What makes a basement a bedroom?

[Night Elf]

Zillow calls my house a 4 BR 2 BA home with a partial basement. It's a split level home. Upstairs is 3 BR and in the partial basement we have the 4th BR that has a closet that extends under the stairs. There is no bathroom down there. I just thought I had a 3 BR house with a partial finished basement. Can I really call my house a 4 BR?

[ikslo]

Does this help?

 

http://sacramentoappraisalblog.com/2014/09/09/the-4-requirements-for-a-room-to-be-considered-a-bedroom/

[Night Elf]

Does this help?

 

http://sacramentoappraisalblog.com/2014/09/09/the-4-requirements-for-a-room-to-be-considered-a-bedroom/

 

Well, according to that article my downstairs room is definitely a bedroom. I just wish there was a bathroom. Poor dd18. She has to come upstairs every time she needs to use the facilities.

[theelfqueen]

A closet and a fire escape route.

[Cinder]

Here's another article from an Atlanta realtor about what constitutes a "modern" bedroom. Excerpt:

 

It is reasonable to expect the following in “modern†bedrooms:

• a closet
• a window
• a ceiling height of 7’ or more
• a dedicated, securable entry with no “thru†traffic
• area enough to accommodate a small bedroom set

[gardenmom5]

Zillow calls my house a 4 BR 2 BA home with a partial basement. It's a split level home. Upstairs is 3 BR and in the partial basement we have the 4th BR that has a closet that extends under the stairs. There is no bathroom down there. I just thought I had a 3 BR house with a partial finished basement. Can I really call my house a 4 BR?

 

you might want to check regulations for where you live.  here - a bedroom must have a closet, and a window large enough for egress in an emergency.

 

btw: zillow is NOT reliable. 

[flyingiguana]

That's not just "reasonable" where we are.  It's city code.  At least for rentals.

 

For selling a house, you may be able to call it whatever you want, but a realtor may have good knowledge about what will draw in the buyers that are most interested in your house.  "Four bedroom" may imply a house that's got 4 bedrooms upstairs.  Putting that in the description may bring in a lot of potential buyers who expect that, and who then wouldn't be interested in buying.  Meanwhile, it may put off people who really are interested in a 3 bedroom place.  At the price your house would be valued at, a 4 bedroom listing might seem like a lot of house, and therefore probably not in good shape or the price wouldn't be so low.  So people looking for 3 bedrooms might skip it.

 

But, it being zillow, you can edit.  If you really want.  It is possible that your tax assessment is based on 3 bedrooms so you might not want word getting out that you've got 4.  (If any assessors look at zillow...)

[flyingiguana]

Closets, by the way, are not required by city code where we live.

[bettyandbob]

A bedroom has to have an exit (door or window to outside that a person can use if necessary).

 

In my area a bedroom is also supposed to have a closet (so a real estate agent told me).

 

The bathroom can be anywhere in the house, but I wouldn't rent out a room that didn't have a full bath on the same floor (either shared or unshared) and I would think not having that would seriously reduce the rent.

[skimomma]

Well, according to that article my downstairs room is definitely a bedroom. I just wish there was a bathroom. Poor dd18. She has to come upstairs every time she needs to use the facilities.

 

Around here where most houses had to have bathrooms added after indoor plumbing because a "thing," almost every house only has one bathroom and it is often not on the same floor as some or all of the bedrooms.  Anytime I think to worry about that, I remember how lucky we are to not have to go outside to use the bathroom!

[bettyandbob]

You should check with your area gov. Your local property tax will be affected by whether you have 3 or 4 bedrooms.

[Spryte]

Here, it must have a window and I'd thought it needed a closet, but maybe not. Our house is a 5 BR, according the RE agents, and our paperwork. It has large picture window, built in bookshelves but no built in closet. It does have a large armoire that conveyed.

[Home'scool]

I work for the Board of Health in my town and we have the final say on what is a bedroom and what isn't.

 

We consider a room a bedroom if it:

- is at least 70 sq. feet

- has two exits

- has electricity

- has privacy

 

Closets do not matter, nor does it matter what "you" use it for. If it meets those criteria its a bedroom. When people want to add a room that they want to use as a study and not have it be considered a bedroom the easiest thing to do is to widen the door opening so that a standard door will not fit it.

[Night Elf]

I work for the Board of Health in my town and we have the final say on what is a bedroom and what isn't.

 

We consider a room a bedroom if it:

- is at least 70 sq. feet

- has two exits

- has electricity

- has privacy

 

Closets do not matter, nor does it matter what "you" use it for. If it meets those criteria its a bedroom. When people want to add a room that they want to use as a study and not have it be considered a bedroom the easiest thing to do is to widen the door opening so that a standard door will not fit it.

 

Ah. This room doesn't have a standard door. Right now it's an accordion door.

[shawthorne44]

Before I bought my first house, I read the textbook to get your Real Estate Appraisers License in Texas.  One thing it had, but which was news to every agent I talked to, the room must be at least 8'x8'.   At the time, many new tract home McMansions were claiming 5 or 6 bedrooms when three of them were 6'x8'. 

[Carrie12345]

Local codes are going to vary, as do the tax implications.

 

When we were looking into building, many of the floor plans for "3 bedrooms" included a second floor space with a mostly open wall that could easily convert to a wall with door... after the tax assessment was done.  Wink, wink implied.

[Ottakee]

Ah. This room doesn't have a standard door. Right now it's an accordion door.

We do foster care and an accordion door was approved. Room had to have egress windows and a latchable door.

[Seasider]

Closets, by the way, are not required by city code where we live.

I don't think closets are required here, but you are supposed to have a window large enough to escape through and a bathroom on the same level of the house.

[gardenmom5]

That's not just "reasonable" where we are.  It's city code.  At least for rentals.

 

For selling a house, you may be able to call it whatever you want, but a realtor may have good knowledge about what will draw in the buyers that are most interested in your house.  "Four bedroom" may imply a house that's got 4 bedrooms upstairs.  Putting that in the description may bring in a lot of potential buyers who expect that, and who then wouldn't be interested in buying.  Meanwhile, it may put off people who really are interested in a 3 bedroom place.  At the price your house would be valued at, a 4 bedroom listing might seem like a lot of house, and therefore probably not in good shape or the price wouldn't be so low.  So people looking for 3 bedrooms might skip it.

 

But, it being zillow, you can edit.  If you really want.  It is possible that your tax assessment is based on 3 bedrooms so you might not want word getting out that you've got 4.  (If any assessors look at zillow...)

 

dd and dsil were looking at a house listed as five bedrooms.  one of those was what was *supposed* to be the office *next to the front door*.  sorry - that is NOT a bedroom.  I think another was really a bonus room.

 

depending upon your area - redfin is better.  I had far better luck looking at their site than zillow. 

[goldberry]

Closets, by the way, are not required by city code where we live.

 

In my area it's not a code thing but a real estate thing.  When it comes to listing, numerous realtors have mentioned that is how they determine - if it has a closet and fire egress.  

[ErinE]

A closet and a way of egress that meets code. Not all windows do. When we renovated, the bedroom windows needed to be a minimum width and a maximum height from the floor.

[KungFuPanda]

I don't understand why closets and bathrooms on the same level are necessary. They're nice. They're preferred. But 'required' to meet the legal definition? That seems silly to me.