That is why I built my new house...but, my old one with 4 upstairs bedroom sold...so I think it depends on age of buyers. My DH has arthritis issues and my DS's are now in the double digits so having them upstairs with us on lower level is okay whereas when they were babies I would have felt guilty being so far from them (and probably not liked to go upstairs when hearing them on the monitor, etc.)

You're going to get nay sayers and yay sayers. But, in my stage in life, I wouldn't own a home without a main floor master. When I was younger, I wanted all bedrooms on the same level, whether they were all upstairs or all on the main level in a ranch. But now that my health is not as good as it once was and my mobility continues to be challenged, I would only buy a home with a main floor master.

In my area, main floor masters are highly desirable, big selling point. But I do know that's not true in all areas of the country. Aging baby boomers like myself really like them though.

Another ageing person weighing in here. YES! I've been searching for a house for 7 months and when I find a house in the right "spot" it always seems to be a tri-level or ranch on a slab (slabs kill my back), 2 story. I'm feeling pretty frustrated.

I understand parents wanting to be on the same floor as young children but I would think that with a master down and some bedrooms up, that allows for some flexibility. You can use the master for a spare and the parents, if willing, could use one of the smaller bedrooms upstairs till the children get a little older.
So then it depends your demographics, are you in a desirable neighborhood to young families or is it more mixed? If it it is young families, can they find exactly what they want (all bedrooms on same floor) in plenty of choices?
Or are homes hard enough to come by that they might be willing to sleep in a smaller bedroom upstairs for awhile?
If your looking at how to write up a MLS listing you might point this out.

Having a master on the 1st floor certainly isn't a disadvantage.I don't have one now, nor do i want one,yet,lol...But i guess at some point climbing the stairs may be an issue....Also, a lot would depend on the homes SF, would the 1st floor Master be too close to living space? or seperate...

Downstairs master bedroom suites are not common here in NJ. I strongly prefer all of the bedrooms upstairs. For one, I like a seperation between public and private rooms. Second, I cannot imagine being on a different floor than my children. I have never used nor like baby monitors. We are in our mid 30's and our son is 2. When we custom built our house all of the bedrooms are upstairs, which is the norm for this area.

C

Here's a few threads on this topic:

1st Floor Master Suite

Questions for owners of two story homes

My DB and SIL built a house 3 years ago with a 1st fl master. Upstairs are their late teen, early 20's children. Thought it was a great idea until they heard the kids coming and going at all hours of the night! These "kids" don't even go out for the evening until 10 or 11:00pm.

You also get people walking by your bedroom so you have to make your bed everyday!

If you have the space and money - why not do one upstairs too. Maybe a slightly smaller one, but larger than a secondary bedroom. Make a nice guest room with bath privacy or for older children.

The master on the main floor is the most important feature to me. I don't feel that I am "old" at 55, however, after climbing stairs for 25 years doing laundry, kids, cleaning, etc., I am tired. We now have a home with the master on the main and one other bedroom. We use it for a guest room, but if you had a young child, it could be used for them as well. Upstairs we have a second bedroom, full bath, bonus room, exercise room and 2nd laundry room. The master is privately located down the hall away from the main hallway, so nobody goes there unless you are going to the master bedroom. We love it!! I would never purchase or build a house any other way again!

Thanks for the links and the feedback!

It's similar to the split-bedroom or bedrooms-all-on-the-same-side-of-the-house choice:

Parents with babies & toddlers want everybody together, but as the children grow up, everybody wants a little privacy.

Houses with split bedrooms where the master has a flexible-use room attached (nursery/office/craft/sewing, as the years go by) are really nice.

DH and I are planning to start our family quite soon, and there's no way I would consider a house with the master on one floor and all other bedrooms on another. I don't want to climb up and down stairs at night while my kids are little.

However, once I have older kids, a master on the main floor would be nice.

So to answer your question, it totally depends on family situation of the person buying the house.

I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, so I prefer that all bedrooms be on the same floor. However, I will look at a house that has the master on the first floor but I won't look at houses that have 2 bedrooms on the first floor and 1 or 2 bedrooms on the second floor, or a house with the master on the second floor and the other bedrooms on the first floor. Basically, I want to be between them and the door. But I know that the next house we buy won't be the house we retire in, so I'm not really thinking about it for health reasons yet.

I do NOT like all bedrooms on one floor for privacy and noise reasons, but I don't have young children either. Our house has two bedrooms, including the master, on the ground floor and two bedrooms on the lower level (walkout basement). DH's sons live downstairs when they stay with us and it's nice to have our bedroom upstairs away from all their noise! As we age (mid-40s) I'm sure we'll appreciate the ground floor master even more. Our laundry room is also on the ground floor.

The huge Boomer demographic pushed builders into putting up more homes with a first floor master, or just plain one-story homes. As slightly pre-war models, DH and I were looking for a single-story house just ahead of the curve and ended up building one.

However, our home of 30+ years was also a ranch. Guess I 'don't do' stairs regardless of age!

Master BR on the main floor is not a huge selling point to me. It makes no difference at all really. The number of BR in a house is much more important to me. I'm in the over 50 crowd. I like a 2 story home. If I get so feeble that I can't climb stairs I'll have one of those stair climbers installed. NancyLouise

I love hearing everyone's thoughts. Thanks!

The house plan we are choosing will have a master suite and 3 bedrooms upstairs. There will also be a guest suite w/ a 3/4 bath downstairs. I'm also delegating space on the plans for a future elevator. And FWIW, the house we just sold had a master on the main, but the elderly couple who bought the house needed to install an elevator anyways to access the upstairs.

We are in our 30s and have 4 young children. I don't know how long we will be in this house....at least several years so I want the plan to work for us and our lifestyle. With that said, future resale is a consideration.

I think it depends on the demographic that you'd be selling to. It may be good for people who are getting older or concerned about mobility problems. But if you want the master on the main floor, why wouldn't you just get a ranch/bungalow (one story house)?

We have a one story right now, but I wouldn't want a master on the main floor and the other bedrooms on the upper floor. DH and I don't have any children, so we probably wouldn't go upstairs much and those rooms would never get used. With all the bedrooms on the same floor we end up using them more (as guest rooms and office).

"But if you want the master on the main floor, why wouldn't you just get a ranch/bungalow (one story house)? "

To answer your question Olga, in our area of the country a large ranch is much more difficult to find. So to find enough space, we opted for a two story with a main level master. We've been here 7 years and the kids as teens had the upstairs. Now that they're gone, I can't do the stairs so well, but my hubby can and does use the upstairs rooms, they've just been repurposed. And of course when kids come to visit, we have plenty of guest rooms.