My house has 4 bedrooms on the same level, but if I could re-do and have the other bedrooms be larger, and put one down in the basement I'd do it in a second. I also only have two children and the 4th bedroom is for guests only. I have a study for my computer. My guest room is VERY Small probably 10 X 11 and it's a closet. I wouldn't want to put a child in there. My DD's bedroom is large 14 X 11 and DS's room is 12 X 11. I personally would like DS's bedroom larger, but not in this house. My room is 20 X 13, and I also have a 15 X 10 sitting room attached, so I have plenty of room. If I could have DD's and DS's rooms larger, and then the 4th in the basement being also larger it would be GREAT! That situation would work out better for me, since it's a guest room anyway, and it's much better for their and my privacy. The rest of my house is big, with my basement being finished and all the kids toys downstairs. So, they only sleep in their rooms, no playing or toys to take up space. That is something to keep in mind when selecting bedroom size. If you're going to have room to have a playroom of sorts, the bedroom sizes won't matter too much, since they'll only be sleeping there. If they also have to play there, those rooms are WAY TOO SMALL. As toddlers, it won't matter as much, but as they get older, they're not going to want to play where Mom is around, and that's where the bedroom size comes into play. Also, is this your "end all" house, or are you planning on trading up to something bigger later on? That's something to consider, I don't think the 4th being in the basement would be a selling distraction, and to some, me included, would be a HUGE selling point. I also sold my previous home myself, and it was a breeze. We retained an attorney prior to listing our home ourselves. He advised us what to do and what not to do. When we found a buyer, he already had a sales agreement drafted, and just had to insert the selling price and seller's name. It was super easy, since all the realtor does IMO is show your house, and get as many potential buyers in as possible. If you live in a "hot" area and can sell it yourself with ease, try it. The first weekend our Hoboken place was in the paper, we showed it over 30 times, and had 4 offers, all in a 36 hour period. It was sold by that Monday, with a back-up offer in place. We closed in 60 days, and no problems whatsoever. The attorney took over at that point, dealing with our buyers attorney, and it went as smoothly as selling through a realtor, without paying that hefty commission. We did have a limit on how long we'd try to sell it ourselves, since we also were building, and needed some of the equity by a certain date for one of the downpayments that were due.
