kitchen, family room or bedroom?

[carolegif]

Our bungalow has two bedrooms downstairs and two upstairs. One of the bedrooms adjoins the kitchen (which is not small, about 11ft square) and I would like to knock down the wall and have a lovely large room. However, when the couple next door wanted to do this an estate agent friend told them that it would knock £30,000 of the price of the house as they would lose a bedroom and it would be classed as a 3 bed rather than a 4 bed. My daughter however, says that it would be easier of we came to sell it as people like a large kitchen diner nowadays.

Any views?

[marval]

I agree with your daughter, a three bedroomed bungalow would be big enough. A nice large kitchen diner would be a good selling point for me

[jackthehat]

Your EA friend cannot determine 'who' will want to buy when you come to sell......and to put a figure on what will be lost in the future is not terribly sensible.

When you come to sell, simply explain that you have removed a room, which ought to be quite simple to restore.

[redcrx]

i think both are right. A larger kitchen / diner would give you a wider audience when it came to selling, but it would have less bedrooms and therefore a lower price would normally be expected.

[mollykins]

How come it's a bungalow if you have an upstairs?

[gina32]

i was going to ask that molly

[redcrx]

converted attic, Molly?

[carolegif]

It's called a dormer bungalow! When we moved in it had no bathroom upstairs! We live by the sea where there are a large number of golden oldies, but in our area the local primary school is very desirable and a lot of young families are moving here so the market is mixed.

there are some areas here though where putting in a Stena stairlift would add value to a property!!

[ummmm]

Do you plan on selling? If not do what suits your lifestyle...

[woofgang]

We have just been through a similar decision making process about a new kitchen and wood floors. We decided that what was most important was that we should have the house that WE wanted and that suited our lifestyle. If you are going to sell within the next year or two, then you may want to take the estate agent's advice (although they get it wrong too) otherwise do what you want, life is too short !
Have you got a separate dining room now? If not, then maybe knock through to make an adjoining dining room? I personally wouldn't want a kitchen diner if there was no dining room.

[carolegif]

We use the bedroom as a dining room now, and the kitchen as a kitchen diner. At the moment we could just take the dining furniture out and have it as a bedroom. Originally it was built as a lounge-diner, but we just use it as a large living room.

[hc4361]

If it is your home, do what suits you best.
If it's an investment, leave it as a four bed.

[The Builder]

Carol, if I had your bungalow and wanted to improve it to sell, I would do what you want to do. I've done it before. The more important thing is the square metreage of the house. Four beds in a relatively small space limits marketability to just a family who "must" have the bedrooms regardless of the size. In my experience, a house is far more marketable (and valuable) if EVERYTHING works well .......... that is ...... good sized family living room (incorporating the kitchen), sitting room, good bathroom(s) ............. etc etc ............ all obvious stuff of course, but you'd be surprised at the number of people who cram a "modest" house with "bedrooms" while neglecting the basic stuff that makes a house desirable.
Number of bedrooms is not the only criterion, despite what the agents say.