Comments on: The Extra Bedroom Problem

By: Luke

Luke — Sun, 29 May 2011 23:50:46 +0000

It’s really hard to find a house nowadays that DOESN’T have too many rooms. I’m a single dude with a big dumb dog, but he doesn’t need his own room. I am in the process of house-hunting right now, and I had no idea how difficult it was to find a home with less than three bedrooms. The ones that do are way too old to be financed with my mortgage company. I totally agree with the idea of this article, but WTF am I to do with the choice of a thousandaffordable homes in my area, all of which are too big for me?

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:02:46 +0000

I just added a 500 sf additon to my exisitng 1,400 sf home in Savannah, GA. The home originally had 3 small bedrooms (roughly 11×11. I knocked out one bedroom wall and made that into a new dining room. The exterior wall of that sapce was then knocked out and connected to the new kitchen of the additon giving us a nice open space. That left me with two small bedrooms- good for kids. I converted the old dining room (also about 12×11) into the new “master bedroom”. Adjoining this room is the old kitchen. I will use this as the master bathroom and there is also a small 7×11 storage closet off of the old dining room. The idea here is to use the old storage closet as a walk in closet. Because the new bedroom (old dining room) is only large enough for a queen bed and a dresser it will only be used for sleeping and dressing purposes but I can still justify it as a “master” as it will have a nice closet and master bath. So now Im back to a 3 bedroom house. In back of the new kitchen int he addtion, I added an office, laundry, coat closet and half bath. This space measures 12×24 in its entirety but the way it is divided, you can use it as an office, laundry room or a guest suite. I think this is a good idea for people that want that third bedroom but need to really justify it. Guests, no problem. Some extra space to lay out the laundry, no problem. Need to get away and pay the bills or draft a side project, no problem. The point is the space will always be used somehow.

By: Carolyn A.

Carolyn A. — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:30:19 +0000

We moved to Oregon 6 yrs. ago with 2 adult, single children. We bought a 3,000 sq. ft. 32 y r. old home in a hill side neighborhood of custom homes. The lower/street level has a party room, kitchenette, bathroom, office and large family room with fireplace and killer city view in the distance and a private, fenced yard with separate entrance and security system! It is quiet and serene living here. The extra spaces in our home have served us well as

additional living spaces for our college-bound and job-hunting children, both of whom are graduated and/or out and married; post-living needs, the space served as
preschool rooms and program space for music studio
currently being used as tv room/exercise equipment space and other large room is play room for grandkids!

We're getting a ping-pong table for the large room. It's a perfect space/place for grandkids to play and get away from all the adults. We have made this house "work for us". In the future, as we find the need, we'll occupy the lower/main level (900 sq. ft.) and rent out the 2100 sq. ft. of this raised hillside ranch home. It's a perfect set up for two separate living spaces, if we want to allocate it as such!! We have a low mtg. and can also consider a reverse mtg. within the next 3 yrs. before my husband retires. Then, our home will continue to "work for us" as we age in place! Just some other options for consideration, coming from 2 seniors!

By: erica

erica — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:30:43 +0000

The “overbooked for the holidays” argument is interesting. I wonder, if you are now acting in a community (say 12 lofts and only one guest suite) if you might factor in the households in the community who are leaving town for the holidays. Neighbors using their neighbors temporarily vacant lofts. It’s dreamy!

For full disclosure, I’m a single who bought a way too big house (2100 square feet — life is cheap in Pittsburgh, PA). It seems more reasonable now that I have roommates. But, with the roommates I’ve lost the guest room. I’m surprised that it’s not so hard to have the guests sleep on the couch. If I actually hang a door in the jamb between the living room and dining room I could offer them an additional hint of privacy.

On a different topic of space and expectations, I am consistently shocked at the disbelief of my friends that my household (three or four people) could possibly share just one bathroom. It kills me that people think I should spend $3,000 – $15,000 to add a bathroom no one in the household needs and I don’t want. I’ve found the “not so big house” movement helpful in thinking about this topic.

By: Keith

Keith — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:45:17 +0000

There was one issue that was not addressed that throws a bit of a wrench into the works. Although a community space would make a lot of sense for those times when only one guest might be in town, holidays are usually the times when people have guests. Generally speaking, everyone celebrates holidays and has guests at the same time, so one or two guest accommodations for 10-15 homes would not solve the hospitality problem when it’s needed most. That doesn’t even mention the fact that those times are the ones when you’d most like to be hospitable since hotels are charging more due to increased demand.

It certainly would be nice to have some shared spaces for guests rather than everyone having spaces that are only used 10-15 days a year at most. The only problem is that those spaces nearly always get used the same 10-15 days per year. Just some food for thought, but I absolutely think this conversation is one worth having.

By: tom toolbag

tom toolbag — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:58:58 +0000

Do the math, do the math, do the math! Let’s say for example purposes that an extra bedroom has a size of 150 sq/ft. With a closet(24 sq/ft), and possibly even a full bathroom (50 sq/ft). Now figure a conservative price of $100.00 per sq/ft price; 150+24+50=224*$100=$22,400.00. Now include finance charges for this amount @ roughly 3-5%(let’s say 4%), energy costs, taxes, repair and renovation costs somewhere in the future, all of which have a trend-line that slopes upward(except interest costs unless you tap the home equity to finance upgrades or for other things)! Oh wait, this is done in today’s dollar, with the weakness of the dollar right now and gov’t debt, what are the odds all the costs are going to go up along with taxes? Now factor in retirement, with a fixed income that is probably lower than current or working income, it looks a little bleak to come up with 5-10-$15,000.00 to repair/renovate that space.
Guess what? I like being just as hospitable as the next person but…..your butt is staying in a hotel!! It is far cheaper for me to pay for your hotel room than to have extra, useless space. If it is a spur-of-the-moment thing, you either get the couch or an inflatable mattress. Have a few too many beers, those are your options(or a cab). My house isn’t a free vacation place so you can blow $200.00 a day @Six Flags or the water parks. It’s not kid-proof either. Likewise for mooching relatives. I don’t live beyond my means, and just because my incomes increases does not mean that I need a bigger bathroom or 1-3 extra rooms with tv’s to make my life better.
I swear, most people can’t see the forest because of the tree in front of their face!

P.S. I like my money, and I find ways to keep it not give it to someone else. I sef-finance as much as I possibly can, interest adds absolutely no value or quality to anything. Yes, I have friends that tell me I’m bass-ackward, stupid, living in the 80′s, but they also are asking to borrow money from me when in a bind, not the other way around.

By: chad

chad — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:59:42 +0000

Good points on appraisals. A couple more details that have helped us to date.

One, provide actual data on the calculated energy costs of the home via a HERS report or similar analysis by a local energy consulting firm. Mention that energy prices are slated to double or triple within the next 2 years and that by adding a reasonable sized solar or wind system onsite in the future, your bills would almost cease to exist.

Secondly, use a good architect that may have actually won some design awards and/or critical praise for their work. Give them a pamphlet or bio on the architect and tell them how your residence is different than the majority of surrounding houses because of it’s progressive design. Appraisers are actually taught different methods of valuing uniquely designed homes. For instance, a Frank Loyd Wright home would certainly not be valued on the traditional size and bedroom approach. This is an extreme example, but still applicable to homes designed by quality AIA architects.

I believe strongly that the 100K project received a 20% – 30% higher appraisal due to these two factors above that we sold very strongly to the appraisers. The 120K House actually appraised for $30K more than the buyers paid for the house. While this may showcase our ignorance in pricing our homes too low, I like to think it is a better indicator of the effect of good design and energy-efficiency on value, even in a down market.

Good luck out there and keep shaping those banks’ feeble minds as we all try to progress forward together.

By: Curtis Olson

Curtis Olson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:53:35 +0000

We did a project in Saskatoon that converted a 1911 4 story brick warehouse into 12 loft condo’s, 9 of which were 1 bedroom & bachelor style lofts. We recognized this issue and ended up designing a “guest suite” in the lower level (bedroom and bathroom only) that all the condo owners had access to. We used this feature to sell people 1 bedroom units that were seeking 2 bedrooms because of the guest suite.

Now try get an appraiser to value that feature….

By: Claire McEachern

Claire McEachern — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:06:49 +0000

Like a previous poster I instantly thought of partitions. It would seem that multi-use partitions, hung on a flexible ceiling tracking system, and made of some newfangled awesome (relatively sound proof?) material would do the trick. Full time occupants could enjoy the benefits of the “great-room” and loft style living AND have the option for making occasional pod space for guests, privacy, or some other defined use…This way space in terms of square footage becomes less of an issue and the illusion of space takes center stage.

By: lavardera

lavardera — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:11:37 +0000

I’ve gone through this quandary with clients before. We found we could raise their appraisal by adding useless space, and manage to keep the budget the same by eliminating valuable assets like windows without decreasing the valuation. Abso-f__king-lutely crazy.

Appraisals as a measure of value are broken at a fundamental level and will continue to be an obstacle to building better housing until reformed. Its been a notably absent factor in the discussion of why our economy blew up. I think appraisals deserve a heap of blame, and certainly enough blame to not simply return to the status quo.