Realtor wants to market 3 bedroom home as 4 bedroom - get a new realtor?

[Anonymous]

A closet has nothing to do with it. If it has a big enough window it counts as a bedroom. Simple as that.

[Anonymous]

If a buyer decides to buy it, can the seller be liable later if the new owner, after moving into the house, suddenly decides to question the status of the frog as 4th bedroom? Or once the sale closes, it's done?

[Anonymous]

Emergency egress is required. Direct, as in a big enough window.

[Anonymous]

I would not worry about a closet, esp. since there is no law requiring it in Virginia. I would only worry about the emergency egress issue. In most parts of the world, bedrooms do not have closets. They have wardrobes - or built in wardrobes. Never had a closet until I moved to the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never heard of a FROG. Does the room have two exits?

Family Room Over Garage- they are popular in coastal Carolina "retirement" beach communities.

[Anonymous]

Bedrooms over garages frequently need a barrier between the garage and the bedroom to prevent fumes from garage entering bedroom- (aka carbon monoxide). Bedrooms also need a secondary egress (usually a window that is low enough to the ground that child can climb up and big enough for an adult to escape.

[Anonymous]

Does the bedroom definition apply to new construction? Are old houses grandfathered in? I think many old rowhouses in D.C. have bedrooms with windows smaller than whatever the current code says. It would be absurd to question their status of bedrooms.

[Anonymous]

Regardless of whether it is or is not a legal bedroom, this agent suggested that he thinks it is not but is willing to lie (according to his belief) anyway. As such, he's proven himself to be unethical and I would not do business with him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of whether it is or is not a legal bedroom, this agent suggested that he thinks it is not but is willing to lie (according to his belief) anyway. As such, he's proven himself to be unethical and I would not do business with him.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of whether it is or is not a legal bedroom, this agent suggested that he thinks it is not but is willing to lie (according to his belief) anyway. As such, he's proven himself to be unethical and I would not do business with him.

+1000

Another agent here, and an ethical one.

I would never do this. And I report listings where I waste my and my client's time going to see them and finding out they don't have the bedrooms the listing says they do. MRIS goes by tax records. Good luck but you've got yourself a nice-guy-liar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of whether it is or is not a legal bedroom, this agent suggested that he thinks it is not but is willing to lie (according to his belief) anyway. As such, he's proven himself to be unethical and I would not do business with him.

+1000

Another agent here, and an ethical one.

I would never do this. And I report listings where I waste my and my client's time going to see them and finding out they don't have the bedrooms the listing says they do. MRIS goes by tax records. Good luck but you've got yourself a nice-guy-liar.

Is this the case? So if tax records say my house has 4 bedrooms, and I indeed an in good faith use the 4th bedroom as a bedroom, is it Ok to advertise it as such?

[Anonymous]

Our house has a tiny fourth bedroom that we use as a sitting room. I never would have looked at it if marketed as a three bedroom but we bought it and it has met our needs for 8 years. I really wound't worry about pissed off people you only need one buyer and the more traffic the more likely you are to find them.

[Anonymous]

MRIS doesn't go by tax records. Also, any living space over a garage needs to be sealed from CO. Emergency agree (5.7 sf window opening) is the only requirement for a legal bedroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MRIS doesn't go by tax records. Also, any living space over a garage needs to be sealed from CO. Emergency agree (5.7 sf window opening) is the only requirement for a legal bedroom.

Yes. They do. If someone's tax record says 2 bedrooms and they say the house has more, and an agent reports that to MRIS, MRIS indeed refers right back to the tax record to confirm. I've heard it directly from them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a buyer, NOTHING pisses me off more than showing up to a house that has been marketed at 4 bedrooms to find it really only has three and a random space that they are trying to pass off as a 4th.

I want a four bedroom house. It is a waste of your time and mine for me to come and look at a 3 bed.

So I'd advise against it.

You wouldn't buy this house anyway, so why should OP care that you're offended?