduced maintenance expenses than fuss over appearances.
But that's my $0.02. YMMV.
We own an old house and it has 2 beds up and 2 down so it's a 4 bed house. They had a hard time selling it for a few reasons. One reason that came up several times was the split bedrooms. We plan on remodeling and making 3 up and 1 down. The small bedroom on the first floor will become an office. This will help us sell the house.
Not necessarily. I'm one who wants as many rooms as possible downstairs and won't even look at houses with only one bedroom downstairs.
Not necessarily. I'm one who wants as many rooms as possible downstairs and won't even look at houses with only one bedroom downstairs.
Then you're a rare buyer. You don't live where I do. Where I live, having 3 bedrooms upstairs always sells incredibly faster than split bedrooms. The master is upstairs. In our neighborhood, people want to be on the same floor as their kids.
Then you're a rare buyer. You don't live where I do. Where I live, having 3 bedrooms upstairs always sells incredibly faster than split bedrooms. The master is upstairs. In our neighborhood, people want to be on the same floor as their kids.
Not everyone has kids, or has that many kids that they need a 5-bedroom house.
We are planning to build a new home. The default plan is a 4 bedroom (2 down, and 2 upstairs), 4.5 bath + Study. We have an option to add a 5th bedroom upstairs. The 5th bed is not too expensive to add, so we were wondering if it adds more value to the home. The only negative is the 5th bed will take away the high cathedral ceiling in the master bed, making it standard height (which is 10 ft).
Wanted to get some thoughts on the resale value of having the 5th bed in the home vs not having it.
Thanks.
Absolutely add that upstairs bedroom. Houses with only two bedrooms on a floor are not favored by families with children. People want a master bedroom plus at least two bedrooms nearby, because they want to have at least a boys' room and a girls' room close to their bedroom. Parents don't want to have to put young children on another floor of the house, and especially not put them downstairs when the parents' bedroom is upstairs.
Depending upon what part of the country you are in, that cathedral ceiling in the master bedroom could be viewed as detracting from the value of the home. In colder climates, it is a waste of heating energy, with the heat in that room just rising into the cathedral area. Even in hot climates, 10 ft is more than enough! What do you need more than that for, especially in a bedroom? You're not going to have a balcony from upstairs looking into your bedroom. So I think that cathedral ceiling in the master bedroom is a total waste.
Our first house had three bedrooms and a huge "library" upstairs, plus an enormous master bedroom suite downstairs. We used the "library" as our bedroom, opening up a doorway into the adjoining bedroom's closet, and filled the bedrooms with children. We used the downstairs master suite for visiting grandparents. Had we stayed in that home longer, we would have had teens upstairs, and used the master suite downstairs for ourselves.
When house hunting while we had a young family, we would not even look at a house with that 2 up 2 down configuration, unless there was a means of easily creating a third bedroom on one of the floors.
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