Does FHA have a minimum bedroom count?

[J Grant]

Most builder floor plans, when there is an interior room without a window, call it a den, flex use area, etc. There's a reason they are not calling it a bedroom ( even if someone later puts a bed in it and sleeps there )

If the buyer parks a car in their living room, would you call it a garage?

 

[Zoe]

The bedroom needs a window.

It doesn't matter if it makes no sense wrt safety in some cases. A window meets the building code for a bedroom and is a market expectation.

Buyers can use their spaces however they want, including installing a Murphy bed. We have a standard as appraisers we are expected to fulfill. The RE agents can lie, exaggerate, and stage their listings all day long. If we start doing the same, the last reasons for our existence are gone.

Fire is your issue with FHA. 2 escapes from sleeping area.

 

[Zoe]

All is probably mute because the builder likely had to meet code when building it.

 

[lostinthezone]

Doing a condo appraisal, property has a room that will be used as a bedroom, but it only has one entrance/no exterior egress. Only exterior window is in the living room. I feel like it could be a safety issue, but I can’t find anything in FHA guidelines saying there has to be a bedroom in the property, just the minimum guidelines for what qualifies as a bedroom.

Sounds like an efficiency unit. Call it a den and include it in the room count but not in the bedroom count and explain with a comment. Hopefully you have comps that are similar models. Either way, I've done many efficiency/studio units in the past without bedrooms. Not a big deal.

 

[Zoe]

Sounds like an efficiency unit. Call it a den and include it in the room count but not in the bedroom count and explain with a comment. Hopefully you have comps that are similar models. Either way, I've done many efficiency/studio units in the past without bedrooms. Not a big deal.

Great response.

 

[Zoe]

I would call it a bedroom. Was there a bed in the room?

Did it meet code requirements? Did it meet FHA window requirements for ingress/egress?

It's a bedroom.

 

[Zoe]

https://entp.HUD.gov/idapp/html/condlook.cfm

 

[Sadie]

Doing a condo appraisal, property has a room that will be used as a bedroom, but it only has one entrance/no exterior egress. Only exterior window is in the living room. I feel like it could be a safety issue, but I can’t find anything in FHA guidelines saying there has to be a bedroom in the property, just the minimum guidelines for what qualifies as a bedroom.

Look at local code. That is what FHA usually defers to. You just might have a studio condo.

 

[Justin7402]

The condo is 375 sq ft, the room that will be used as a bedroom has no exterior window or egress so I’m definitely not calling it a bedroom on the report. Have it labeled as 3/0/1 on the grid for now, just wanted to make sure there wasn’t an FHA guideline saying there was a minimum bedroom count.

 

[Sadie]

It also probably has a automatic sprinkler system throughout the building. Something that very few single family residences have.

Agree about the fire sprinklers in the condo, but you still need a an exterior egress for it to be a bedroom. Also, there are many homes around here with fire sprinklers. Usually in areas that the fire dept would have a hard time getting to in a hurry, like narrow streets, etc.