Tell me about your split level home...

[FireDancer]

A house that when you walk in the front door you face a set of stairs that you choose to go down to a family room or up to the main living area.

I'm not sure if it is regional but around here a split level has a main floor which often has multiple rooms on the entry level. My house is a split level but the entry level has the kitchen, dining room, and living room. If you are faced with only a small landing it is refereed to as a bi-level home.

When I was looking my mom was my Realtor and she cautioned me that when it comes time to sell a bi-level home is a harder to sell because there are quite a few people who eliminate them as a floor plan when they start narrowing down homes to view.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I'm not sure if it is regional but around here a split level has a main floor which often has multiple rooms on the entry level. My house is a split level but the entry level has the kitchen, dining room, and living room. If you are faced with only a small landing it is refereed to as a bi-level home.

When I was looking my mom was my Realtor and she cautioned me that when it comes time to sell a bi-level home is a harder to sell because there are quite a few people who eliminate them as a floor plan when they start narrowing down homes to view.

I think that's true here too, however, the same square footage and room size in a non split level, especially with such a big yard, would have been way out of our price range, so it probably will hold true for others, should we ever decide to sell.

 

[bballmom56]

I'm not sure if it is regional but around here a split level has a main floor which often has multiple rooms on the entry level. My house is a split level but the entry level has the kitchen, dining room, and living room. If you are faced with only a small landing it is refereed to as a bi-level home.

When I was looking my mom was my Realtor and she cautioned me that when it comes time to sell a bi-level home is a harder to sell because there are quite a few people who eliminate them as a floor plan when they start narrowing down homes to view.

This was my understanding as well. I grew up in what was called a split level and was just as FireDancer described - entering the front door you came to the LR, DR and kitchen on that level. One small flight of stairs up (about 6 steps) were the 3 bedrooms, full bathroom and master bathroom. One small flight of stairs down from the entry level was a good sized recreation room (that's what we called it. I guess it could be called family room), laundry room, half bath and a workshop space. There was also a door into the garage from the rec. room and a door to the back yard from the laundry area. I loved the layout of that house since the bedrooms were up and away from the rest of the living area. I would buy that kind of house in a heartbeat but they are quite pricey in our area.

What the OP is describing is what I was told is a bi-level. I have been in many and have several friends who owned them. I don't care for them at all for many of the reasons that have been stated - lack of storage, location of bedrooms, stairs either way as soon as you enter.

I guess the terms may have evolved and changed over time and may be a regional thing. Thanks Pea-n-Me for those links. Made me nostalgic for the "split level" I grew up in!

 

[DVCJones]

In my area, a house like you describe would be called a "split foyer" - meaning, when you open the front door, there is a set of stairs going up to the main living area (living room, kitchen, dining room, bedrooms, etc.) & a set of stairs going down to the secondary area (den, extra bedrooms, laundry room, garage, etc).

It's not my favorite style of house because I don't like being immediately confronted w/ 2 sets of stairs in the foyer - especially in an older split foyer home. I also don't like the garage being on a separate level from the kitchen. However, if it were a newer build, I would consider it if the home had everything else we needed.

We are currently in a tri-level which I love. If we had one more bedroom, it would be perfect!

When you enter our house, you come into a traditional foyer with the living room to your right. The kitchen is straight ahead of the foyer, & the dining room is in between the kitchen & living room - the 3 rooms + the foyer kind of make a circle. To the left of the foyer is set of stairs that go up to our bedrooms. 2 steps down from the kitchen is our family room w/ only a lower section of kitchen cabinets separating the kitchen & family room, so our kitchen is open to our family room which is nice. Whoever is in the kitchen can still be a part of what's going on in th family room - when I'm cooking, I can still hear & see what the kids are doing, which was especially nice when the kids were younger. Our laundry room is off the family room, and our garage is also off the family room. We have a daylight basement play room which is about 10 stairs down from the family room.

My parents have a ranch over a finished daylight basement. A foyer, living room, kitchen, & 3 bedrooms are on the main level. The lower level (basement level) has the family room, office, laundry room, & garage. What I don't like about it (& what my mom has hated from the day they moved in) is the family room (the main place where the family gathers) is on a separate level from the kitchen. Also, since the garage is on a separate level from the kitchen, lugging groceries up the stairs is a pain.

So, in looking at a "split foyer" design or a raised ranch design, my top concerns would be the garage being on separate level from the kitchen & the kitchen being separate from the den/family room.

Your house sounds lovely!!!

 

[DVCJones]

I have one right now and its actually great for my needs. You walk in and can go up or down about 6 steps. The bottom level is very comfortable, never any water issues. Its very bright down there as it has normal sized windows and two walk out areas leading to patios. The ceilings are a good height, rooms are a good size. Its also fully renovated which makes a difference. Our neighbors bottom level is terrible (paneling, drop down ceiling, concrete floors and useless imo but its their choice since they made it into a giant storage room, a dog area and laundry.

The homes sell for the same $$ square foot wise as the normal one and two level homes locally. Most market time is maybe 60 days, usually its about a month and its under contract.

Its very easy to expand them. Many neighbors add garages, bonus rooms, bump outs in the back, etc.

What else.... I don't know. I guess to get to the kitchen you have to go up 6 steps. Some people hate steps or feel confused on having to pick up or down once they walk in.

We call it a split entry around here.

Your house sounds a lot like the house we are buying. I have been in many over the years and some are really set up nicely and some were very small and felt cramped. This one is very spacious and great for entertaining. I love the downstairs family room, full bath and laundry room. My kids are young, but not too young so I see them getting a lot of use of it. This house also has a huge four season room that I have claimed as 'my room' The house is completed updated and is in an awesome location.

We will buy it because the layout works for us. My only concerns are the storage (going to get creative on that) but there is plenty if room in the attic and garage and grocery hauling.

As far as them selling for a lower price or being less desirable when we sell... I would imagine there would be people like us who want to get in a great neighborhood for less money... But, we plan on staying here forever. :0)

 

[java]

Growing up my cousin lived in two of them. But they were more of the kitchen living room on the floor you walk into, bedrooms bathroom upstairs an family room den downstairs.

I hated it. But what they were able to do eventually was expand over the garage upstairs adding a master bath and a tv room up there. They finished off the basement into an apartment. ( added a frame and door at the top of the h stairs.) I liked it better after they did that. For some reason all the stairs gave me a headache. But also this was an older home, o dark and low ceilings.

 

[sbtrfly74]

We have a split foyer (as we would call it) up or down from a foyer when you walk in the front door. Upstairs is vaulted ceilings with open floor plan of kitchen dining area and living room with large window looking out front. Then to the left of the stairs is Master BR w/ bath and 2 other bedrooms and a full bathroom.

Downstairs the previous owners that had it build were going to make the entire left side of the house a 2 car garage then changed their minds so made it into an unfinished basement that we converted into a large family room. Full bathroom, bedroom and laundry room is also downstairs with storage underneath the staircase.

I hate it. Laundry and groceries is my biggest gripe. Even though it really is only 6 stairs each way up/down its still a pain to bring groceries in from outside if coming through the front door, we have a set of stairs there to the front door or have to go in the side door go through the living room then hike up 12 stairs.

We had it appraised a few years ago and the appraiser explained that they only consider living space to be the same floor as the kitchen making it lower value.

It was great when we moved in and the kids were younger then added a baby and we were younger, but after medical issues and getting older its becoming more exhausting to live here. Hopefully once everything else we have going on becomes settled we will look for a ranch home instead.

 

[FireDancer]

This was my understanding as well. I grew up in what was called a split level and was just as FireDancer described - entering the front door you came to the LR, DR and kitchen on that level. One small flight of stairs up (about 6 steps) were the 3 bedrooms, full bathroom and master bathroom. One small flight of stairs down from the entry level was a good sized recreation room (that's what we called it. I guess it could be called family room), laundry room, half bath and a workshop space. There was also a door into the garage from the rec. room and a door to the back yard from the laundry area. I loved the layout of that house since the bedrooms were up and away from the rest of the living area. I would buy that kind of house in a heartbeat but they are quite pricey in our area.

That is very close to my house. I have the three rooms I described on the entry level along with the door to the garage and the sliding door to the backyard. I go down about 6 steps to my family room, laundry room, a bathroom, and a large walk in closet/storage room. I go up about 6 steps to the bedrooms and bathroom. From the family room I can go down 6 more steps to a basement. Basically the basement is under the entry level and the family room is under the upper level.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

This was my understanding as well. I grew up in what was called a split level and was just as FireDancer described - entering the front door you came to the LR, DR and kitchen on that level. One small flight of stairs up (about 6 steps) were the 3 bedrooms, full bathroom and master bathroom. One small flight of stairs down from the entry level was a good sized recreation room (that's what we called it. I guess it could be called family room), laundry room, half bath and a workshop space. There was also a door into the garage from the rec. room and a door to the back yard from the laundry area. I loved the layout of that house since the bedrooms were up and away from the rest of the living area. I would buy that kind of house in a heartbeat but they are quite pricey in our area.

That is what I have, too. Here we call it a Tri-Level.

According to the history of these types of homes I posted earlier, they (Split, or Tri-Level homes) were very popular homes in post-WWII suburban America. The upstairs rooms we're the "women's" areas; the downstairs rooms were more for the "men" and kids. (lol seems outdated but in some ways, this still holds true today!)

The Bi-Level, or whatever we're calling it here (Raised Ranch, Split-foyer, etc.) design came along later.

 

[hops&dreams]

OP - I haven't read through all the pp, but I wanted to tell you that I grew up in a home like this - you walk in and you have to go up or down. I didn't even notice it growing up - it's just how out house was, but looking back as an adult, here are my thoughts:
PROS:
We lived mostly on the top level -it had 3 bedrooms, 2 baths (master bath had stand up shower only, the other bathroom had a full tub), kitchen, dining room and formal living room. If we watched tv, we did it in our rooms or all piled into my parents room.
Privacy for guests - when people stayed with us, they were able to maintain a large level of privacy, as the guest rooms were downstairs. There was also a full bath down there (stand-up shower stall).
Basement was total recreation area - this area was WONDERFUL when I was a kid. I could have friends over and it was huge and we could run and play and whatever. It was open to upstairs, so parents could keep an eye on what was going on.
Jacuzzi room! - my parents built onto the back of the house - so when you walked in the front door, you could go straight out of the foyer through another door - into what my parents made into a large jacuzzi room. We had an indoor 8 person hot tub on a raised platform, cedar lined walls, a bar, and full sized fridge. It also led out to a large deck in the back yard. It was great for entertaining, which my parents did a LOT. That room was wider than a 2 car garage, and at least 2x as long. We had to walk through it to get from the garage to the house.
The Foyer - When you walked in the house, there was a small landing that we called the foyer. It had small tiles and had the front door and windows on one wall, the stairs going up and down on another wall, and straight ahead (when walking in) was another door and a coat closet. Perfect for us. When we had company over, shoes always stayed in the foyer. When a lot of people came over, it was piles of shoes everywhere! There was also a ledge in the foyer that was perfect for keys - all keys were put there on a daily basis. It was just where they went.

CONS:
If you don't have carpeting, it's gonna be loud. Everywhere. Bathrooms and kitchen had linoleum, but everything else was carpeted. Stairs had runners. My parents switched to ceramic tile and hardwood/laminate wood and everything echos.
When having a party, it seems very split, as only the formal living space was upstairs. For superbowl parties, birthday parties, etc, had to bring all food, drink, etc from upstairs to a table we'd set up downstairs, and then try to keep food in the downstairs area.
When I was a teen, and my boyfriend was over and we were watching tv or a movie, my parents would be in their room if they wanted to watch something on their own. That was in the back of the house on a different floor. Use your imagination.

Aw, now I miss that house. My parents moved out of it a year ago when my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimers. It went through extensive remodeling (hello early 1980's!) and is on the market.