Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a house with no bathroom on the main floor - a prairie-style home in the Midwest. My parents recently sold it, and a sticking point for many was the fact that there was no bathroom on the main floor; however, it was 4.5 stories and had bathrooms on all the other floors.

We never had an issue with not having a bathroom on the main floor.

Not many 4.5 story houses around here, so this isn't very relevant.

I grew up in a house with no bathroom on the main floor - a prairie-style home in the Midwest. My parents recently sold it, and a sticking point for many was the fact that there was no bathroom on the main floor; however, it was 4.5 stories and had bathrooms on all the other floors.

We never had an issue with not having a bathroom on the main floor.

We've been lucky enough not to have any serious injuries in our immediate family, but injuries that make stairs uncomfortable or impossible are always a real possibility. I think that the set up you describe is probably fine for day to day living, but I'd rather have the security of knowing we could handle a broken leg or other injury while staying at home.

That was our last house. Only a pain when older relatives were visiting and when the kids were potty training!

Probably depends where you live - we live in a very cute neighborhood where about half of the houses are like this. I think they sell fine. People assume they will put in a powder room and some actually end up doing this.

It was a deal breaker for us when shopping for row houses in DC. It's rare to find a main level powder room but when you do, pounce on it.

I used to live in a townhouse with 1 bathroom upstairs and one in the basement. It was a problem. I ended up on crutches several times, injury and surgery and it was a real problem. I had to decide between hanging out with the kitchen floor or the floor with the bathroom. I chose to hang out on the floor with the bathroom. It is one of the reasons I moved out of that house. I would not buy a house which doesn't have a bathroom and kitchen on the same floor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our old house was like this. While it wasn't an issue for us (or our guests) to simply walk upstairs to use the bathroom, it took us a while to see the house in a good market. The feedback we kept getting was that the lack of powder room was a deal-killer for most.

I think you mean to "sell" the house, and that's because it's a deal-killer for many and a big negative for others.

Whatever, lady. My entire neighborhood is like this and the homes here resell just fine.

Maybe in a seller's market. Still a deal-killer for most buyers in normal conditions.

We have an elderly relative that visits. She has had multiple hip replacements, so something like this would possibly be a deal breaker for us. If not for this specific relative, it probably would not be a big deal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in a rowhouse w/o a bathroom on the 1st floor. As others said, it would be nice occasionally (i.e. birthday parties, guests over), but it doesn't bother me too much.

Gross. It may bother your guests.

Why would it? And how exactly is it any grosser than a regular bathroom?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our old house was like this. While it wasn't an issue for us (or our guests) to simply walk upstairs to use the bathroom, it took us a while to see the house in a good market. The feedback we kept getting was that the lack of powder room was a deal-killer for most.

I think you mean to "sell" the house, and that's because it's a deal-killer for many and a big negative for others.

Whatever, lady. My entire neighborhood is like this and the homes here resell just fine.

Anonymous wrote:Our old house was like this. While it wasn't an issue for us (or our guests) to simply walk upstairs to use the bathroom, it took us a while to see the house in a good market. The feedback we kept getting was that the lack of powder room was a deal-killer for most.

I think you mean to "sell" the house, and that's because it's a deal-killer for many and a big negative for others.

PP again. But my point is we do without it fine. Guests use the hall bathroom at the top of the stairs which is used by my kids. They don't have a ton of stuff lying around and we just spruce it up before guests come over.

Our house is like this. Originally had one up and one in basement but we added a second upstairs in a remodel. I would have loved to add a main floor powder room but we didn't have space for it in the addition. It is the one thing I wanted but couldn't get in the configuration/budget we were working with.

Our old house was like this. While it wasn't an issue for us (or our guests) to simply walk upstairs to use the bathroom, it took us a while to see the house in a good market. The feedback we kept getting was that the lack of powder room was a deal-killer for most.