It was a must for us. All of the bedrooms needed to be upstairs for our children. We considered a main floor master bedroom, but ultimately went with the house that had all 5 bedrooms upstairs. It took a while to find the perfect home, which was frustrating at times. |
My friend has a 4yo, 3yo and 1yo on the second floor, master bedroom on the first floor and she hates it. |
As you can see op, it is bad for resale in a buyer’s market, at least outside retirement areas.
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Our entire street is like this (Arlington cape cods). It's been fine for us. Kids are 4 and 1. The deal breaker for us when looking at houses was when the master and one bedroom were upstairs and the other kid's bedroom was on another floor. |
It was an absolute must for us until our kids were 8+. We now have a house with the MBR on the first floor and when are young grandchildren stay with us we move upstairs. |
I'd be fine with it with kids older than three, I think. Until then, too much schlepping back and forth for wake-ups and minor crises. If the price was good enough, I'd buy it.
The resale stuff from your realtor is weak - it may be harder to sell a house like that, but you're buying the house from someone who's having a harder time selling it, so it's presumably discounted on both ends. |
My perspective is that you have a ton of money (and even if you do), there is always some tradeoff that impacts resale value: size, proximity to public transportation, walkability, layout, being on a major road or near the highway, size and type of yard etc. People have different priorities. I would never buy a house that didn't have a yard. A friend bought a house with no yard and only a deck because it wasn't a priority. Another friend never even noticed you can hear 270 inside the house with the windows closed!!! |
Something had to give for our budget and it was that we ended up in a 4br cape with 2 br up, 2br main. There’s a master on both floors (no en-suite). Our kids are currently 3.5 and 1 and they share a bedroom upstairs. One part of it had a little alcove so we put some curtains in separating that area and that’s where DD sleeps in her crib. It’s worked great so far. Eventually we will reconfigure and one of the kids will likely move downstairs once he or she is much older. We are so happy to have a SFH (which we were worried we wouldn’t find in the location we wanted with our budget), and we are using the two bedrooms downstairs one as an office while we wfh and the other as a playroom. In our area, I am not too concerned about resale. The house is great for the location and amenities nearby. |
All bedrooms on the same level. All windows have alarm even on first floor.
Wasn't this girl Jonbenet ramsey killed in her home and her bedroom was on a different floor from her parents. Sorry, but cannot be a careless parent. ![]() |
We have parents and two kids on the second floor, and one kid on the third floor and it works great for us, but our kids are 8, 10, 16 (16 year old is the one on the third floor).
Would not want kids under five or so on a different floor. Having a teenager on a different floor is non-issue for me, and gives her some privacy (to be fair, she is a very trustworthy and responsible teenager) and space from her rambunctious younger brothers. |
We have. 6 ad 4 year old. I would not be comfortable with kid on first floor alone. Anything else would be fine.
When they were younger we would want to be on the same floor for wkae-ups. |
I think this case had to do more with having child in beauty pageants rather than with floor plan. |
I mean...it's widely speculated that her parents were the ones to kill her, specifically the mother. So not sure how that influences the floor plan. |
I wanted it but didn’t get it. 6 years later I am still thrilled that my kids are on a different floor from us. After their bedtimes and in the morning before they get up is easier because I don’t have to worry about lights or noise (as much). Plus the upstairs is their space. Their bathroom is a bit gross but I don’t need to use it. |
It was her brother and it was accidental. Her parents covered it up. Floor plan didn’t matter. |