My son bought a 50’s era house that previous owner had taken from 3br/1ba to 2/2. Lost bedroom went to master bath, walk-in closet, study alcove and relocating laundry (stacked full size) to a closet resulting in enlarged kitchen. He and girlfriend were giddy to find it.
ETA - of course he has yet to test the re-sale value of this choice…
Did he pay LESS? dragonm.
Less? Do you mean less than un-remodeled 3/1 homes? No. Paid market rate/sq.ft. for neighborhood, just got fewer bedrooms and more baths. Doesn’t intend to stay if they marry and start a family.
So, there is no advantage to convert a bedroom in your S’s neighborhood.
I need to figure out the cost and benefit on all these before take steps.
When I was in HS, we lived in a 1200 sq ft, 4BR, 1.5 BA rancher – all seven of us. Made the split level my parents bought several years feel palatial.
Yeah, I can still remember the 1300 sf 4 bedrooms 1.5 bath cape cod home in NJ, we were there for 16 years, never felt it was too small.
Now my 3 car garage is burst its seams. W does not let me take any of my “JUNK” in to the house… 
Your reference to all of your stuff reminds me – I’ve always been curious about your screen name. Are you an art lover? What kind of art?
Talk to local real estate folks. All markets are different.
when you start telling, nottelling, I will start spill the beans…
I guess nottelling isn’t telling.
No secrets on the art front … I love all sorts of art, but, if I had to specify categories that I particularly love, I’d say contemporary American art and 18th and early 19th century British and American portrait miniatures. Okay, contrary to my screen name, I probably just identified myself since the latter category is not that common an interest. Somewhat boringly, I also love European painting of all eras.
So, I told …
Right, unfortunately, I do not collect art at all. I used to work for an art dealer and help him to sell art using that screen name. Thought be fun to bring that name into CC… which will totally disguise my identity.
I paint my own - hence my icon. I love British 18th c. miniature portraits, also love the bigger ones - Holbein, Romney, Sargent especially. Turner - I want to see that movie! And for watercolors Homer, and Sargent. Modern art I like Diebenkorn and Klee. I go look at a fair amount of contemporary contemporary art, but don’t remember too many names.
@mathmom: If you like Klee, you should get to know an artist named Angel Botello. He’s dead, but he did some fabulous paintings and sculptures. He lived in Puerto Rico.
Personally, I would prefer 2br/2ba, and a nice big closet and decent-sized kitchen rather than a 3rd tiny BR. I would think that would appeal to a wide range of renters, including empty nesters, DINKs, a pair of roommates, and people with perhaps one child or even two little ones. The second bathroom is priceless.
Does this house have an attached 2-car garage? Do people really need a garage in the Bay Area? That would make for an easy expansion down the road, for either you or someone you sell it to.
Yes
The house has a nice two car garage next to the kitchen and for those strapped with space you can convert the garage into living space. Leaglly, lots of work, but it can be done.
Responding to bookworm:
DS and fiancee are wanting a 3 br/2 ba house, so if they get one that isn’t yet that configuration, but has part of the basement/garage available to convert, thats what they’ll do. Some houses they’ve seen have had extra rooms bumped out the back.
You should check with the city about garage conversions. If it’s done without permit, it’s not counted in the square footage when you are selling.
Trust me, artlovers- they are very familiar with all this
If work is done without a permit, it becomes a huge issue around selling here. It’s big fines to get things legalized and that’s assuming the thing can be legalized - often it turns out the additions will put you over the Floor Area Ratio numbers even if all the setbacks are okay. That means more fines and trying to get a zoning variance which is by no means guaranteed and adds months to the process.