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We viewed a beautiful house (woodworker and artist owners). It was advertised as having 3 bedrooms. When we finally figured it out we found that one "bedroom" could only be reached by walking thru the master bedroom (the owners had used the room as a studio) and the third bedroom was a basement room without an egress window.
So we basically had a beautiful one bedroom house with extra rooms for their various uses. Great for a couple but poorly advertised.
The intent of the listing is NOT to defraud, it is to market/arouse interest -- it generally works OK at that.
Even when a listing is grossly misleading the 'harm' is to the system itself and the integrity of real estate professionals. No one makes a bid on place based SOLELY on the MLS info...
I understand what you're saying. However this practice of misleading really turns us off as buyers. It totally changes the way that we look at the house, the sellers, the realtor, the disclosure, and the listing price.
We could probably overlook the dishonest listing if we found our dream house, but, most houses that aren't listed correctly are not dream houses. We might be hurting ourselves by letting this bother us so much, but any kind of dishonesty really ticks us off when we're looking to make such a major purchase.
In my area, loft areas in cathedral ceilings - you know, no walls, totally open to living areas - are often advertised as "bedrooms". Like sticking a twin bed on one of those log-home catwalks. Right. Unless I'm looking at a yurt, I expect bedrooms to have walls.
Likewise, I've seen tiny 2-bedroom homes where the owners have obviously converted an original 1st floor dining room or living room to be a 3rd "bedroom". Let's do the math....it's a 5 room house with 3 bedrooms?
The coup de grace comes when this same house has a DDD (damp, dirty, disgusting) basement badly converted to a "family room", usually complete with sump pump in one corner and fake-grass carpeting that's counted in the total SF.
I have to say, when I see these kinds of marketing tactics I don't get a very positive impression of the seller or the listing agent. In fact, quite the opposite. Like, what else can't you believe about what they're saying/writing?
I detest when agents do this. I had clients that had to have a 4 bedroom home, and we went into several "4" bedroom homes that were 3 beds with an office.
So, my clients and I wasted our time since it wasn't what they were looking for, and the sellers wasted their time since they had to clean the house and leave for people who would never buy what they were offering. I'm of the opinion if you can't sell a house with honest marketing, get out of real estate.
Look at the comps for 1 bedroom homes with an office and see what they are running for. That will give you an idea of what the house will appraise for.
The home next to me was listed for over 2,5 years as a 5/3/2 and it is a 4/2,5/2. Many people came and left within 5 min....The biggest real estate broker in Tampa had it even listed as the 5/3/2....!!! It later was listed by 2 other realtors who just kept it that way...Stupid to me since it is a very popular model by the builder and most people have the 4/2,5/2...so people looking for this home are probable interested in the 5th bedroom and than driving all the way and it isn't there. The price was also more based on the extra bath and bedroom, so overpriced for 2,5 years and now the leys are given back to the mortgage company who is in the process of foreclosing on it.
Isn't there anything that can be done so the homes are listed are they are so nobody has to waste their time.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by middle-aged mom
The MLSNI for most of the Chicagoland area defines a bedroom as:
Bedroom: private room capable of being closed off from other living space that does not have its only entrance from another bedroom. Basement bedrooms may NOT be counted in total bedroom count, but it still must be entered as bedrooms in listing input.
A closet, window and/or a door is not necessary for a room to be considered a bedroom.
This is one of those situations where it's legal but misleading.
I think the UNiform Building code is more specific about the closet and door. Our building department uses that definition to decide what a bedroom is and isn't
We viewed a beautiful house (woodworker and artist owners). It was advertised as having 3 bedrooms. When we finally figured it out we found that one "bedroom" could only be reached by walking thru the master bedroom.
It's not uncommon to see captive bedrooms on the 2nd story of cape style homes presented as being a "true" bedroom in real estate listings. I would always suggest that shoppers take cape bedroom #'s with a grain of salt.
The coup de grace comes when this same house has a DDD (damp, dirty, disgusting) basement badly converted to a "family room", usually complete with sump pump in one corner and fake-grass carpeting that's counted in the total SF.
Well you know, if you are having a kegger like when you are in college, nothing beats that fake grass to hide all those beer stains...
Part of the problem is the difficulty accurately conveying space based on MLS listing parameters. Certainly there are people who need a specific number of bedrooms for occupants of the house. But there are also many people who need a specific number of bedrooms plus an office and MLS software makes it difficult to truly convey the size and features of a home.
If you're looking for a home with 3 bedrooms (for people) and an office, then you're more likely to search 4 bedroom homes, even though you only need 3 real bedrooms plus an office. So, if you have a home with 3 bedrooms plus an office and you list it as a 3 bedroom home, you're likely to be passed over by those people who need 3 bedrooms plus an office (since they are actually looking at the listings shown as having 4 bedrooms).
There's no way (at least on my MLS) of showing "3 or 4 bedrooms" or "3+ bedrooms" or "3 bedrooms plus office." You can, of course, check "office" as one of the features, but that doesn't really help you in most situations -- especially once the information gets syndicated out to Realtor.com, etc. Plus, agents can check "office" to mean pretty much anything -- a big closet, for example.
For buyers, I suggest you work with an agent who actually previews homes to make sure they meet your minimum requirements before wasting your time with a showing. Agents at the very least can always pick up the phone and call the listing agent to ask "does it actually have 4 true bedrooms with independent access, and an escapable door and window" before making an appointment if that's what their client is looking for.
Part of the problem is the difficulty accurately conveying space based on MLS listing parameters. Certainly there are people who need a specific number of bedrooms for occupants of the house. But there are also many people who need a specific number of bedrooms plus an office and MLS software makes it difficult to truly convey the size and features of a home.
If you're looking for a home with 3 bedrooms (for people) and an office, then you're more likely to search 4 bedroom homes, even though you only need 3 real bedrooms plus an office. So, if you have a home with 3 bedrooms plus an office and you list it as a 3 bedroom home, you're likely to be passed over by those people who need 3 bedrooms plus an office (since they are actually looking at the listings shown as having 4 bedrooms).
There's no way (at least on my MLS) of showing "3 or 4 bedrooms" or "3+ bedrooms" or "3 bedrooms plus office." You can, of course, check "office" as one of the features, but that doesn't really help you in most situations -- especially once the information gets syndicated out to Realtor.com, etc. Plus, agents can check "office" to mean pretty much anything -- a big closet, for example.
For buyers, I suggest you work with an agent who actually previews homes to make sure they meet your minimum requirements before wasting your time with a showing. Agents at the very least can always pick up the phone and call the listing agent to ask "does it actually have 4 true bedrooms with independent access, and an escapable door and window" before making an appointment if that's what their client is looking for.
I agree that the MLS has issues this way, but we have a spot to indicate a bonus or office and it's not hard to just scroll down. Many agents in the private remarks section will also state 4th bedroom has no closet, which I appreciate. Then I know it is a 3 with an office. If someone wants a 3 with office I search 3's and 4's. I know that when agents misrepresent the listing, I think their ethics are compromised. Maybe that's just me.
If I had to preview every home on the market, I would be broke from the cost of gas and have no time to do anything else. While I agree that previewing is good practice, there is reality.
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