Illegal Bedrooms
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Anonymous
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How are realtors allowed to list homes like this? This house actually has three bedrooms. The other two don’t have proper egress windows and can’t legally be considered bedrooms.
Is there any recourse for realtors who offer up dishonest listings? I feel like I see this more and more. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/13700-Arctic-Ave-Rockville-MD-20853/37314720_zpid/ |
Anonymous
| Have you seen it? I don't think we can tell from the photos. |
Anonymous
| Our old neighbors added an entire "addition" jutting out from their house that included a room and a bathroom, all without getting a permit. They sold it so I guess they somehow get around the law. |
Anonymous
How would you know if it was permitted? |
Anonymous
Not PP but i imagine they talked about it? I know which of my friends got permits and which didn’t because it’s a frequent topic of discussion when you’re going through the misery of renovation/construction. |
Anonymous
Yes. Also, if you’re in Redfin, you can read the Tour Insights. https://www.redfin.com/MD/Rockville/13700-Arctic-Ave-20853/home/11067152 There are quite a few like this in the area, so we’ve seen this same issue before. |
Anonymous
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The new favorite in my area (Fairfax County) is realtors saying "county assessed square footage is not accurate," or something along those lines, and then adding in that the basement square footage.
Unless something has changed (in the last 6 months), below grade area of any kind has never factored into total square footage. Has something changed? |
Anonymous
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In my profession, we have a State Board that regulates things like this. And protects consumers.
Anything like that in Real Estate? Is there somewhere consumers can report these kinds of listings? Some buyers know enough to know that the extra two bedrooms are illegal. Or they rely on the buyers agent to make them aware. But I could see how some buyers would simply not know that there are rules about this. |
Anonymous
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My house has one. We asked the inspector how it has been sold listed as a bedroom multiple times given that it clearly doesn't meet the code, and he said the house is so old it's considered "grandfathered in."
Since our room in question is in a first floor, single level addition, we're planning to cut vertically into the wall to simply put in a larger window. Annoyed that this is a cost we are taking on as the buyers, but that's onr of thr compromises we had to make in this crazy market. |
Anonymous
Nobody forced you to buy the house. You sound ridiculous. |
Anonymous
DP That was unnecessary. PP explained her situation. And said she is correcting the issue to bring the home up to code. Nothing ridiculous about being annoyed that the house was allowed to be listed and sold for more bedrooms than it legally had. |
Anonymous
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My house was listed as 6,000 sf livable space. It is a 4,000
Sf house with 2,000 sf basement. That is pretty common |
Anonymous
| The photos didn't show the windows in the two basement bedrooms, so it's really hard to tell if they're there/what they look like. |
Anonymous
| Really crappy flip. |
Anonymous
| A lot of folks want them illegal. Less property taxes. |