"Trent©" wrote:

On Sat, 15 Nov 2003 03:24:50 GMT, (v) wrote:

On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 14:58:23 -0500, someone wrote:


That's not true at all. I sold a house last year with a basement that I
did off the books. I also know many people that have done the same thing
and had no problem. It is quite a common occurrence, legal or not.

As a practical matter, I agree to the extent that it would be OK with
'the bank' as long as the illegally finished area is not being relied
upon to acheive the required value of the property. OTOH if the bank
thinks it is mortgaging a 4-bedroom 3 bath home, but one bedroom and
one bath are illegal in the basement, then they sure as hell WOULD
care, IF their appraiser was on the ball enough to catch it, which he
should, but often will not.

-v.

All the banks pretty much care about is if the building really
exists...and if you have insurance on it for the amount of your loan.
They don't care what the inside looks like. Many homes, of course,
are sold for cash.

This is a bit inaccurate. The banks want to be sure that the house can
be sold for at least the amount of the mortgate in case you default.
This is part of why they insist on an appraisal, which includes an
assessment of the inside and outside of the house.


And very few rooms inside the house have any designated purpose.
Special-purpose fixtures...like a toilet, sink, lack of window,
etc...can sometimes designate the purpose. But other rooms can simply
be designated as whatever the present owner wants to do with it.

Maybe in your mind, but not necessarily in the minds of the appraiser or
the tax authority. Generally, if a room has a closet it is considered a
bedroom. Many people get around a bedroom limitation on their septic
permit by adding rooms which do not contain a closet.


My house is over 100 years old...and has gone from 2 bedroom to 4
bedroom to 2 bedroom about a half-dozen times...depending on how the
current owner uses the various rooms. I now have a 2 bedroom...with a
computer room and a large storage room.

You are talking about how you are using the rooms, not how it would be
classified on an appraisal or tax evaluation.


My house will be advertised as a 4 bedroom when and if I sell it. It
was listed as a 4 bedroom when I bought it...and it had 2 beds in the
house when I took the tour.

Counting beds to evaluate the actual number of bedrooms is meaningless.
I have a 4 bedroom beach house, which contains 5 beds. Should I have it
reclassified as a 5 bedrrom because of the bed count? Of course not.

Chuck