Night Elf Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikslo Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 Does this help? http://sacramentoappraisalblog.com/2014/09/09/the-4-requirements-for-a-room-to-be-considered-a-bedroom/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted April 22, 2016 Author Share Posted April 22, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theelfqueen Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 A closet and a fire escape route. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 Closets, by the way, are not required by city code where we live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skimomma Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 You should check with your area gov. Your local property tax will be affected by whether you have 3 or 4 bedrooms. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Home'scool Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted April 22, 2016 Author Share Posted April 22, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldberry Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinE Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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