It’s tempting to look beyond your most urgent need when looking for a new house to purchase or rent.
You may only need one or two bedrooms for the time being, but what happens if your family grows? What happens if you have out-of-town guests staying with you?
But even though it’s a good idea to plan ahead, buying a property with a spare room based on “what ifs” might turn out to be very expensive in the long run, particularly if the additional room isn’t used very often. Mortgages aren’t cheap, so it’s important to buy a property based on the space you think you will really need.
The Cost of an Extra Bedroom
You should be aware that if you are looking to upgrade a house with an additional bedroom, the additional space will come at a price.
A recent study found that the difference between a two bedroom and three bedroom property ranged from a £40k difference in the Yorkshire and Humber compared to a £121k difference in the South East. This is approximately a 30-40% premium.
Whilst the thought of paying this much for a guest bedroom may seem daunting, bear in mind that your mortgage will likely be repaid over 25 – 35 years, which reduces the cost over time.
Is a Guest Bedroom Worth the Added Cost?
It can help to look at all of the benefits before you decide whether or not to buy a home with a second bedroom.
Alternative Hotel Costs
If there is a need for someone to stay near you for the night (we’re thinking the parents, in-laws or close friends) and you didn’t have the guest room available, this would add more money onto their costs – which may put them off travelling in the first place.
Nightly hotel rates can vary between £80 – 100 per night, so you need to factor in if your guest could afford this for each trip they make to you.
Rent the room
This tip is not for everyone. But it’s important to realise that the spare bedroom in your home has value. If you don’t have an issue living with someone, renting the spare room can be a great money earner.
Arrangements can be made between you and the tenant/lodger so that the contract could be terminated within a short amount of time if either of you do change your minds.
You could even let the room out to a tourist on Airbnb depending on how close you are to certain locations.
Ask anyone with a spare room if they’d like to earn some money from it – and most would give you a full hearted YES. But when the practicalities of sharing a property become clearer (communal kitchen and bathrooms) the appeal can be lost quite quickly.
Most people are keen to leave their flat sharing days behind them when they buy their home.
Higher Resale Value
The most obvious benefit of purchasing a house with a spare bedroom is that it will be a bigger property and have a higher future resale value.
This is especially true in the case of flats, where lenders have tightened their lending standards for smaller properties. In fact with fewer people looking for studio and one-bedroom apartments, these can be more difficult to sell in general.
Having Babies
Couples planning to have a family are one situation where having an additional room could come in very handy. The spare room becomes the child’s room.
Now it’s true that even for a couple who only have one child, a two bedroom flat quickly begins to feel small as the children grow up. But you could probably do your house move later compared to having a baby in a one bedroom flat.
Here are a few ideas for creating a multi-purpose space in your home:
1. Library/Reading Room
If you’ve always wanted a particular spot to read, relax, and keep your books and collectables, now’s your opportunity to create one that meets your needs.
A library is great piece to show off to visitors and be a great project for decorating.
2. Craft Room
Building a customised craft room with cabinets and shelves to store your yarn, scrapbooking materials, paint, or jewellery-making beads, as well as a custom workspace with hidden and open storage, may help you optimise space and make room for a bed.
3. Home Office
In today’s post COVID world, working remotely at home has become very common.
Some people (such as those who require a home office or additional storage space) may find that having a guest bedroom is a saving grace when there are multiple people working in the home. A custom home office can greatly promote productivity.
Another benefit of an office space is that it can be turned into a different type of room with less hassle. Most of the furniture in an office is free standing (desks, chairs and cabinets). So it can be moved around easily.
4. Workout Room
There’s never a good place to work out in your home. Bedrooms normally have much space to practice your lunges. The kitchen seems inappropriate to begin your barbell squats. And if you start doing some workouts in the living room you can expect to be kicked out after the first 10 minutes when someone else wants to watch the TV.
Another brilliant use for a spare room. With a little bit of work you could even go the full way and kit the floor out so that you can do weight exercises.
For some, having a workout space so close to them is a big motivator. But for others, they realise that they miss communal feel of seeing their friends at the gym or in exercise classes. Find out which type of exercise person you are before committing to a home gym.
5. Media Room
You can have the media room of your dreams while still hosting overnight guests. A media projector or wall unit can light up a full wall (assuming you’ve painted the wall white).
Because a media projector takes up little space, it’s possible to also fit in a bed inside the room to serve that second purpose too.
Final Thoughts
There’s no getting around the fact that a guest room will cost you more money. So before even thinking about whether you should have one it’s important to make sure you can afford the mortgage repayments for this type of home.
Assuming you are able to afford the property, consider the guest room as much more than an empty space.
If you think you’ll genuinely have friends and relatives over frequently then the room will get lots of use and you’ll see it as a valuable part of your home.
Even if you don’t have people staying over, you may want to start a family in future that could benefit from it.
And even if you don’t want a family at this stage – you can make the spare room into whatever you want. Consider it an opportunity for you to try a new hobby out.