any buyers took a two bedroom two story house and now regret it and why.

[naeem5]

Originally Posted by manderly6

Anyone living in a two story house should have a fire ladder upstairs. Preferablly one in each bedroom. Keep it in the closet or under the bed. Something like this:

bumped your reputation up one time for your idea that can easily slip people's mind. No ladder = JUMP

I've never lived in a two story and spent 3 years (2006-2008) carrying furniture up and down stairs, part time.
I told people on the 3rd floor of apartments, you need to bribe the leasing agent for a first floor next time.
Many houses now a days have the washer and dryer on the 2nd floor. I've seen sleeper sofas and recliner sofas up and down stairs. The pressure on your knees is painful. I had to shut my business down. Or hire others to do that type of lifting and climbing with certain furniture items. Oh yeah the armoires......

[piyf]

I've had a one story and a two story home. My next one will be a one story.

[fallingwater]

I owned a 1920's colonial with 2 bedrooms. Both bedrooms were on the second floor along with a bathroom. The only bath in the house. From a resale perspective, it hurt us. Selling a 2 bedroom home can be difficult but add just one bath it caused even more problems. We now own a 2 story that is much newer and we have a two full baths upstairs and a half bath on the main floor. Its great. I personally would not purchase a home in a zoned professional office area. If you are thinking it can be rented out later, the style of the house will not be a good selling point to someone wanting to set up an office. My husband used to make small residential and commercial elevators. Business was booming because the state we lived in made all new businesses install elevators in two story structures. Depending on the building it could be an easy job or a nightmare for the owners. Those are just my thoughts. Good luck with your decision!

[naeem5]

Originally Posted by fallingwater

I owned a 1920's colonial with 2 bedrooms. Both bedrooms were on the second floor along with a bathroom. The only bath in the house. From a resale perspective, it hurt us. Selling a 2 bedroom home can be difficult but add just one bath it caused even more problems. We now own a 2 story that is much newer and we have a two full baths upstairs and a half bath on the main floor. Its great. I personally would not purchase a home in a zoned professional office area. If you are thinking it can be rented out later, the style of the house will not be a good selling point to someone wanting to set up an office. My husband used to make small residential and commercial elevators. Business was booming because the state we lived in made all new businesses install elevators in two story structures. Depending on the building it could be an easy job or a nightmare for the owners. Those are just my thoughts. Good luck with your decision!

It's two bedroom unless the small room adjacent the living room on the lower level, is used as a 3rd.
I don't think it would be too expensive to add a toilet in the laundry room.
It is behind some businesses on a business street, but adjacent to a house that is on a residential street.
I'll do some research and see if it was built for office purposes.
I'll also get an estimate on a first floor toilet.
There is no front, back, or left hand yard, only a 20x20 grassy area on the right. I'm disabled and a small, or no yard, is perfect for me. The front yard is a driveway that is part of a circle driveway that is for all the businesses in the front. But, the property lines gives me the right to block all entrances that can prevent anyone from driving by my porch. They City said they and the police would enforce that with no issues.
The front yard and the distance from the other businesses is a maze of drievways that meet in a circle with grassy in between. It looks like whoever keeps the grass cut does not cut it, they keep it sprayed with weed killer and it is brown and dead.
My disability is partially inability to do physical labor for long periods of time. So, cutting grass is hard, climbing stairs 1-2 times a day is not. I'm unable to work long hours, 4-5 being my longest shift since 1990.
This house is nice looking inside and out. I'm not sure why the seller is wanting out. They just dropped their price to 44,900. I might, for amusement, offer 35 cash and see what they do.
I want to make sure what I buy, I can always sell in the future for very close to what I paid.
As City Hall told me this house is not neighborhood commerical. It is neighborhood office. He said the restriction would be no businesses that actually sell physical items like furniture. It would make a good home-office for an insurance agent who wanted to live upstairs and have a large and small offfice downstairs. There is a place upstairs for a living room, a fairly large area at the top of the stairs.
Or a business who only needed two offices downstairs and upstairs maybe have their record room with files. Some businesses have offices that accomodate customers on the first floor and then an administrative type office on the 2nd floor like both my banks.
I'm where I can sit and wait and I have my eyes on a couple vacant foreclosures, so I may offer on this house or not. The reasons the average person does not want it don't bother me, like little or no yard or the need for 3 bedrooms.
If the seller wants out before the lease with his tenants runs out Sept. 30th, either he must sell or give them an extension or new lease, and he may not want to do that. The distance from the front of the houses to the businesses along the main road is 200 feet so it is not that close together.
Very bad to have to make the stairs handicap accessible so first floor toilet in the only option on that. Then again people upstairs could get down by sliding down the ramp on their........

[dal2aus]

My first house was a 2 BR 2-story townhouse in a suburb where 3 BR's are the norm. Big mistake. Not having 3 BR's killed me a resale, so unless you know you'll be there forever, wait for a 3 BR. Even if you have a small extra room you can use as a BR, unless it has a closet, you can't market it as a 3rd BR.

On the 2-story issue, think long and hard about how often you'll be walking up and down those stairs. It's not just when you wake up and when you go to bed, but also when you come home to change clothes, everytime you clean house, and every load of laundry that has to be put away. Those stairs also have to be kept cleaned, that means vacuuming, sweeping, and/or mopping, depending on the surface.

Just something to keep in mind.

[naeem5]

There is a small room downstairs that is currently being used as a 3rd bedroom.
I'd most likely use that room for an office and spend all my day time hours down stairs.
Then go to the 2nd floor to shower and sleep.
There is a large open area at the top of the stairs and that is currently being used as a 2nd living room of sorts.
I might make a very lowball offer and let the tenants stay past their Sept. 30th lease.
I've found an alternative property, but this 2 story is still on my radar. If I ever moved out I would want to have the option to lease it to a business. It would be perfect for someone who wanted to live upstairs and have their office and business downstairs, like an independent insurance agent or some other self employed person.

[NJGOAT]

Having always lived in multi-story houses I never realized how much some people hate them. I understand it for older folks, but I would prefer 2 stories to 1 everytime. I like that my bedroom and the kids rooms are upstairs and quiet. Of course, we have 2 full bathrooms up and 1/2 down, so that's not an issue. However, the house I grew up in had only 1 bathroom and that was upstairs, we made it work.

Looking at your individual situation and being concerned with resale, I would say you have a very narrow resale market. 2 bedroom homes are incredibly hard to sell unless you can find the right buyer. In this case you have a small room downstairs that can be a 3rd bedroom, but most people prefer all bedrooms on the same floor or a master down, others up setup. Given that the house is really a 2 bedroom, the main market for that is going to be an older couple who are downsizing. The issue with this property is that it's a 2 story and most older folks are looking for 1 floor living.

As you said your real market is someone who runs a home business like an insurance agent, consultant, attorney etc. The setup may be ideal for them, but not if they have a family with more than one kid. If the place works for you and the price is right, go for it. However, if you are concerned about resale, a house like this will have a very narrow market.

[chiefy]

Originally Posted by NJGOAT

Having always lived in multi-story houses I never realized how much some people hate them.

I completely agree and I think it's a regional thing as well. We don't have big sprawling ranches here like other parts of the country. If you want the square footage, you gotta go "up".

[mcm2010]

I will never own another two story again, resale was a nightmare AND we had a more desirable floorplan with the master BR downstairs!

[Brave Stranger]

I really have become a fan of having everything on one floor.