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Hate to dredge up old threads, but some here have advised to first search a topic and add to it, before posting a new thread. I'm not used to "necro-posting" This is a no-no on other sites I attend.
Anyway. I don't plan to sell my house any time soon, but when I bought it in 2002 it was as a 3 bedroom house. It was advertised that way, and the appraisal reflected a 3 BR house.
Then I heard from multiple sources that to be considered a "bedroom" a room must have a closet. People in this thread have added important info: one, that many historic homes don't have bedroom closets, and they are still accepted as bedrooms, and two, that the "rules" are local or state-by-state.
Our third bedroom is about 12X12, a corner room with two windows. It does not have a closet, but has a built-in cabinet/shelf system. The top section is open shelves, and the bottom section is cabinet doors with shelves inside. the home was built in the 1940's, so not "historic." We are in Bucks County PA. It could be used as a nursery, home office, or child's room (twin bed can fit nicely).
So if/when I decide to sell, will I have any problem listing it as a 3-bedroom?
A bedroom should have walls and a door, a closet, and windows large enough to permit egress.
It bugs me when agents list homes according to the seller's definition. In other words, if the seller claims it's three bedrooms, then it is. I recently viewed a 3BR/2Ba home, where the 3rd. "bedroom" is a walled-off room in a corner of the basement that does not have egress, and the 2nd bathroom is part of the master bedroom with no walls (I mean the toilet, sink and bathtub all openly in the master bedroom). I encountered another house that was listed as a 1 1/2 bathroom home where the half bath was nowhere to be found. The listing agent explained that the water and drainage for the half bath are plumbed in and are located in the laundry room.
I can see that it's tempting to stretch a homes features when marketing it, but it's also frustrating to the the selling agents and the buyers when they waste their time looking at homes they think meet their search criteria and then disappoint by not qualifying. It also makes buyers suspicious about what else the sellers are not truthful about.
MLS rules are local. Neither a window nor a closet is necessary to be considered a bedroom, in my area. Conversely, a room in a basement with a window, closet and door is not considered a bedroom but can be included in the room count.
Contact your local board of Realtors to determine the rule in your area. Here is a link to their website:
Thanks. Like I said, no plans to sell now, but you never know.
I do know that here in Bucks County, basements, even completely finished basements and even "walk-out" basements are not calculated into the square footage of living space.
We walked away from a town house that had a fully-finished basement with walk-out doors to a ground-level patio, because the appraisal company valued it very low and would not calculate the approximately 750 square feet partly below ground level as living space.
Hate to dredge up old threads, but some here have advised to first search a topic and add to it, before posting a new thread. I'm not used to "necro-posting" This is a no-no on other sites I attend.
Anyway. I don't plan to sell my house any time soon, but when I bought it in 2002 it was as a 3 bedroom house. It was advertised that way, and the appraisal reflected a 3 BR house.
Then I heard from multiple sources that to be considered a "bedroom" a room must have a closet. People in this thread have added important info: one, that many historic homes don't have bedroom closets, and they are still accepted as bedrooms, and two, that the "rules" are local or state-by-state.
Our third bedroom is about 12X12, a corner room with two windows. It does not have a closet, but has a built-in cabinet/shelf system. The top section is open shelves, and the bottom section is cabinet doors with shelves inside. the home was built in the 1940's, so not "historic." We are in Bucks County PA. It could be used as a nursery, home office, or child's room (twin bed can fit nicely).
So if/when I decide to sell, will I have any problem listing it as a 3-bedroom?
Here in NJ, to be a bedroom, it must have a door, an egress window, and a closet. HOWEVER...
If the house was built BEFORE that code was put in place, then the code that existed when the house was built is what prevails. So the only way to know for sure is to find out what the code requirement was when the house was built.
I think a bedroom without egress is going to have a serious problem with some appraisers. I've heard that some places won't count a room above the garage as a bedroom and that baffled me as well.
In my area there are a lot of historic homes and the rule of thumb is that an armoire that is affixed to the wall (nails, scres, bolts, etc) is acceptable as a closet.
The listing with plumbing for the bath but no bath is typical of listings I always ended up at- the common refrain was 'its not what I imagined from the description.)
i currently live in indiana, and my landlord rented me a house with as a 3 bedroom, but 1 bedroom that has a basement trap door in the middle of the floor and no closet. this makes it inconvenient to use because its the only place a bed will fit in this room is over that trap door and we need access to basement because when it rains the basement floods and the landlord has a sump pump we have to turn on. but the mildew smell down there is overwhelming i have had to put covers over the floor vents in ever room to cut down the smell coming from the basement.
I'm not sure if this has been talked about yet or not, but here it goes.
What is the minimum requirements to list a room as a bedroom on MLS? I have two examples:
- A master bedroom with no door or walls. Can this be considered a bedroom? It is open to the rest of the house.
- An area of the garage that has been finished but does not have a closet (area exists with no doors) or window for egress. Access is down OUTSIDE STAIRCASE and must walk across unfinished garage floor to access "bedroom". No plumbing exists on this level. Is this really a "bedroom" or a finished area of garage?
I'd appreciate your comments!
It's a room where you can a) shut your door for privacy, b) ideally with a closet for clothing (although in historic old homes, a clothespress or armoire will do) and c) with a window for emergency egress (in case of fire).
A master bedroom with no walls and no doors sounds like it's just part of a studio apartment, or some funky layout with a loft. You can call it a bedroom area, but calling it a room is a bit of a stretch.
The spare room in the garage sounds like someone could sleep in it, if they needed to -- but hey, you can say the same thing about the living room or the den -- just because you can sleep in it, doesn't make it a bedroom.
i currently live in indiana, and my landlord rented me a house with as a 3 bedroom, but 1 bedroom that has a basement trap door in the middle of the floor and no closet. this makes it inconvenient to use because its the only place a bed will fit in this room is over that trap door and we need access to basement because when it rains the basement floods and the landlord has a sump pump we have to turn on. but the mildew smell down there is overwhelming i have had to put covers over the floor vents in ever room to cut down the smell coming from the basement.
Didn't you look at the place before renting? If the so-called 3rd bedroom isn't functional, why would you rent it?? What is the rental market like, can you find somewhere else? Having to cover up floor vents due to flooding and odor may be a good enough reason to get out of your lease if you wanted to.
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This is a no-no on other sites I attend.
