You're an average single or couple out searching for a house with three bedrooms. But stop and think for a moment. Why only three bedrooms?
All things being equal, you're probably better off buying a four-bedroom property, realty specialists say. Down the road when you're marketing the house, the four-bedroom will go faster and for more money than the three, they say.
"More bedrooms equal more options for buyers equal a home that's going to be more salable," says Peter G. Miller, the Silver Spring-based author of real estate books.
Buyers these days want more bedrooms -- and not necessarily for sleeping. They want extra rooms they can use as a home office, library, computer room, homework room, sewing room, exercise room, hobby room or guest room.
"Today's lifestyles suggest that what we call a bedroom really is evolving into a multipurpose room," Mr. Miller says.
American families may be smaller, but contemporary living patterns and the demographics of the 1990s are pushing up bedroom demand.
Some children live at home longer, due to high housing and college costs. And many elderly parents who might once have been packed off to a nursing home are moving in with their grown children.
What's more, sharing bedrooms is a less preferred option when it comes to kids. In past generations, people thought it perfectly appropriate for two or three youngsters to bunk in the same room. But contemporary lifestyles call for more personal space, even for children. Whenever possible, parents like their kids to have their own rooms.
"People prefer four bedrooms -- whether they need them or not," observes Concetta Corriere, who sells real estate through the Columbia office of RE/MAX. Savvy buyers realize that having a fourth bedroom is important in terms of resale value,she says.
The number of bedrooms a house offers is one of the "critical factors" in home selection," says Monte Helme, a vice president with the Century 21 real estate chain. Having a fourth bedroom is generally more important to buyers than an unusually large yard or family room, for instance, he contends.
Furthermore, Mr. Helme says, the number of bedrooms a home has may be more important than their size -- assuming they're at least 100 square feet each.
