Functinal Obsolecense

[Joshua Fookes]

I just did an inspection on a gorgeous home but in one section of the house you had to go through a bathroom to get to a bedroom. This is functional obsolecense (sp?), how do you all normally deal with a situation like that, and what types of effect does this typically have on value?

The home had been remodled and I think some of the halls got shuffled around in the proces. But mind you this home was beautiful. Quality work, just this little quirk in the layout of the rooms. The problem is what do you do if you are trying to get out of your room or go into your room, but someone is in the bathroom

Thanks for your input/advice

Josh

 

[walt kirk]

Yes it certainly is functional obsolescense. I have answered the easy part of the question, the hard part is determining how much this influences the value of the subject.

Does the property have more than the normal number of bedrooms? Do other properties in the market area have similar bathrooms? How much less (or more) would a typical buyer pay for a house with this room configuration?

After you have answered the above questions you must determine how much it will cost to correct the problem. Can another bedroom door be installed? Must the existing bathroom be modified to provide privacy?

This is why they pay us the big bucks!

 

[vargasteve]

Yes - more information. Room count, sq/ft size, is the room count atypical for the area if you were not to include the bedroom? Does the bedroom have an external door? Can you put a door somehow into the floorplan or minor alterations that would remove the disfunctional item?

 

[Jo Ann Meyer Stratton]

Was that the only bathroom in the house? Were there other bathrooms with at least one that had a "public" access from a hall or a living room or a dining room or a kitchen, etc? If there were other bathrooms with a more functional access, then that one might be a "Jack and Jill" style bath.

 

[Joshua Fookes]

It was a 3600 sqft, 2 Bed, 3 bath, with two other den or living type rooms being used as bedrooms, In fact, the bedroom that is in question wasn't even being used. it was a guest bed. kind of funky in that regards. But the interior was immaculet. There won't be any cheap remodeling going on in that thing.

There is a hallway with deep closets accross one of its walls, I guess they could punch a door through that space.

Yes, there was a public bath besides the one blocking access to the bedroom. bedroom count is lower for the area.

Josh

 

[Joshua Fookes]

PS what is a jack and jill style bath? And if it was that could I say, "yes this floorplan does have some functional Ob, but there is another more 'public' bath that is used instead of this one with this one being more of a private bath for this bedroom."?

 

[J. Parker Graham]

Bedroom access through a bath would be considered a functional inadequacy in most markets. Floor plan utility restricts use despite reported quality work. The homebuying public may or may not reflect the inadequacy in the purchase offerings.

Do not overcomplicate your analysis. Consider the walk through bed room as non bedroom use, and drop it from the room count. Include it in the square footage with an explination. Count the bedrooms again and comp out with the new bedroom room count. Room count and use is a much easier concept to prove than the cost or income loss approach. Underwritters may demand multiple explinations if the analysis is unclear. (KIS - Keep it simple) The market will determine value for such homes.

Similar comparables will be hard to find so use age, square footage and similar room count, with the least adjustments as possible. Try to stay within the market area. Use more than 3 comparables. Go back a year if need be with an explination. Make a clear floorplan drawing. There are locations where this inadequacy would have little influence on market value. The room could be considered as a walk in closet, with no functional inadequacy.

Keep it Simple,
I assume that you are not writting a demonstration report here.

J. Parker Graham

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

Joshua,

A Jack & Jill bath is one that is located between 2 bedrooms and only accessable through either one of those bedrooms.

If you have enough bedrooms without this one as a bedroom, call it a den, explain the functional obsolescence situation and do your sketch with the walls showing what is there. If you need to go back to the house to do this, go back, I have.

As to any functional adjustment, without similar sales, it's almost impossible to judge. If you can, take a look at when they bought it and the market at that time. If that's not possible, see if you can find other sales with different types of functional obsolescense due to floorplan. Talk to experienced Realtors about this situation and what they have experienced with a property like or similar in floorplan.

Charge extra.

 

[walt kirk]

I wouldn't eliminate the room as a bedroom since the house only has two real bedrooms. Since you said that there is a closet which can be used for a new doorway I would note the functional obsolescense and that it can be cured by installing a door, use a cost to cure equal to the cost of the new door plus labor.

I like the term Jack and Jill bathroom. In this area some people call them Levitt bathrooms since most of the houses built by the Levitt Co. have similar bathrooms with access from the hall and the master bedroom.

 

[Joshua Fookes]

Pam, how do you quote a fee and then charge extra later, would that just be, "hey we ran into this situation and to really get a true value it is going to take a pile of time, so we need to charge zzz."?

Part of me says, Hey they should have charged extra because of the sq ft. I say they, because my sup and his secretary are the ones who set all the work up.

Now I get this added to it?

Part of the learning I guess.

Josh