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MsDancewr · Jun 3, 2006, 07:44 PM

A friend of mine purchased a house in NY it was listed with a realestate broker as a 5 bedroom house. By the time the closing came time the house was renamed as a one bedroom house. The 4 bedrooms on the first floor were no longer considered bedrooms, because there were no closets in the rooms. Are there any rules for realestate brokers and how they list a house and the number of bedrooms.

CaptainForest · Jun 3, 2006, 07:46 PM

Did you friend tour the house before buying it?

If he did, so what? If he saw the "rooms" and considered them acceptable, then so what?

MsDancewr · Jun 3, 2006, 07:52 PM

It has nothing to do with my friends stuipidy, yes he toured the house before buying it. I am concerned with the fact that real estate brokers seem to be exaggerating the number of bedrooms in their listing of houses. He never would have even looked at a one bedroom house.

CaptainForest · Jun 3, 2006, 08:09 PM

OK.

But in the end, he saw it, he was happy.

I am not a lawyer, so maybe he will have a case. But common sense says he shouldn't since he saw exactly what he was getting.

momincali · Jun 3, 2006, 11:19 PM

Not sure about New York, but in the state of California, you cannot legally call a bedroom a bedroom if it has no closet. For example, if the bathroom is listed as having a Jacuzzi tub, but after going into escrow, they find out during the home inspection that its actually a different brand, the buyer can suit for an actual Jacuzzi tub. Because Jacuzzi's are considered top of the line, people have turned around and demanded that the items be delivered as described. Your friend should have asked more questions but might consider consulting a real estate attorney. The value of his home is considerably decreased if it is legally only a one bedroom home with what we call "bonus" rooms instead of legit bedrooms.

Was he not represented by a buyers agent??

Fr_Chuck · Jun 4, 2006, 06:54 AM

OK, he is looking for a legal way to get out of the deal? If so, perhaps he can cancell the deal if that state has a requirement. In TN and GA most older homes don't have closets in their bed rooms, the old farm house type homes did not use them.

Obvoiusly these rooms are bedrooms merely without closets.
He inspected the home and found it suitable for his needs and was happy with the offer he made.

Honestly unless he is trying to use a "legal wording" to attempt to cheat the other party on an agreed to contract I don't see why they should care.

Legally, yea he most likely has a way to void the contract ( unless he already closed) but I would say that he knew exactly what he was buying and I don'g see a issue

MsDancewr · Jun 4, 2006, 02:12 PM

I checked out another house in my area of NY. It claimed to be a 2/3 bedroom house in the listing. When I went through the floor by floor description of the house there was really only one bedroom listed and that was on the second floor. The living room used to be a bedroom, but is now a living room, so now this room is being called a bedroom/living room. I called the listed real estate broker's office, they could not answer my question about the living room having a door or a closet so it could be use as a bedroom. The real estate are listing this house as a 2/3 bedroom house when only one bedroom is listed on the description. Does anyone know the rules for what constitutes a bedroom in NY state?:confused: