Can't tell without knowing who would live there. For our family if those were the only choices we'd need the first one.

My son's house is 850 square feet, and he actually has a third option:

C: 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, separate dining room.

He says that is perfect for the two of them as a starter home.

I vote for B.
Assuming no children yet, or no children left.
The single bathroom is my issue - the newlywed/retired couple in one BR, the other BR for occasional guests/small office.
Unless one of the couple has a big hobby that requires the 3rd BR that won't be used to sleep add'l guests - more than 4 with one BA would be trouble!

Trouble!?!
That made me chuckle.

Mom was one of 14 kids, and the house only had one bathroom.
They managed quite well.

What in the world is a living room / dining room combo?

NCRealEstateGuy: living/dining in same space. Since you're in real estate, you either experienced a brain freeze, or use different terminology in your neck of the woods.

What in the world is a living room / dining room combo?

It's an 11x20 rectangular room that has couches on one end and a DR table on the other end, with a light fixture overhead. "Open concept" living area, if you will.

If there's a separate dining area, then you can just use the whole space as a LR.

I think I'd probably chose B, for a retired single or couple. Dining room could be used as a office/den or something like that.

A. Third bedroom sounds more versatile as a bedroom, den or office. I like a connected living room/dining room without a wall between. One bigger room handles a bigger group of guests. But, I agree at least an extra half bath would make a big difference for me.

Are you trying to choose between 2 places? Are there other differences that would help push your vote?

A 3/1 is always perceived as a more valuable home than a 2/1. It doesn't matter how the third bedroom is used. Let any buyers decide that. It's more valuable listed and staged as a third bedroom.

I would prefer 3 bedrooms.

Keep in mind that this is same square footage under 1000sf.

When you see a listing for a 4BR/2BA home and see that it's 1200sf, you gotta know that the rooms are TINY and might prefer a 3BR/2BA home with the same square footage. So it really depends on the layout and sizes of all the rooms taken into consideration.
(I once saw a listing for a 1400sf home that said "14 rooms" (I can't remember how many were bedrooms though) and thought, that's a lot of 100sf rooms! - translate to 10'x10' rooms)

Tiny bedrooms and lots of people sharing a single bathroom are fine for some people, but in general, people are demanding more space - bigger furniture (any couples still sharing a double bed?) computer/desks for each person, separate TV viewing/gaming spaces, storage, storage, storage.

But, yes, I will acknowledge that (thankfully) the trend is starting to shrink, but even my in-laws just retired to a 1500sf home with 2CG and that's about the smallest they could handle with their woodworking and art quilting hobbies and room for guests (grandkids) to visit.

Are you trying to choose between 2 places? Are there other differences that would help push your vote?

Actually we're trying to sell one that's a 3/1. Some of the other listed comps in the neighborhood have knocked down the wall between kitchen and 3rd BR and made it a small dining room. I've just been wondering whether that generally makes it more or less marketable.

For me, it seems the 3/1 would be better, and thus sell for a tad more (or more quickly) than a 2/1 + DR. Just checking my gut against others'. It sounds like most of you concur.

With that small sf, I would prefer the 2 bedroom home. Three bedrooms would make the rooms so small. If you have kids then you need the extra bedroom. But for just starting out or retiring, the 2/1 choice would be better. NancyLouise

It sounds like there should be comps in your neighborhood for both layout options. Getting some info on what they sold for, how long they were on the market, who they sold to, etc., would be helpful.

If removing a wall doesn't change the size of Bedrooms 1 and 2, then it doesn't do anything to juggle the value of the house upwards. It reduces the value as it's now a 2 bedroom instead of a 3. A dining room doesn't add value to a home, even though it might be an attractive feature. NOT having a third bedroom in a community of 3/1 homes makes the home worth less than those that do have it.

jakabedy: Good point. I've comped the neighborhood till I'm blue in the face. :-) Unfortunately it's not an exact science, since the sample size isn't vast and the sold price ranges of 2/1/DRs and 3/1s overlap. Condition obviously plays into pricing.

But grouping the 2/1s together and making appraiser adjustments, they average ~&91K. Doing the same with the 3/1s yields a ~$97K average. I don't think the real gap is that large, probably just a few thousand. 2 of the 2/1s were bought by investors.

nancylouise: The bedrooms don't get bigger with a 2/1, they just converted the smallest one into a dining room. It's a change in function, not size.

This post was edited by weedyacres on Sat, Dec 29, 12 at 13:28

Depending on the location of the converted bedroom and if doable, I would still go for the 2/1 format. It would give me the chance to tear down a wall and add area to other rooms. I love tearing things apart(leave the putting it back nicely to someone else.lol)

We actually did this, although our home is two levels. We turned a second back bedroom on the main floor, adjacent to the kitchen, into an open dining. Our LR is a little larger, about 13x21'.

BUT we do acknowledge that we reduced the value of the house, going from 3bd down to 2bd. For us this was not a huge concern, as it turned out, but for others who are trying to maximize their RE return, it might be.

I will say that long narrow LRs are not a pleasing use of space - I use one end of the LR for a full-scale business office - and I think that many buyers would probably prefer to see enclosed bedrooms with a LR/DR combined into one. The term used out here is 'dining nook'.

We had a little more flexibility because of the upstairs/downstairs layout (840 sq. ft. each floor). We were able to put a full master bedroom and master bath suite along with a huge storage/laundry area/utilities room downstairs, giving us two full bathrooms. We've been told by RE agents that having an updated 2/2 puts us on the low-end of 3/1 sales, because it's so expensive to remodel baths and kitchens out here.

If there is no room for a second bathroom, keep the 3 bd layout for maximum value, would be my suggestion. That is a different proposition than maximum LIVABILITY.

My neighbor had an A and converted to B. However, she didn't tear down any walls, but did put in a large bay window. So it can easily be A again, with an extra large window. ;)