Four bedrooms, or three larger bedrooms

[wylie]

Talking townhouse, inner city ring, about 5km from the city, Coorparoo... we have plans for main bedroom with WIR and ensuite (3.8m x 4.5m without ensuite or WIR), family bath, three secondary bedrooms, each 3 x 3.2 with robes not included in those measurements, plus a living room 4.5m x 5m.

Downstairs is kitchen, living, dining, study (2.5m x 3m). Main living (dining and living) is 4.2m wide x 7m long and kitchen not included. Patio 12 square metres.

Total townhouse would be about 230sqm.

This seems spacious enough to work, but I'm keen to know for rental purposes and eventual sale purposes, whether we are better to stick to three good sized bedrooms plus the study instead of three bedrooms being 3m x 3.2m which fits a bed, but not much else. With careful planning, the study "could" double as a small bedroom if needed, maybe with sliding double doors that can be opened to the living room, or closed off.

The problem as I see it is that if three or four people rent each townhouse, that is a LOT of people, a lot of cars. If we stick with three bedrooms, we still cater for smaller families or two to three people sharing and avoid the "cram in four people" idea to make the rent cheaper.

We need to make a decision, and my head is spinning.

 

[sanj]

Have you spoken to local agents about what people want? What are some of the other developers in the area doing and what seems to sell faster? Ultimately it's a development so you need to be guided by the $$ but understanding market demand is the key. Could you do a gig master, 2 decent bedrooms and then a smaller study/4th bedder?

 

[wylie]

Have you spoken to local agents about what people want? What are some of the other developers in the area doing and what seems to sell faster?

I have spoken to a few agents and a developer I know. I'm getting different views. Letting agents seem to think larger living space is more important than the extra bedroom, especially if it means all bedrooms are tiny.

The one developer I've spoken to just said "yield" and said go with four bedrooms. A nearby development has four small bedrooms and only one living area. We would have four bedrooms and a small living area on the one level. Three of those bedrooms are 3m x 3.2m which is pretty small.

There are a mixture of townhouses and most would be three bedders. I will spend some more time on re.com tomorrow and call another few agents.

I know as a landlord, when we advertised a house with four bedrooms, two very small, the people looking were expecting a second living area. A family needing four bedrooms, or four people sharing want/need an extra living area. So pushing for "yield" (sale and/or rent income) by squeezing in four small bedrooms but only having one small living area seems counterintuitive.

Could you do a gig master, 2 decent bedrooms and then a smaller study/4th bedder?

This is what we have gone back to the designer with. I've also sent the link to the approval for the townhouses we went into recently with the four bedrooms and one living area to see how the spaces compare with what he is proposing for ours.

I plan on calling the agent who we saw those with to see what her feedback was.

Thanks for the reply. I don't need the best townhouses but they must rent easily and I find it difficult not to judge things by what "I" would want. I'll report back after some more calls but happy to hear other opinions.

 

[wylie]

Further to this dilemma, we have asked for the townhouse to be turned "upside down" and have three bedrooms (or two and study), main bathroom, laundry and garage downstairs and large main bedroom, WIR, ensuite, powder room upstairs with the kitchen, living and dining room and balcony.

This takes advantage of views towards the city and over the top of surrounding houses right next door and further down the hill. This also seems to be a little bit "out there" but it seems silly to have living rooms on the lower levels with the views from the bedrooms on top.

 

[sanj]

yeah it's always tough finding the right balance. who do you think the end buyer/tenant is? what demographic?

i think a 4 bedder with just a single, fairly small living area doesnt sound appealing, a 3x2 with a smaller secondary living area upstairs (or downstaits if youre doing the config youre talking about) may be a better option in an inner area

is it a high price point? i find once you get higher, especially in the inner/yuppie market, the margin for error is smaller so you do want to get it right

 

[INVSTOR]

I would say inner/yuppy market.
I personally like 3 spacious bedrooms but I think market wants 4. I just witnessed someone in Perth build a spacious 3 bedroom that I loved and a slightly smaller overall size 4 bedroom home that I hated. The 4 bedroom rented before the three bedroom and they had to drop the rent on the three bedder.

 

[wylie]

I would say inner/yuppy market.
I personally like 3 spacious bedrooms but I think market wants 4. I just witnessed someone in Perth build a spacious 3 bedroom that I loved and a slightly smaller overall size 4 bedroom home that I hated. The 4 bedroom rented before the three bedroom and they had to drop the rent on the three bedder.

I've made some more enquiries today. Consensus seems to be that for holding these for rental, three larger bedrooms will rent more easily than four small bedrooms.

The PM I've just spoken to confirmed two other similar answers I've had. This PM said he had a three bedroom, and a four bedroom townhouse in the same complex and the four bedroom one took longer to rent. By having three larger bedrooms, we also avoid the "squeeze four friends into the townhouse" situation, which I'd prefer to avoid.

So, it looks like we will go for three larger bedrooms, plus a study that with some careful design, could double up as a small bedroom if required.

 

[INVSTOR]

I've made some more enquiries today. Consensus seems to be that for holding these for rental, three larger bedrooms will rent more easily than four small bedrooms.

The PM I've just spoken to confirmed two other similar answers I've had. This PM said he had a three bedroom, and a four bedroom townhouse in the same complex and the four bedroom one took longer to rent. By having three larger bedrooms, we also avoid the "squeeze four friends into the townhouse" situation, which I'd prefer to avoid.

So, it looks like we will go for three larger bedrooms, plus a study that with some careful design, could double up as a small bedroom if required.

That's great you've got it sorted. The three and four bedroom houses I'm referring to is next door to where I will be developing. If I remember correctly the three bedder rented for $20/week less than four although the 3 bed was bigger in total Sqm. I guess in my situation I'll have to go 4 bed.

 

[INVSTOR]

Actually, I do like your and Sanj's idea of three decent size and one smaller bedroom/study

 

[Jaggannath]

My inclination would be three generous, but it depends on knowing your market (which you've clearly put a lot of effort in to). I prefer 4 bedroom places personally, as I can always convert a bedroom to a study, but I'm thinking of a family situation where 3 x 3.2m is ample for kids. If I was renting with mates, 3 large bedrooms is definitely my preference

 

[nhg]

I've made some more enquiries today. Consensus seems to be that for holding these for rental, three larger bedrooms will rent more easily than four small bedrooms.

The PM I've just spoken to confirmed two other similar answers I've had. This PM said he had a three bedroom, and a four bedroom townhouse in the same complex and the four bedroom one took longer to rent. By having three larger bedrooms, we also avoid the "squeeze four friends into the townhouse" situation, which I'd prefer to avoid.

So, it looks like we will go for three larger bedrooms, plus a study that with some careful design, could double up as a small bedroom if required.

How much more did the 4 bedroom rent for though, at this stage you are talking about an extra wall and window, sounds like the yield would be better for 4.