Everyone knows that the number of bedrooms in a home will affect its price. Sellers will naturally want to maximize that bedroom count. However, it is important to avoid some common mistakes when it comes to bedroom count in MA homes for sale.
What Makes a Bedroom
Simply adding a closet to a room will not make it a bedroom. First and foremost, you must understand the legal definition of a bedroom. Check with the local building department on any restrictions. If your home is serviced by a septic system, you may also be restricted by the capacity of that system. Lastly, be sure to also check your deed for any bedroom restrictions. Some condo complexes or subdivisions have limitations right in the deed. It is not a good idea to market a home as having more bedrooms than what is legally recognized. Doing so increases your liability as a seller.
Common Bedroom Count Mistakes
The most common mistake by a seller is counting too many rooms as a bedroom. Additionally, even if a room can be legally recognized as a bedroom, it doesn’t mean that buyers will accept it as such. For example, a four season sunroom with a closet would not make for a good bedroom. In many cases, these rooms are located in areas better suited for entertainment than for use as a bedroom. They also tend to have separate, less efficient, heating methods. Buyers particularly dislike this mistake.
Another common mistake is counting a room that is simply too small to be a bedroom. If a twin size bed basically fills the entire room and leaves little space to even walk, then the room probably should not be counted as a bedroom. This seems to be common in older homes where pantries and other similar spaces have been converted to bedrooms.
Older homes also commonly have connected rooms. If you must go through one bedroom to get to another, then it doesn’t function very well as a bedroom by today’s standards. Bedrooms in disconnected spaces are also questionable.
Be particularly cautious of bedrooms in basements. The law is very specific about the requirements for such rooms. For example, these rooms must have a proper means of egress in case of fire. A permit should have been approved to add a basement bedroom.
How to Properly Handle Bedroom Count in MA Homes for Sale
Buyers get really upset when the bedroom count in MA homes for sale are misleading or incorrect. It wastes their time and, quite frankly, yours too. Make sure that you are marketing only the legal bedrooms in the home. If there is the potential to use other rooms as bedrooms, include that in the property description rather than in the bedroom count field. If one of the legal bedrooms really isn’t suitable as a bedroom by today’s standards, you can market it as a bedroom but, again, include some additional information in the property description remarks. Full disclosure ensures that buyers have accurate information before scheduling a showing and that you are protecting for properly disclosing.