Sacramento Real Estate Blog

In this series of how-tos we’ve been over how important a kitchen, a bathroom and a living room are to showcasing a home - not just during an Open House - for sale. But what about that pesky extra bedroom? Sure, if you try to add on another room to your home, it costs about $25,000. But does it add that much value to the resale price? To ensure that an extra bedroom adds value to your home, remember the following tips. After all, the only value added is extra square footage, but it has to be usable square footage or home buyers won’t pay the premium for it.

1. Ensure you leave the closet in it.

I once watched a home improvement store where the woman had created a sort of “dream space.” She liked to travel and had remodeled her study closet by taking out the door and using a curtain to separate a space where she could sit on a day bed and dream of where to go next. Oh yeah, did I mention that she had also put up maps of the world and places she liked - also souvenirs collected on previous excursions - in the “closet.” Now, this kind of remodeling is fine if you intend to live in the place for a long time, but if you are planning on selling the home soon, it’s best to stay away from it.

When you are selling a house, you want to avoid doing anything too out of the ordinary. After all, you will be trying to appeal to the largest possible audience. And closets in bedrooms are, well, pretty popular. So no matter how appealing it seems to tear out the closet and put in a “dream room” or bookcases, leave the closet alone. For one thing, it could reduce the value of your property by thousands since appraisers do not consider a room a bedroom unless it has a closet and for another, well, like I mentioned, home buyers like closets. So leave it alone and go get another idea from HGTV.

2. Don’t go overboard with the baby stuff.

I have been to many, many Open Houses and held a few of my own and inevitably have seen a lot of baby and kid’s rooms. I always tell the home sellers that it’s fine to celebrate the arrival of a baby and go absolutely berserk with decorating if - and only if - your home is not going to be on the market soon. If it is, it’s still okay to decorate provided you plan to redecorate before you put the home on the market. So make sure you budget not just for pink and / or blue but also for some neutrals right after.

Any time home buyers step into your home and their attention shifts from the features of the house to the features of your life, you’re in trouble. Because you’ve lost them! They shouldn’t be talking about your life. After all, that’s not what they’re going to buy! Avoid that and keep the rooms neutral. Let them picture their furniture in there… and don’t make them think about chores and remodeling before buying the home!

3. Don’t go overboard with study stuff either!

There seems to be an obsession that comes over some homeowners when there is a bedroom that is not being used in the home. Either it becomes a storage room which is the worst idea ever if you want to sell the place since home buyers cannot get in edgewise to look at it! Or they make it a baby room with the carousel fan that stays long after they’ve moved out. Or they create a study sanctuary and line the walls with books!

Now don’t get me wrong - the idea of a wall full of books is right up there in my list of wants as well. I love the thought of it and probably will have it someday. But not if my home is on the market. The point here is that you don’t know what your home buyers will want to do with that extra bedroom and you don’t want to make the decision for them. They will bring their own ideas to the table and you want to present them with a canvas - your house. So don’t decide what it will be before they get there. Leave it open.

4. Keep it simple, not stark.

Of course, this is not to say that you leave the room empty either. It might come as a surprise to you - and it does to a lot of home buyers when we look at vacant homes - that a vacant room seems smaller than a room with furniture. So don’t leave it stark and empty either. That will just make it seem smaller.

Why not have a day bed in there or just a bed for that matter? Some books in the corner will do just fine. And don’t leave it out of your staging for sale either. You want to pay as much attention to the rooms you don’t use as the rooms you do use! Staging it as just that - an extra bedroom, or a guest bedroom - is a pretty good idea. That way, it remains simple, but not stark.

5. Try to integrate it into the rest of the home.

Whatever you do, you don’t want to give the impression that the home buyers have entered another dimension when they step into the extra bedroom. Make sure to integrate the room into the rest of the home. The first home we ever owned was a HUD home bought during the last wave of foreclosures in Sacramento and they had a bedroom with purple walls. And we’re not talking a nice purple either. The room caved in on you when you walked in - not literally of course - but emotionally it felt like entering a deep, underground passageway. A little paint did wonders for the room.

A good rule of thumb is this: if the home is under 1000 square feet, you don’t want to try and separate each room with a drastically different colors and paints. Try and keep it the same shade or at least the same family of color.

When it comes to the extra bedroom, remember: Everything in moderation will get you more interested home buyers!