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The question is "what's my recourse?" If you're talking monetary compensation I think you're SOL...especially if you were going to look at the house right next door. I'm not sure what other recourse there is - recourse means to look for help or protection. I guess the only recourse is a complaint to the broker, but the terminology just struck me as odd. People generally use it when they are looking for compensation.
I would think you could call the governing body who oversees real estate in your state or district. I almost did that recently with a house advertised on a piece of land. The listing read as though the house existed, a house was depicted on the land (not just a crude drawing) & all the normal details were in the listing, but since I drove that route frequently, I knew there was no house there. Sure enough, I was told that it's what it *could* look like. Well, ummmm, ok, then you don't advertise the house as being there, when it's not. I didn't want to go through the trouble, esp after I talked to my realtor & was told that the listing agent is kinda known for doing stuff like that. It just wasn't worth my time, since I wasn't harmed in any way, but it was extremely misleading & not right.
We have a listing right now in a 1920's era farmhouse where at some point a bathroom was added upstairs, and a bedroom was cut in half to do it. The remaining bedroom is still a legal bedroom, has a closet and egress, and the assessor still thinks it's a three bedroom, but for all intents and purposes, what remains is only really useful as a closet.
I don't want to tick people off who are expecting a three bedroom. We called it a 2.5 bedroom house on the flyer, and explained in the remarks that the third bedroom is very small.
A good real estate agent knows how to manage a potential buyer's expectations. Advertising a house as 3 bedroom even if you could legally do so can have ramifications if one of the rooms cannot even fit a bed. As my MLS does not have an option for 2.5 bedrooms, I have typically put down 3 bedrooms but have made it clear in the property description that the 3rd bedroom is best suited for an office or a nursery or something along those lines.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrolman
Not if there was no increase in square footage. It's the same as if you converted a three bedroom down to a two bedroom. You wouldn't get a tax break.
Every taxing authority acts differently. I would argue in my location that a switch from a 2 bedroom to a 3 bedroom even if square footage is not increased that the value of the house would be increased. Likely, the assessor would see it that way as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by emotiioo
I get why an agent would advertise a more desirable bedroom number, but this is not based in reality. Any recourse?
Are you expecting someone to cut you a check for the 15 minutes you wasted seeing the house? You may or may not be right about this house really being a 2 bedroom. None of us have seen it and can truly say for sure. If it's really bothering you, do some research and find out for sure. If there was false advertising, then report the agent to their local Realtor board if they're a member. If not, then report them to your local licensing authority.
I'm glad you posted that. Neither of the rooms I sleep in have a closet. I have a closet in my office and another in my storage room. Neither of these are big enough to be called "habitable space", though they are quite useful.
Good thing the bedroom police police don't come around to rouse me from my slumbers.
I live in a 1920's house. Only one of the bedrooms ever had a closet until I moved in. That closet was about 14 in deep and the clothes had to be hung on hooks. In those days armoires were the norm. The dimensions of the room and the presence of two points of egress, of minimum dimensions, are the important considerations. To put it simply, firemen need to be able to enter with a backpack from both the door(s) and window(s).
Do you have an agent who's representing you? If you do have him complain to the local MLS board about the misrepresentation on the amount of bedrooms on the listing.
A good real estate agent knows how to manage a potential buyer's expectations. Advertising a house as 3 bedroom even if you could legally do so can have ramifications if one of the rooms cannot even fit a bed. As my MLS does not have an option for 2.5 bedrooms, I have typically put down 3 bedrooms but have made it clear in the property description that the 3rd bedroom is best suited for an office or a nursery or something along those lines.
This is what I did when I listed my last place. The bedroom was a legitimate bedroom complete with a closet and a window and it was large enough to hold a queen bed. But it was off the living room rather than back with the other bedrooms and it had a glass paned door to the living room rather than a solid door. It was fine as a very infrequently used guest room but I don't think anyone would have wanted it to be their full time bedroom. But we listed the place as a (valid) 3 bedroom and then clarified in the remarks (and via the photos) that it was more of a bonus space, great as a den or office.
I get why an agent would advertise a more desirable bedroom number, but this is not based in reality. Any recourse?
No harm was done to you, other than wasting your time looking at the listing. If you want to get nasty, you can report them to the local MLS for misleading/false information. You can report them to their broker. You can report them to the DC real estate commission.
But you were not harmed by the information, nor did you make any financial decisions based on the information provided. So basically, you'd just be complaining.
So what? Someone will buy it, and I suspect they will negotiate the price down after they stop laughing at the "3rd" bedroom. Why do you care?
When my child was looking for a room to rent in DC, we saw lots of those "closets" being rented as rooms. My son stood in one and laughed, saying he felt like Harry Potter in his closet under the stairs. Crazy market.
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