<p>@dstark, if that house a few doors down from your old one does go in a week the neighbors aren’t going to be happy either. Or shouldn’t be. That drops the comps for the whole neighborhood. Both for MLS and for appraisers for potential lenders.</p>
<p>jym626, Older people like 1 bedroom on the main floor, so when they get old…they don’t have to deal with stairs…</p>
<p>Somebody is going to like that layout…</p>
<p>Yeah mhc48, </p>
<p>I am sure the neighbors are not happy…this house better go 10% over the listing price…</p>
<p>jym, strikes me that the downstairs bedroom would be a great office. When we bought, we wanted one of the bedrooms on the main level, because we wanted the computer in the main flow of the house.</p>
<p>Maybe the RE agent should tout the 3 BR plus office option?</p>
<p>thats a good thought, CD. I talked to the realtor the other day about perhaps rewriting the description of the house, and that may be a good additional pointer. </p>
<p>Dstark, the main floor bedroom is pretty small. We thoght about moving my dad down to it when he was starting to have some gait issues. It probably wont hold more than the twin size bed that was in there, but then again that may be all soem people need.</p>
<p>The caregiver lived in that room. I think it would be good for a teenager who wanted their separate space, since it also has a full bath on the main floor. I might suggest that for copy as well.</p>
<p>We have two downstairs bedrooms. Both were initially used as offices, but only husband’s remains an office. I am thankful that the other is now an “extra” bedroom. Really, it’s a room with a bed, not really a fully furnished bedroom. The cats are very happy, as are these old knees of mine.</p>
<p>There is yet another house for sale on the block now. Poor family has had a tree fall on the house, before Katrina, then Katrina damage, and then a fire a few years later. As I work with insurance companies, I suspect they are dragging their feet on paying for repairs for the fire damage, as the house has only been gutted and bears a big orange sign on the door. Seems the family has finally given up on their Bad Luck house and decided to put it up for sale. </p>
<p>In the Tulane-Loyola area, the Sale Pending, Sold, and Under Contract signs are now going up, as is typical for that area. We get a lot of people from more affluent areas of the country that see our fancy areas of the city as bargains and are willing to buy a house for junior to live in while they attend Tulane. Some, though, are very nice, large houses, no doubt bought by out of towners, as most locals cannot afford the prices. They are very large and have a lot of character, and one can see how people who live in them would fall in love with New Orleans. It’s that area’s market that skews the statistics and allows local realtors to brag that our area is not affected by the housing slump. Yea, tell that to the middle class people who have ten houses for sale on their block that aren’t moving.</p>
<p>Jym626, that bedroom sounds ok to me.</p>
<p>Montegut, I like reading your posts about your area and your thoughts.</p>
<p>I was at the townhouse today and I liked it even more. Last time, I was looking at the flaws. This time I was looking at how much we can enjoy the place. It is going to be a great place to live. Just great.</p>
<p>I got the money today from the close of my old house. That was a very nice feeling. :)</p>
<p>Thank you, dstark. Best wishes to you in the new place.</p>
<p>Jym, that downstairs bedroom is a great selling point, especially since there’s a full bathroom. It can be touted as a fourth bedroom that can also be used as an office, teenager quarters, or even practice room/art studio. My older sisters occupied the small downstairs bedroom in our family home. They had their own bathroom down the hall as well. They had quiet to do their studying, away from their ten years younger siblings who lived upstairs with mom and dad, and could get ready for dates without interruption. They also had the piano downstairs where they could practice without being disturbed. Maybe your extra bedroom could act as a practice room/art studio? Sounds like you have a lot of versatility there.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Congratulations, dstark. It sounds like you’re in a great place. </p>
<p>All you folks with houses on the market: best of luck. It’s tough out there.</p>
<p>Update on us: a couple saw our house some weeks ago, and fell in love with it. They couldn’t put in an offer because they hadn’t sold theirs yet. But then they went into contract, and came back. They had initially qualified for a mortgate, but it’s been some time since they went through that process. It now appears they had upped their debt between the initial qualification and now. Did they not realize it would affect them, or did they just hope no one would notice? Anyway, now they only qualify to buy a house that is much lower value than the house they’re selling!</p>
<p>I feel bad for both us, and them. But what were they thinking ??</p>
<p>Chiming in since I know jym’s house. The trouble with marketing that room as a home office is that there already is a home office. (Though speaking from experience there’s a lot to be said for his/hers home offices!) It would be a great in-law or au-pair/nanny bedroom though. </p>
<p>Buyers can be amazingly picky. My sister-in-law was looking for a house and she spent two years looking for something she liked enough.</p>
<p>plus…buyers think they are looking for one thing, like living in the hills, and end up buying in the flats…</p>
<p>hayden…What is going on? Can’t you catch a break?</p>
<p>mathmom-
Do you think the downstairs den qualifies as a home office? Or the built-in desk in the master BR? What wuold you consider the home office? The beat up old desk inteh basement is gone, but I think the playboy magazines from the 1970s that we found are still around!</p>
<p>Not sure that room on the main can be an inlaw room unless there is only 1 inlaw!! Not sure a fullsize bed will fit!</p>
<p>My home office is in the (finished) basement. My son has his office there too. We both have our own desks, computers and monitors. It works out quite well as it is fairly quiet and cool there (I need a space heater in the winter).</p>
<p>A den would be okay, as long as there is a way to filter out normal house noise for when you have to take long phone calls.</p>
<p>The den could certainly be a home office. As far as the building code is concerned bedrooms need to have a minimum 70 sq ft area and are supposed to have a big enough window to escape (in most older houses double hung windows are too small and are therefore legal non-conforming.) In NYC lots of rooms have to be marketed as home offices because they have no windows at all, but then people go in and use those rooms as bedrooms. But that’s the city.</p>
<p>There’s no legal definition of a home office. I actually think having built-ins is less helpful since it means the buyer is stuck with fewer room arrangement options or they’ll have to pull them out and repair the walls. If I were moving into that house the first thing I’d do is pull out both those built ins.</p>
<p>I know people have told me a bedroom “has to have a closet” but in fact there is nothing in either the state code or the local zoning code that says that.</p>
<p>I agree only one in-law would fit in that room. Though my kids spent ten years in a room smaller than that with a bunk bed. :)</p>
<p>The nice thing about your den is that it could have a separate entrance from the front hall. So you could really run a small professional practice out of that room.</p>
<p>mathmom, I want to take out a kitchen wall so I can have a view from the kitchen…</p>
<p>It is a weight bearing wall…second floor…</p>
<p>I have to put in posts from the ground up to support the house when I take out the wall?</p>
<p>How about putting in a 27 inch thin low-power flat-panel display in the kitchen with a feed from a video camera going out the front window with a stock market ticker running along the bottom of the screen? Seems that it would be far cheaper than knocking out a wall.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the ideas, mathmom. I am passing them on to the realtor.</p>
<p>Hayden- serious bummer!! :(</p>
<p>dstark:
</p>
<p>In a word, no.</p>
<p>jym626:
</p>
<p>In a word, yes.</p>
<p>One last word from me: <em>sigh</em></p>
<p>And I just got an email from the realtor. She liked the ideas, but is suggesting we make them with <em>another</em> big price drip (this will be the third in as many months!) 
:(</p>
<p>Hayden,
Can you take a second mortgage/do some owner financing for these people?</p>