In my area the majority of the homes are 3 bedroom/2 bath. I think that 4 bedrooms would garner a bit of a premium, but I don't think that 5 bedrooms would be a huge bonus, except for very large families.
How many bedrooms do most homes in your area have?

Are you keeping the footprint the same and making 3 larger bedrooms, closets, etc.? The problem is if you get families with 3 kids, then they have to send one kid to the basement, which would only work with much older kids. And in this case there would be no guest bedroom left.

In my area (CA) affordable 4 bedrooms sell quickly, but majority of homes have no basements. Anything over 4K sq.ft will have 5 bedrooms. We use our 5th bedroom on the main floor as an office. It would also make a great guest/nanny suite.

It may depend on how big the bedrooms are. As seniors we prefer one room for DH, one for me, one for us, and one guest. That is what we had on the west coast, only my room was too small, so when we turned the outside upstairs walking deck into a room, that became mine too for all my crafts/hobbies. It also had a bed etc and iron etc It was really big. But easy to clean.

IMO it is not so much the number of bedrooms, but where they are located, as referenced by Chispa. Having 4 bedrooms like you say, you only have the master up, along with 2 secondary's. The bedroom downstairs will be primarily be seen as a guest room by most buyers. Families with 3 kids are likely not going to like the floorplan.
Also, like others have said, is the sq. ftg. staying the same, or are you enlarging the 3 rooms upstairs?

Given the average number of people/ household in your area, I would not see 5 BR as very valuable. Also, the ratio of baths to bedrooms becomes important -- if you are perceived to have too few BA for the number of BR it will not sell so well.

Square footage is decreasing. Bedroom sizes remain the same. I see your point about it not being an attractive layout for a family of 5.

It is not clear the location of the 5th bedroom, first floor or basement?

If it is on the first floor, it could be useful in case a family or guest is hard to get up stairs being sick or injured or aged.

For us it is always good to have an extra room especially if bedroom sizes remain the same.

The extra bedroom can be a home office, a guest bedroom, a hobby room, a music room, or a study room/library. It does not require too much extra carrying cost, but offers a lot more possibility/flexibility.

The version of the floorplan with the extra bedroom adds about $32,000 to our cost to build. The extra rooms it generates on the other floors would NOT get used during our time in the house.

I'm thinking it will hurt resale value, but not enough to justify adding $32k worth of expense.

Since it is $32k more for the 5th bedroom, I am assuming that means the 5BR version has more square footage?

I know that in many cases parents want to have all their kids on the same floor as they are. That's one reason when we remodeled our second floor we made sure to have 2 good sized bedrooms and a master bedroom (resale, though we plan to live here forever) We also chose to keep the 4th bedroom on the first floor with a full bath b/c it's a good place for guests and I know when we were looking at houses I figured every 4BR house would have room so DH and I could each have an office apart from the guest room. Some 3BR homes had an extra space that could serve as an office, but it wasn't as easy to see when scanning the listings.

What's the difference in square footage that the $32K buys? That seems pretty steep for a bedroom. If it's 13'x13', that's $189/sf. At that price, no wonder your builder's acting "concerned about resale." :-)

The difference in square footage---not the number of bedrooms--will be the crucial point, but only if it's square footage above grade. The bedroom in the basement doesn't really "count" when it comes to appraisals in most areas of the country. Basements are secondary areas, not primary living space, and it's not considered desirable to have a primary bedroom there. It's the same with the extra square footage. If it's finished basement versus first or second floor space, then it's not as valuable for that extra 32K. But if you're getting an extra 900 above grade square foot for that 32K, that will translate to better resale value regardless of the number of bedrooms---as long as those bedrooms are above grade.

Here, especially walkout basements on the Lake, do count as normal living space.
Weedy, assuming a 13x13 room. More than likely it would include this space multiplied by 3, since there are 3 floors to the home. Therefore the price / sq. ft. would be one third of what you quoted.

5BR version: 4BR on 2nd story, 1BR in basement, and a "sun room" on the first floor. 4518 finished square feet.
{{gwi:1444646}}

4BR version: 3BR upstairs, 1BR in the basement. 3719 finished square feet.


...ignore the annotations, those were just notes for my husband :)

OK, so it's not just the difference of a bedroom, it's an additional 799 square feet. That's $40/sf you'd be paying, which doesn't sound bad at all. Around here, appraisers value additional sf at $30/sf for above ground and $20/sf basement. So in a ballpark sense, you'd theoretically be overpaying a bit, but just insomuch as appraising is an exact science, which it isn't.

So yes, your resale value will be more if you build the bigger floorplan. But the price you pay for it will be more as well, so there's really no "free" gain in resale value.

There is a tool for estimating this and other changes (bathrooms, garages, etc) at the link below. It's an Excel spreadsheet. Haven't tried it myself. It is not very geographically precise, but may give ballpark estimates.

Here is a link that might be useful: NAHB house price estimator

It sounds like to me that your builder has a specific interest in selling you the 5BR option - more money for him.

As far as resale value, are you able to check your local assessor's office to determine differences between 4BR and 5BR of the SQ you mentioned? Are you able to look up local recent home sales of 4BR vs 5BR?

Generaly I dislike removing bedrooms from floor plans, but that's when converting a bedroom to a huge walk-in or something. Considering you're removing a bedroom, it's going to drop resale, but also drops the price of the house.

Lastly, how long are you going to be here? If you're customizing a new build I wonder if resale is far enough down the road where it shouldn't matter in your decision - your dream home, your wants.

Thanks, Marc. I think you read my mind. :)

Our bottom line will be the same either way. If we go with the 4BR floorplan, we'll put the excess money into the details. If we go with the 5BR plan (doubtful!) it will be an empty shell devoid of character/charm.

We will have the mortgage paid off in 10 - 15 years, and we plan on staying in this house at least 20 years, probably much longer. Resale value isn't important to us, but we worry that it will be important to the mortgage people.

I don't really know that lenders are too worried about resale value. I think the biggest concern is whether or not the home is worth what you are paying for it now and that you can actually pay that amount.

Your mortage lender will likely find the 5 BR plan to be "worth" lending the extra amount. They won't be at all keen on lending money for "upgrades" that do not add square footage and do not add any real bump in value for an appraisal. The appraisals for loans are based off of what the bank could sell the house for if you went into default, not what it cost to build the house. If your plan is to upgrade the finishes the same dollar amount as the extra square footage would cost, expect those upgrades to come entirely out of your pocket, not the loan. And, still expect to bring money to the table to close the loan with. Very very few homes are appraising at the build cost. Most people are having to bring a big chunk of change to closing, and that's without upgrades above base.

Right now, the per square foot to build cannot approach the low square footage cost to buy existing. Custom homes are in the $150-$200 a square foot range, while existing homes are half of that. If you want your money to go "further", then buy existing and give building a wide berth. It's only for those who have very special requirements that cannot be easily met with the existing inventory.

I guess this becomes more of a loan question. As long as you're bringing enough money to table to cover any shortage in appraisal and still put the minimal percentage down for the loan, it won't be an issue. But that will depend on your situation, type of loan, down payment, etc.

But for a custom build home that will be yours for 20+ years, I think resale is the least of your concerns. Shag carpet the ceilings if you'd like!