Apparently this varies by region --- in a conversation earlier this week someone was sharing with me that in each part of the country where they had lived, it was a bit different.  In one part of the country, nearly every home had a bedroom on the first floor.  In another part of the country, only a very small number of homes had a bedroom on the first floor.  What is your guess for Harrisonburg and Rockingham County?

64% of currently available single family homes offer a bedroom on the first floor!  This was a bit surprising to me, as I assumed it might be less than half of all homes.  I will often have buyer clients that are requesting this feature in a home and it seems to limit their options --- but apparently not too significantly.  Breaking it down by price range, there also isn't much variation:

• 65% of homes under $200k have a bedroom on the first floor
• 64% of homes between $200k and $300k have a bedroom on the first floor
• 58% of homes between $300k and $400k have a bedroom on the first floor
• 66% of homes over $400k have a bedroom on the first floor

Let's take it a bit further, though, because in the conversation earlier this week we were discussing whether it was important to have a bedroom on the first floor when building a two-story home.  Certainly, all single level homes probably have bedrooms on the first floor --- but how many two-level homes (or 1.5, 2.5 or 3 level homes) have bedrooms on the first floor?

49% of currently available multi-level single family homes offer a bedroom on the first floor!

Looking just a little bit further, let's examine whether there is a difference in "sellability" of homes with vs. without a bedroom on the first floor. 

When examining multi-level homes sold in the last year:

• All homes (ignoring bedroom configuration) sold in an average of 200 days for an average of 96% of their list price.
• Homes with bedrooms on the first floor sold in an average of 218 days or an average of 96% of their list price.

We probably can't come to any grand sweeping conclusions based on this data --- other than that plenty of buyers like to have a bedroom on the first floor, and plenty don't mind if they don't have a bedroom on the first floor.

Are you considering buying a home, or building a home?  Do you have questions about what you should be looking for or avoiding in a house?  I'm happy to share my opinion, or the facts as shown by home sales data.  Call me at 540-578-0102 or e-mail me (scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com) and we can discuss your situation.