A Bedroom or a Den?

[stiffaknee]

I am contemplating listing my home for sale this fall, but I have an appraisal concern and since I have exhausted all my real life resources, I've turned to you!

Last year, we had an appraisal done for refi purposes and the appraiser said that he could not consider our daughter's nursery a bedroom. It meets all of the requirements (that I can find); closet, window, over 70 square feet, you don't have to walk through it to get to another room, however it has a pocket door that opens (kind of) to the kitchen. He said bedrooms CANNOT open to the kitchen, so for valuation purposes, its a den.

Is this a hard and fast rule, or is it a personal preference? If it is, I'll gladly drywall up the pocket door, but I don't want to do it if I don't have to. He couldn't find any 2/1.5 (because there aren't any, since every house in our neighborhood is one of four designs) so we got hit with a pretty big value adjustment-not fun.

Oh, and I'm in GA and my house is a very typical 1950's brick ranch. The room in question was the knotted pine paneled room (which was typical of the era...or at least it was of whoever built the houses in my neighborhood). We removed the paneling and moved a wall to accomodate a staircase and built in bookshelves.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Tim The Enchanter]

He said bedrooms CANNOT open to the kitchen, so for valuation purposes, its a den.

I've never heard that, it sounds pretty ridiculous.

since every house in our neighborhood is one of four designs

Sounds like it should be an easy area to appraise. Use those model match comps if you have them. Presumably they all have a bedroom off the kitchen. So what if it's called a den, it can still be a sleeping room. Perfect for the early riser.

Suggest you ask for the source and a reference to read this alleged rule.

 

[CindyR]

I agree - never heard of the kitchen-bedroom rule. In some areas of Phoenix a bedroom can even not have a closet because they were not commonly built in the very old historic homes. They used a wardrobe type piece of furniture to store their clothes. But, it must always have a window or secondary exit in order to be a bedroom. I would ask to see where that rule is written and please let us know if you find out.

 

[Mountain Man]

Where are you in Georgia? Listing in the Fall is a bad idea, unless you are in the mountains or Savannah. Agree with Lee, I don't understand with a pocket door it wouldn't be considered a bedroom. Email or PM if I can help.

 

[J Grant]

If you can manage it, drywall the bedroom off from the kitchen. An appraiser deciding what is a den and what is a bedroom is often placement in house, openness to other rooms etc. It's hard to tell without seeing your layout...there is no "rule" that a bedroom can't open up to a kitchen, but it is not typical and lends it more of a bonus room or den like utility than that of a bedroom.

 

[zdfenton]

Regardless of whether the municipal assessor, your lender's underwriter, or any other source has a definition of a bedroom that doesn't include your room, the appraiser should be testing the market's reaction to that room. If the average buyer in your neck of the woods would consider that a bedroom, its contributory value should be accounted for as a bedroom. Even if it technically isn't included in the bedroom count, its contributory value should be accounted for, by using sales comparables with an additional den/nursery, to assure that you're comparing apples to apples.

To answer your original question, IMO drywalling over a door probably doesn't add any utility or value to that room. If it is a saloon style door or another door that reduces privacy in the room, or if it has a weird swing that prohibits furniture placement that is one thing, but purely the fact that there is a door between that room and the kitchen doesn't sound like functional obsolescence to me.

 

[The Warrior Monk]

He said bedrooms CANNOT open to the kitchen, so for valuation purposes, its a den.

I've never heard of that. Ask him where he got that information from; I doubt he'll have a source.

 

[J Grant]

Before everyone faults the appraiser, sometimes home owners mis interpret what an appraiser says, such as there is a rule ...it may or may not be the case here.

The market returns value differently for traditional type bedroom layouts, which tend to generate off a hall near bathrooms, and not off a kitchen. A small room, just over 70sf is more of a bonus room...one can call it a bedroom, a den, or whatever you want, but it probably won't return any value difference whether an appraiser pegs it a den or a bedroom...an appraisal can only reflect what similar size/appeal comps are selling for.

The appraiser or report may be at fault and a second appraisal may come in higher, but whether or not a big jump in value probably depends more on what others of similar size and utility are selling for in most recent market than if an appraiser believed the floorplan and buyer reaction was closer to a den than bedroom for that small room off the kitchen.

 

[Pilgrum]

Sound like the appraiser is making things up. Perhaps he/she just didn't want to put the effort into looking for value differences for the "bedroom".
What was the intended use of the room when the house was built?
I see many homes with rooms that could be used as a bedroom, office/den or a dining room. It makes a difference only if the market recognizes a value for the particular use.

 

[stiffaknee]

I did not realize I had submitted this post twice, please forgive me!

Mountain Man: We are in Atlanta, specifically Brookhaven (or North Buckhead). The market was stagnant for a while, but lately houses in my neighborhood are on the market for less than 30 days and are selling for very close to asking price (within 4 or 5K of asking). We would put it on the market now, but I would like to paint the exterior trim (I got a little crazy with the pressure washer a few weeks ago) and clear out the basement (and maybe even paint it, though its unfinished, I feel like painted concrete looks a little "cleaner").

When you walk into our house, you walk directly into a living room/dining room combo. To the right (dining area) is a little doorway into the kitchen, to the left (living room) is a little doorway into a hallway.

The room in question did not originally open to the kitchen (when it was built, I think the intention was for it to be a den, since it had the knotted pine paneled walls) but it did share a wall with the kitchen (as well as the living room). We have a full (unfinished) basement that we wanted to create interior access, so we moved the walls and created a staircase in between the room and the kitchen. We thought when the baby was born it would be convenient to be able to go directly to the kitchen, versus walking all the way around (out of the bedroom, through the living room/dining room area and into the kitchen) so we opted to install the pocket door.