What would you prefer?-Home remodel

[RkyMtnMom]

We have an older house- ranch with a basement-that has 4 bedrooms that are all about the same size. Three on the main level and one in the basement. No master bedroom, no master bath. One bathroom upstairs, one bathrooom downstairs. Both the same size. Small-about 6x8-very old and outdated. On one side of the basement bathroom is the bedroom, on the other side is a very large laundry room 10x12. (full size closet, cabinets, counters, room for freezer-but again, old.

 

We are considering remodeling because both bathrooms need serious work. We have a few options and I would love to know what everyone's opinions are. 

Currently DH and I and DS and DD are in the 3 main level bedrooms and 14yo dd is in the basement bedroom. 

Would you leave everything as is and just update the bathrooms? or

would you and DH move downstairs and make the laundry room smaller-like a normal laundry room/closet and make the extra space into a master suite and have all 3 kids upstairs?

 

Would you want the all the kids separated from you? (They are 10, 12, 14)

Would you rather a bigger master bedroom and bigger adjoining bathroom (even if its in the basement), but smaller laundry room?

What do you think this kind of remodel would do to resale value? (We aren't planning on moving, but don't see this as our forever home)

 

 

[Happy]

We rented a home where the master was in the basement and our kids were on the main floor. I hated it. It felt as if my kids were more vulnerable up there.

 

As far as resale--keeping the master on the main floor is always good, especially if you don't have many steps to get in the house. Older folks grow less fond of steps as they age.

 

 

 

[regentrude]

Do the basement bedroom and bathroom have windows?

 

[RkyMtnMom]

Do the basement bedroom and bathroom have windows?

 

Yes. The bedroom has 2 windows and the bathroom has one.

Edited March 6, 2017 by RkyMtnMom

[Annie G]

Our master is on one floor and the kids live on the floor above us, but our floor is the main floor, not the basement. I have LOVED raising kids in this setup but I wouldn't have liked it if it meant we were in the basement.  

 

I'd probably just do minor bathroom renovations (update them) and let it go. 

[nevergiveup]

Is there a way you can knock out a wall upstairs and make a master bedroom--then make two bedrooms in the basement to move the displaced kid into?

I would prefer the master bedroom to be on the main floor.

I would not need a large laundry room since I tend to fold clothes elsewhere.

If you are doing this with resale in mind, I would ask myself how much longer I would be living there and, if it isn't much longer, just spruce up the bathrooms, not sinking a bunch of money into anything.

 

[samba]

I don't think a master in the basement is desirable for resale. I know I wouldn't like it.  I'd update the bathrooms. We don't have a master bedroom/bath...it would be nice but two updated bathrooms would be better for us and for resale. 

 

I wouldn't mind having kids your age on a separate floor but I wouldn't want to be in the basement. When we bought our home, a room in the basement had been converted to a teen bedroom. Our kids were younger then and we would not have wanted them that far away. 

[LucyStoner]

In your home with my family's needs, I would do the bathrooms and make the basement a little studio MIL with a kitchenette.  This is because we anticipate my father living with us at some juncture and I need him on his own level, with some degree of separate space.  Also, we have two sons with ASD so the possibility that one of them may live with us for an extended time as a young adult has crossed my mind.  

 

Here, MILs or anything rentable with some degree of separation add a lot of resale value.  Your kids are older.  If you think one of them might live at home during college or something, this scenario might be beneficial for you down the line.  

[PeterPan]

No, you don't want to move your master to the basement. Your kids are going to be gone very soon. Look at their ages. Do you have room on your property to add onto the house and bump the master out a bit? That, to me, would be more desirable. You might just price it out, just for your own information, considering what it would cost, how it would affect your taxes, etc. 

 

I agree with the others that you could take room from a bedroom on the main floor to build a nicer master suite. You could even move the laundry to the main floor when you do that. So half the bedroom would be for the master suite and half for the laundry. Then make a 2nd bedroom downstairs. 

 

Mainly, think through where you want to be in 6 years. Your two oldest will be gone and you'll have all these bedrooms. What do you want it to look like at that point? When I watch my friends, that's when it seems to get sticky. They're left scratching their heads what to do with the extra bedrooms. So to me, to convert one to make a master suite and main floor laundry, that could be really good. Who knows, might make it a house you'd feel like you could stay in longer. :)

[samba]

We've thought about converting the basement to an apartment-style space for ds15, who most likely will not live on his own. If we had the money for a major overhaul, that's what we'd do. As Lucy Stoner suggested, a rentable space adds value. Otherwise, stick with just updating the bathrooms.

[hellen]

The master should stay on the main. Just redo the bathrooms.

 

Our house has a huge basement bedroom. It's larger than the master. I never considered using that as the master. It feels too far removed. That's fine for teens or guests but it's weird as the head of household.

[KatieJ]

At your kids ages, I wanted to be able to monitor their coming and going at night. ( we used a light system..when they got home they turned it off) and being upstairs would make that easier.

[Arctic Bunny]

Have recently been on the buying end of real estate, and looking at - and ruling out - lots of houses...

 

We have two kids. I automatically crossed off any house that didn't have three bedrooms on the main floor. The kids have shared a room in every house except this last one (so their whole lives except the past year and a half) and even then, we used the third bedroom as a guest room.

 

I saw one house with the master suite in the basement. It's still on the market...

 

I saw one where they added a master suite onto the house, making it four upstairs. It worked well, except I would have had the door opening onto the same hallway. As it was, it was down the hall, around the corner, and would have been a long way with little ones waking up in the night.

[J-rap]

I wouldn't put master in basement.  If nothing else, I'd fix up the bathrooms.  Possibly, I'd look at changing the three bedrooms/one bath upstairs to two bedrooms, one of them being a bigger master bedroom plus its own bathroom.

 

 

 

[LucyStoner]

Have recently been on the buying end of real estate, and looking at - and ruling out - lots of houses...

 

We have two kids. I automatically crossed off any house that didn't have three bedrooms on the main floor. The kids have shared a room in every house except this last one (so their whole lives except the past year and a half) and even then, we used the third bedroom as a guest room.

 

 

I agree.  I would not turn two of the upstairs bedrooms into a master suite. In the case of the OP, she's using all four of the bedrooms as bedrooms.  Further, for resale many families will walk away from a house with just two bedrooms on the same floor.  It limits the range of interested buyers by a lot. 

[OneStepAtATime]

Agree with the others:

 

1.  Don't make the basement the master suite.  It will negatively affect resale.

2.  Don't make the basement the master suite.  You are too far away from your kids.

3.  If you want to sell this house you do not want to make the main floor only a 2 bedroom.  That will also affect resale.

4.  Bottom line, your best option since this isn't your forever home is to simply update the bathrooms.  

 

But if you really want to pursue some outside the box options I would meet with an architect to do a preliminary brainstorming session on what else might be a possibility and to get a ballpark cost.

Edited March 7, 2017 by OneStepAtATime

[kiwik]

I have been watching a lot of HGTV lately and I don't get this master bedroom business.  My experience is that kids spend far more time in bedrooms than adults and that adults just need enough room for a bed and clothes storage,  It seems quite wasteful to have these enormous fancy rooms that you mostly only sleep in.  I would just do up the bathrooms.  

[bethben]

My friend has a ranch with 3 bedrooms on top and one in the basement.  She remodeled her upstairs bathroom and took it from 50s pink to a really nice spa like bathroom.  So, I guess all that to say, I too would just remodel the bathrooms and just make them really nice.  If you are in a lower home price point, new home buyers with small children won't see not having a master as a big deal.  I didn't for the first 10 years of my marriage with two small children and I didn't feel like I was lacking.  That was before HGTV though when everyone feels like they should be able to buy a model home.