2nd Floor Bonus Room (Loft) or 5th bed / 4th bath in 3,250 sq ft house?

B

box

Member
Hi all,

I'm new here, currently on the priority list for Fresco Reserve.

Have my eye on a Plan 3X, which is a 2,870 sq ft house with 4 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms.

On the 2nd floor, it has an option to +386 sq ft to the house with either a:

- Bonus room (loft)

or

- 5th bedroom with 4th bathroom

The 5th bedroom with 4th bathroom option is $10K more expensive than the Bonus room option.

I'm having a hard time deciding between these two options.

Bonus Room - Pros:
- Gives the upstairs a luxurious, open feeling
- Can be used as an office, TV room, kid's play room, etc.

Bonus Room - Cons:
- Couldn't be a long term bedroom (temporary might be OK)
- No bathroom

5th Bedroom / 4th Bedroom - Pros:
- Can be used for anything the Bonus Room is used for
- Can be a permanent bedroom
- Has an extra bathroom

5th Bedroom / 4th Bedroom - Cons:
- It adds walls where the Bonus Room was open, which gives the upstairs more of an enclosed feeling. It's hard to describe, but the extra walls just makes the upstairs feel more boxed in and less "special".

Assuming I don't have an immediate need to use that 5th bedroom as a bedroom...what would you guys recommend?

For a ~3,250 sq ft house, which of the following would have better resale value in the future?

- 4 bed / 3.5 bath with large second floor bonus room / loft

or

- 5 bed / 4.5 bath


Appreciate your thoughts!
 
You said that you don't have an immediate need to use that 5th bedroom as a bedroom, but do you have plans to use it as a bedroom later on?

I suspect that 5 bed / 4.5 bath would have better resale value.

Personally, though, I would probably go with the bonus room.  It's like you said, the 5th bedroom option would have a wall where there would be extra stair railings for the bonus room option.  And since we only have 1 kid, we have no need for the 5th bedroom. 

In my current house (3309 sq ft), one of the bedrooms is den/office option.  Downstairs, we have living room + dining room, kitchen + nook, family room, den/office, bedroom and bath with standing shower.  Upstairs, we have bonus room, 2 bedrooms, bath, and master suite.
 
That?s a pretty good size loft, it will make the upstairs feel way more open and your family will spend lots of time there and make good memories.  You can even put the Christmas tree up there, we do :)

I would go for the loft, I don?t think the difference of a similar home with same sq footage but extra bedroom would really be a huge difference in price.

Also one thing about big lofts, if the kids go with the parents to see the home when it?s on the market, kids will always beg their parent to get the one with the big loft.  I?ve seen this many times.
 
Bonus room for your own preference, extra BR and bathroom for resale. Remember bath room adds a lot of value to housing value.
 
I?m likely going to be the only one with this position but neither.  The architectural aspect of Fresco with the Vaulted Living Room ceiling is one of the most unique and least found aspects of those homes.  Both options eliminate this.  If you are looking at the 3X then your downstairs bedroom is going to be a very nice size and I?m fairly certain you are opting for the conservatory already.  Just my 2 cents.
 
I went with a loft. Not concerned about the resale value. My main priority with the house is to enjoy it while I live in it.
 
Slevinkelevra said:
I?m likely going to be the only one with this position but neither.  The architectural aspect of Fresco with the Vaulted Living Room ceiling is one of the most unique and least found aspects of those homes.  Both options eliminate this.  If you are looking at the 3X then your downstairs bedroom is going to be a very nice size and I?m fairly certain you are opting for the conservatory already.  Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...
My wife definitely agrees with you.  The Vaulted Great Room ceiling is the reason Bluffs at Portola Springs is our top preference right now.  It's also why we got on priority list for Redwoods and Oaks at Meadows.
 
qwerty said:
I went with a loft. Not concerned about the resale value. My main priority with the house is to enjoy it while I live in it.
Click to expand...
I agree with you. You have to go with the option that makes you the most happy while living in the house.
 
If you have open to below it is relatively straightforward to add loft later shall you need the space.
The extra bathroom though, impossible to do later because all the plumbing. You could be looking at a large premium difference later. I am more function over form and will choose the extra bathroom because that?s something more difficult to do after construction. The extra BR and bathroom really increases the buyer pool for resale. You never know how long you will stay in the house. Life can come at you fast

Oh and your user names checks out for the extra boxy feel
 
I'm a big fan of Fresco. I understand the appeal of the 5th bedroom or loft option but I really appreciate the high ceilings. I think if I bought it for personal enjoyment I wouldn't get either of the options. If I bought it for financial considerations in mind then definitely would add the 5th bed.
 
Thanks all for the good advice.

The default Vaulted Great Room Ceiling is really nice, but the reasons we decided against it were:
  • At this price point, we really want the additional space of 386 sq ft. By going with the Plus plan and the conservatory, we're basically trying to max out the Plan 3 sq footage at ~3,250.
  • Spending extra for the loft or 5th bed / 4th bath option lowers the $/sq ft by about $50.

In the case of Fresco, it's actually not easy to add in a loft after the fact. The default vaulted ceiling is sloped, and by picking loft or 5th bed / 4th bath option, it actually changes the roofline of the house to accommodate that added 2nd floor space.

The reality is, we most likely won't have a need for a 5th bedroom in the next 5-10 years. The main reason we wanted it was to future-proof in case elderly parents had to move in to our home full-time.

The loft on the other hand, is something we think we could enjoy everyday immediately.

For that reason, we're currently leaning towards the loft option.

I think the loft might be a good compromise between form (vaulted great room ceiling) and function (5th bed / 4th bath).

The loft provides some luxury and architectural flair to the 2nd floor space, whereas the 5th bedroom (with its walls) makes the 2nd floor feel very...utilitarian and plain.

I wonder if those who have visited the Fresco Plan 3X model home agree with me? The loft definitely added some "wow" factor to the second floor - I feel like it was nicely executed with the large size, lots of windows, and the way it opens up the space at the top of the stairs.

There was no Plan 3 model with the 5th bedroom option to compare it against though, so maybe the model home is making me biased...

Definitely still a tough choice, as I am usually a function > form kind of guy. The 5th bed / 4th bath does sound appealing from a resale and future-proofing perspective (at this price point, we're hoping to stay in this house for a long time), but the loft seems to optimize for happiness for at least the next 5 years.

After thinking through all this, I'm realizing that if I really needed a 5 bedroom house, I probably want it to be 3,600+ sq ft so that it can have 5 bedrooms AND a loft, haha.
 
How much higher resale do you think the house with the 5th bed / 4th bath option would have over house with the loft?

Keeping in mind both cases are in a 3,250 sq ft house, which is large, but not super large like some of these 4,000+ sq ft homes in Orchard Hills, Altair, Lambert Ranch, etc.
 
box said:
How much higher resale do you think the house with the 5th bed / 4th bath option would have over house with the loft?

Keeping in mind both cases are in a 3,250 sq ft house, which is large, but not super large like some of these 4,000+ sq ft homes in Orchard Hills, Altair, Lambert Ranch, etc.
Click to expand...

Hard to say exactly how much additional resale value it provides but it increases the buyer pool as you'll bring in all of the buyers who are looking for a 5bd but may have a limited budget and can't afford a 3,500-4,000sf home where you get a 5th bedroom.
 
Looking at the floorplan, I agree that the loft will probably give you more utility.

Extra bed/bath will always increase resale value but that extra upstairs living space will be useful for a variety of reasons.
 
Don?t you think there is a reason the builder built the model with a loft vs the 5th bedroom??

 
Builders build loft in model homes to make them show better (appearing bigger and more open). If family members like to hangout together (watching TV/movie, playing games, etc.), a loft is better; if family members tend to do activities that require concentration and a quiet space (working, studying, art, music, research, etc.), a room with door is better.
 
One other thing to consider... if eventually sell and want to recoup that "bedroom value", you can convert the loft to a bedroom easily (although not a bed+bath).
 
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