Loft as a bedroom

[jimmyfrank]

I was talking with some appraisers about loft living area. The statement was said "a loft is a bedroom if it has a closet" I had issue with this based on most lofts I have seen are in condos or master bedrooms. Master lofts obviously are not a bedroom. The other style I have a big issue. These are the type that are above main living areas with a knee wall or some other form to help with not falling over. They typically have stairs leading from LR, K, or DR, no door, but three other full walls. The other bedrooms in the unit are more traditional with doors, 4 walls and closets.

I have appraised 1 BR with open floor plans where the loft is by utility the br and has a bath and closet. I have seen other cape cods with no doors and but enclosed that I consider a br.

I have always considered these other areas to be living area and not br.

I have set a br as 1: a private room 2: 2 or more exits (window and door) 3: Typically doored 4: typically a closet.

I would like you opinion obviously I am considering Utility, functionality, legality, and marketabilty.

What is your opinion. My other offer of a br or not is if you have a reasonable expectation of privacy if you are having sex. There is no true privacy since the door can not be closed and the forth wall is missing."reasonable expectation of privacy if you are having sex."
BTW the best i could find on internet is a door that closes, a window, and closet.

I guess that would be "the highest and best use" for a bedroom..wouldn't it?

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

.... if you have a reasonable expectation of privacy if you are having sex...

H%&&, at my age, I don't have a reasonable expectation of sex...let alone privacy. Besides all that moaning and groaning I do is arthritis....

I treat a loft as finished attic in many cases, although some are tall enough walls to qualify as an upper level. The ones I encounter are more commonly recreation rooms, excercise rooms, and in one case, a lady had her ebay business there.

 

[stangtime]

It comes down to what is typical within your market. Just finished a report on a 70-year-old farm house that had a loft/attic room with no built-in closet. It was being used as a bedroom and had ingress and egress windows in case of a fire. As far as I'm concerned it's typical within my market for this type of space to be used as a bedroom with a portable closet/wardrobe. I stated it as such, explained in the addendum, and let it fly.

Ultimately, YOU are the appraiser. You make the call - just be prepared to back it up.

Dan

 

[Van Gogh]

Some info on Internet

When a space is to be labeled a bedroom or otherwise, safety is the primary deciding factor. The International Residential Code (IRC) specifies required features for a “habitable room,” which includes the “sleeping unit” or bedroom. Builders must follow the IRC—and their state’s building safety codes—when constructing a space to be designated a “bedroom.” “There are general requirements to all habitable rooms,” says Larry Frank of the International Code Council (ICC), based out of Washington, D.C., “and specific requirements for other rooms, including the bedroom.”

An effective means of egress in the event of a fire is the reason there are window requirements on the bedroom space. Technically, a bedroom must have two means of egress, so a second door will suffice, but it must open to the outside, which makes the exterior door a less practical solution. Not any window will do. It must have a minimum opening area of 5.7 sq. feet, a minimum opening height of 24 inches and a minimum opening width of 20 inches. The maximum distance between the finished floor and the finished window sill is 44 inches, but a recent addition to the IRC mandates a minimum distance between the finished floor of the room and the window sill of 24 inches to prevent children from falling out of an open window. Note that whether the second means of egress is a window or a door, it must be operable from the inside without the use of keys, [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]tools[/COLOR][/COLOR]

or special knowledge.

Building codes have specifications for the placement of smoke alarms with regards to the bedroom. New [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]construction[/COLOR][/COLOR] requirements state that smoke alarms must be placed within each bedroom and outside of each bedroom.

 

[Van Gogh]

More info from internet

A Real Estate Perspective
An added bedroom brings added value to a home. Real estate agents know this—and so do homesellers. Fortunately, even real estate agents must follow a set of guidelines when labeling any given living space as a bedroom. “Although there is no national standard for a bedroom, Realtors® must follow a code of ethics when it comes to marketing a home, inches says Stephanie Singer, spokesperson for the National Association of Realtors (NAR). This code of ethics binds the agent to the same bedroom definition inferred by the national and local building code requirements on that space, including having two means of egress. In the real estate world, a space can be considered a bedroom if it has a [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]door[/COLOR][/COLOR] that can be closed, a window and a closet. The closet requirement is not covered in the IRC and is instead a bedroom feature more related to comfort and livability than safety.

This lack of a national standard leaves some grey areas on a number of matters, like older homes built before bedrooms routinely included closets or a bedroom that has had its door removed. How an agent addresses these nebulous details might vary from agent to agent, or state to state. One thing is certain: Homebuyers are willing to pay more for a home with another bedroom, and this fact is a motivating factor for the home seller and real estate agent to stage as many rooms as bedrooms for showing.

Fittingly, property assessors will follow the same bedroom definition when determining the number of bedrooms in a given home—that is, it must have a door, a closet and an egress window. It is in the interest of homeowners, sellers and buyers to know the subtle bedroom definition differences between the safety/builder perspective and the real estate/home value perspective, and to know one’s state and local guidelines for determining what can and cannot be considered a bedroom.

 

[Van Gogh]

Yes, I have read USPAP

Have you read USPAP?

Since USPAP is a living and breath document that changes like the constitution (updated, revised and amended) I thought I would check the FAQ section. I dint want someone to say it was in USPAP. I forgot that some people like the high horse they sit on at all time,m2: This is an opinion and discussion, keep the mud slinging for your earthen house.

 

[CANative]

lol - earthen house?

"What is the house of Hopland but a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek, and their brats roll on the floor among the dogs?"

LOTH - Lord of the Hops

Not enough appraisers read USPAP regularly.

 

[stangtime]

Maybe Apple could make an iPod USPAP App.

Dan