We recently purchased a small 3 bedroom house to flip. It has one large bedroom w/ a closet and two smaller bedrooms (8x8, and 10x9) without closets. We are wondering if it would be better for resale value to put in small closets, leave them without closets so the rooms won't be any smaller, or make it a 2 bedroom house both having closets?????

Call FHA and your local county building dept. to find out what is the smallest allowable closet to put in each of the 2 BRS/and just do it..and have it built with actual walls - not a substitute.

FHA requires a closet in each BR.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: real estate lady,

Thanks for your advice and information!!!

If those rooms don't have closets you don't have 3 bedrooms.

And I hate to break it to you, but to be honest the rooms really are too small to add closets.

How were the realtor/seller able to get away with saying the house was a 3 BR when by regulation bedrooms must have closets?

Where was YOUR realtor in all this?

How on earth can you realisticly add a closet to each room?

I hope your're in an area where a two bedroom will sell.

One room is 8x8 with NO closet, the other is 10x9. If you wall off a 2 foot deep by four foot wide closet, are you're down to -- what 6x8 and 8x9 -- you can't even get a twin bed in there. The really smallest room isn't eve baby nursery size.

I NEVER say this -- but you may have to make this a 2 bedroom.

If the bedrooms are side by side just make the house two large berooms and two very decent sized closets.

That's all you have anyway.

Sorry. Good Luck please keep us posted.

"FredSher," Now you wouldn't be playing with us about this would you? Not fun to make fun of people who are seriously trying to help you.

Think this one is a no-brainer and you know it.

Idaho, you'd be surprised what some people don't know.

I'm not even talking about FredSher, becasue I really am curious to see how the case works out.

But I've been on these boards for years and seen some of the DUMBEST situations you could NOT even imagine.

Some people really are ignorant (unaware) of how home buying and selling works.

Look at how many people continue to ask 'do I really have to stage my house?' If I see that one more time (and I know I will) I'll scream.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: clbselah,

"clbselah," Agree with all of your comments and perhaps I was a bit harsh; if so, I apologize. However, the key words to me in OP's post was "to flip." Just seemed to me to be a bit too obvious but I do wish them the best....

Are there windows in these two small rooms?

Real estate professinals, does a room need to have a closet AND a window in order to be called a bedroom?

I think the 8x8 needs to BE the closet...

Charcoal, You said everything I almost said as well.

I also think all BRs need a closet AND window...but I was trying think back over all the apts and houses I've known...

I'm sure some houses and apts. have "interior rooms" but no HOUSE I've ever lived in had BRs without windows.

And yes, the 8x8 really should just be the closet for the 10x9 room.

But 10x9 is still awfully small.

What I'D prefer would be take a little room from the 8x8 (because that would be a BIG closet) and add it to the 9x10 room...so the two spaces end up 6x6 for the closet (which is still decent size for what the sizes of the other rooms seem to be), and 10x11, or 9x12 for the bedroom.

My current bedroom is 13x21, with the 2nd bedroom of three still pretty big at 11x18. I'd never THINK of even going smaller. (my SMALLEST bedroom is 13x10, and I use it for an office)

I once owned an old small philly rowhouse with 11x11 bedroom with a 2x2 1/2 closet..the only closet in the house!

That house may not have dated back to colonial times -- but I declare it went back to the 1920's..no CLOSETS!

We had the simular issue. The home we had build and lived in for 11 yrs had 2 bedrooms and the 3rd we made an office (no closet). We have decided to sell and need to sell as 3 bedrooms(really hard to sell 2 bdrm house). We added the closet by using the existing doors entering the room (only took away alittle walk area from living room)opened the room off the hallway. This saved the space in the bedroom and our house is now a 3 bedroom. There is no way you can list and sell as a bedroom without the closet.

Building codes such as the International Residential Code state that bedrooms must have a minimum square footage of 70sq ft and have a minimum width of 7'-0". Obviously, your 8 X 8 room does not meet these minimums with a square footage of only 64 sq ft. Potentially, the other room could have a closet if you still meet that minimum square footage and the closet did not enroach upon the 7'-0" dimension. It is going to be tight.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: vytis73,

Hey Fred. If I were buying your house, I would prefer using armoirs in those small rooms. This would allow me to decide where I wanted to place my "closets". I understand the small house thing as I've lived in a few myself. You can't technically call it a three bedroom but buyers will know what to use the space for. Staging and pricing will be your friend. Good luck, as it isn't exactly a flipper's market right now.

Where in the US does it make sense to buy to "flip" these days?

Fred, were taken for a ride on this property?

Or did you know what you were getting into?

The fact that you even thought these were bedrooms leads one to believe you might have a steep learning curve if you want to flip SUCCESSFULLY.

We're trying to help you. Please provide more information so you can get more feedback.

quote:

Originally posted by flowerchyld:
Hey Fred. If I were buying your house, I would prefer using armoirs in those small rooms. This would allow me to decide where I wanted to place my "closets". I understand the small house thing as I've lived in a few myself. You can't technically call it a three bedroom but buyers will know what to use the space for. Staging and pricing will be your friend. Good luck, as it isn't exactly a flipper's market right now.

Stage it as anything he wants, but he can't list it as a 3 bedroom house. At most with an added closet in the larger of the 2 it is a 2 bedroom house.

I wonder how he got a loan on it? Like others - where was the agent? Was it listed on the MLS as 3 bdr? If so - a complaint is definitely necessary.

Fred, did you just purchase this house? What US state is it in, if you don't mind my asking? Can you send us a link with photos of it, maybe the selling link when you purchased it?

Thanks.

Thanks for all your input! We purchased this old home on a wonderful street for $55,000 where all the other houses on the street are newer and approximately worth $200,000 -$325,000. The house even though it is small it has a new roof, new siding, new furnace, new replacement windows, and a very large lot.

It was a 4sale by owner that we paid cash for in cash.

We know the house was a good value at that price in this area and I guess we got our answer of making it a 2 bedroom both with closets!!!

We will make money on this house either way since we got the house in this wonderful area at such a low price, but we just wanted some input on the bedroom situation to maximize our resale value.

quote:

quote:
Originally posted by flowerchyld:
Hey Fred. If I were buying your house, I would prefer using armoirs in those small rooms. This would allow me to decide where I wanted to place my "closets". I understand the small house thing as I've lived in a few myself. You can't technically call it a three bedroom but buyers will know what to use the space for. Staging and pricing will be your friend. Good luck, as it isn't exactly a flipper's market right now.


Stage it as anything he wants, but he can't list it as a 3 bedroom house. At most with an added closet in the larger of the 2 it is a 2 bedroom house.

Just wanted to clarify I did not say it should be listed as a 3 bedroom. If you read my post you'll see I said buyers will decide how to use the space, not that it was technically a 3 bedroom. I've lived in a one bedroom house many years ago when our first child was born. I would have LOVED to have had those 2 extra little rooms...one for a crib and one for a play room.

Fred, looks like you got a good deal on this house. Lots of luck!

Thank you to all of you with constructive comments and concerns. You prompted us to call 11 different real estate agents in our area and ask their advice about what we should do with these bedrooms.

To our surprise they all said that if we make the house into a 2 bedroom instead of a 3 bedroom we would be losing about $20,000 to $30,000. They said that in our area there is not a law regarding closets in a bedroom to make it a bedroom. They said that even though they don't have closets they can still be called bedrooms.

We hope they are all right!!!

What area is the house in?

quote:

Originally posted by flowerchyld:

quote:

quote:
Originally posted by flowerchyld:
Hey Fred. If I were buying your house, I would prefer using armoirs in those small rooms. This would allow me to decide where I wanted to place my "closets". I understand the small house thing as I've lived in a few myself. You can't technically call it a three bedroom but buyers will know what to use the space for. Staging and pricing will be your friend. Good luck, as it isn't exactly a flipper's market right now.


Stage it as anything he wants, but he can't list it as a 3 bedroom house. At most with an added closet in the larger of the 2 it is a 2 bedroom house.

Just wanted to clarify I did not say it should be listed as a 3 bedroom. If you read my post you'll see I said buyers will decide how to use the space, not that it was technically a 3 bedroom. I've lived in a one bedroom house many years ago when our first child was born. I would have LOVED to have had those 2 extra little rooms...one for a crib and one for a play room.

Fred, looks like you got a good deal on this house. Lots of luck!

Not arguing with you - if you read what I posted - I said when he tries to sell it and he wants to put it on the MLS - he cannot list it as a 3bdr house. He can stage it any way to tuesday - it will be listed as a 2 bdr house - thus targeted to people looking for a 2 bedroom house.

He can save the money and stage it as a small den or home office.

Good luck, Fred. Share photos with us when you get through with it.

Charming, I do understand you were not argueing , just wanted to clarify what I said. I do agree it can not be listed as a 3 bedroom, and that will turn away some buyers.

We have some older homes in my neck of the woods here that were built in the early 1900's. Some of the bedrooms do not have closets, and the ones that do are hardly enough for a child to use in today's world, LOL. The house I grew up in had nice size bedrooms, but my brother's room did not have a closet. He used an armoire to hang his shirts. Our needs in today's world have changed so much.

quote:

Originally posted by flowerchyld:
Our needs in today's world have changed so much.

Our needs or our wants? (Sorry, I am sort of on a roll with this idea lately. I am watching the show about how much you can get for your house. The comment: "Your master bath is really small. Buyers really expect a much larger one." When I was growing up there were NO master bathrooms, and these were very nice 3 bedroom homes on .3 acre in suburban DC. When did a MB become a necessity???