"Combined bedrooms" and ...

[Wedowee]

Hello ladies and gentlemen.  This is my first post and I want to start off by thanking the many of you who selflessly share your knowledge and wisdom.  It is esp. appreciated as I hope to "multiply my talents".

There are a couple of concerns I have with a house I recently looked at.  The upstairs has two bedrooms.  However as soon as you get upstairs you are in one bedroom and have to walk through it before you get to the second bedroom.  Is this an immediate negative to potential buyers or renters?  I know it's not 100% one way or the other.  But  would be curious to have your input as to what % of people that it would turn away.

The second issue I have with this old house is the basement.  I'd say 2/3 of the floor is concrete with the rest of the "floor" being  bare earth.  A realtor, who's on my side, spoke as if this is not uncommon for an old house.  I very much welcome any comments or insight.

[justinm]

the bedroom situation is an uncommon thing, at least here in Georgia it would be. As for the basement i assume you mean 1/3 is crawl space and the other unfinished basement, which isn't very uncommon. I would be interested to hear what others say on this but that is just my opinions.
justin

[Visual_Underworld]

Is it a full basement or just a crawlspace? If it's a full 7 or 8 foot basement yes, it's rare to see the flatwork uncompleted, especially in my area (wisconsin) where it can get brutally cold in the winters.

As for the walk-through bedroom, yes I have seen it a lot.  Is it a smaller house located in a low to moderate area where there's a lot of other rentals?  If it's a rental property and will likely be purchased by another investor when you decide to part with it then I wouldnt worry about it too much.  Sure, you may get a few dollars lower rent, but you're talking a major reconstructive effort to shift a floorplan and it will likely not be worth the money.  If it's in a good neighborhood, though, and there arent many other rental properties around then there's a good chance it'll be purchased by a homeowner when you sell it, probably causing a slightly lower price and perhaps a few extra days on the market, but it will sell.

Even if the house commands a lower selling price when you decide to get rid of it , that should be offset by the discount you got (or should be getting) when you bought it.

If it's a full basement, I would definitely finish the concrete floor as it would be a major turn-off for investors and owner occupants when you goto sell it.  The floor doesnt have to be mason-quality and you could easily do it yourself with a trowel/bull float.  Concrete is very cheap (in comparison to other rehab materials) and hopefully a cement truck  could just stick the shoot into one of the basement windows.  I was the general contractor for a job about 6 months ago involving pouring a 20x24 ft slab for a garage, 4" thick.  The concrete was about $500, as I recall.

[JeffInCT]

I've seen the walk-though bedrooms AND the basement dirt floors a lot in New England.  Some family dynamics allow for the reduced privacy. I wouldn't expect it to rent at the same market rate as a similar home with no walk throughs but it should be marketable.  

Our previous owner slapped an inch of concrete over the dirt basement here. We've never had a problem with it.


JeffInCT

[Wedowee]

Yes, the basement is definitely unfinished.  Enough room for washer, dryer, and whatever other nonfunctioning appliances they had down there. To describe the part w/o concrete; IIRC once you got to "ground floor" it just gently sloped up raising the ceiling from 6-7 feet to 4-5 feet.