A bedroom can easily be used like a loft. I would keep a bedroom

Thanks for your response, appreciate that !!

I think extra room might be also better from resale perspective, correct ?

You could use the loft for a period of time, then decide if there is a need to enclose the space.

Never heard of a house being "booked" before, then again it is probably not on my radar. I find homes are better designed rather than picked or "booked".

I doubt there is any difference in resale value between a 5 and 4 bedroom home. There is a difference between 4 and 3 and 3 and 2. Most people don't need a fifth bedroom. If they did, couldn't they convert the loft space back to a bedroom? I'm not sure why a loft space would cost more to build than a bedroom. It seems like it should be less, but I don't know what your space looks like. So I'm saying if you think the loft would be more useful to you, go for it.

I actually mostly said no to loft as I think they are overrated. They open to something so went really private. As a result don’t make great tv spaces or offices as anyone elsewhere can hear or vice versa. On the same note sleeping in a loft is awful if open to a lower living area. As a family with three kids five bedrooms is super useful to us. The fifth bedroom is our guest room

Unless your loft has a balustraded handrail, the cost should be the other way around - a bedroom would cost more. There is too little info to offer a real judgment beyond personal preferences, but you can go through the evaluation process yourself. Off the top of my head:

- Is your neighborhood and comps all 5brs? Then you are short losing the 5th.

- Do you have 4 kids or 3+Guests? Losing one limits flexibility.

- Does the upstairs only have 1BA to share for 4 bedrooms? Losing the 5th may help.

- Does the 5th share a J&J bathroom? Losing the 5th making the 4th an ensuite may be beneficial.

- Do you have a basement for a future 5th bedroom/ensuite for guests? Minimizes losing 5th.

- Is your plan layout closed off with tight hallways, where it looks like it's trying to cram 10lbs of potatoes in a 5lb sack upstairs? A loft may help open it up.

- etc