Does every home have a master bedroom?

[Paul Isolda]

I know every Realtor on the planet and all the home shows on tv (HGTV, etc.) always identify one of the bedrooms as the master bedroom, very often they'll call it a master suite.

IMHO, if the bedroom does not have IT'S OWN EXCLUSIVE BATH, it is not a master bedroom. This means that some homes do not have a master bedroom, simply a bedroom that is larger than the others. Secondly, IMHO, to be a master suite, it of course have to have it's own exclusive bath but ALSO MUST HAVE ANOTHER ROOM (sitting room, office, etc.) to be a master suite.

What are other peoples opinions? Does anyone know of published materials that either agree or disagree with this opinion? Dictionary.com says it's the pricinpal bedroom but this is carried forward from 1925. I don't believe that definition is still relevant.

 

[Meandering]

in old homes, master bedrooms had a small side room, the nursery room. In many old farm houses the master bedroom was the first one of railroad style rooms, this was so as not to wake the children, and that the children could not get out without the parents knowledge.

The master bedroom is the room where the Master of the house sleeps. It is only a recent convention to add a bathroom to the master bedroom. Initally, many 1980s homes had a 1/2 bath, or small 3/4 bath. More recently newer homes master bathrooms are very large.

 

[panappr]

The master bedroom is the room where the Master of the house sleeps. It is only a recent convention to add a bathroom to the master bedroom. Initally, many 1980s homes had a 1/2 bath, or small 3/4 bath. More recently newer homes master bathrooms are very large.

I thought we were'nt supposed to refer to the Master bedrooms as the room where the Master sleeps, but all the Realtors seem to think their are still Masters in the household. I gotta stop taking these cheap CE classes...

 

[Paul Isolda]

So what do you think is the current definition of master bedroom? As with many features, this may differ with area and price range as different segments of buyers expect different features.

 

[Sierra Dale]

I was taught to use the term main bedroom as Master invokes in idea of slavery. This is idea came from one of my first classes ever taken for appraisal. Perhaps we could call it the dominate room. Dominate from Webster's dictionary - To rule or control; to exert the supreme determining or guiding influence on; to occupy the most prominent position in or over.

 

[Meandering]

Master bedroom is still the bedroom where the main controlling person of the house sleep, whether that is the husband and wife, or the mom in a single-mother household, or grandma and grandpa in a house shared by several generations.

The master bedroom is the largest bedroom, absent a size difference, is typically the one that affords the most privacy in relation to the main living areas of the home.

Ammenities to the master bedroom including baths, offices, sitting rooms are that, ammenities to the master bedroom.

Current market preferences in this area, appeared to have changed over the past 2 years. Under the subprime markets, the bigger the master bedroom suite of rooms, especially the master bath, the more $ the house could command on the market.

Now, it is a bargin hunter's paradise. While the homes with the largest master suites will sell faster for the same price of others with inferior amenity, they generally cannot command the higher prices there were 2 years ago, and is a demonstration as a desireable trait, but not one warranting price adjustments if sales data shows they are selling for the same as those with the smaller bath or 1/2 bath attatched to the master bedroom.

 

[panappr]

I was taught to use the term main bedroom as Master invokes in idea of slavery. This is idea came from one of my first classes ever taken for appraisal. Perhaps we could call it the dominate room. Dominate from Webster's dictionary - To rule or control; to exert the supreme determining or guiding influence on; to occupy the most prominent position in or over.

Well without getting into political correctness, I would have to assume that the master is the largest of all the bedrooms. However, that might suggest the smallest bedroom could be considered the servants quarters or maids quarters, that's the one off the laundry room. I personally sleep in the "Masters Bedroom" but then again I now live alone with my dog.

 

[Meandering]

I've seen the smallest bedroom turned into the "CAT" ROOM where a 1/2 dozen cats and their LITTER boxes are living. YUCK

Slavery is a sensitive issue, for sure, that does not mean we kill words in the dictionary because they were also used between 1700 and 1865.

Do you really think if you say the home has a master bedroom that the reader of your report will assume that means a slave master and that the other rooms are for slaves?

Someone misquoted to you the fair housing laws based on some politically correct jargon that fits into their view of the world. Political correctness has way gone overboard.

 

[Sierra Dale]

This teacher was from the south so he could have been sensitive.

 

[CANative]

This master bedroom nonsense was never a lender or fair housing thing. I seem to remember (IIRC... lol another forumism that annoys me) I seem to remember this was an issue that got more bandwidth than it deserved right here on the forum about five or six years ago.

It would only be an issue if someone called it the massa's bedroom.