Q&A this week looks at attic conversions and underbidder problems.

Will attic conversion make house more or less valuable?

I contacted a specialist attic company about converting my attic into a home office. Space is very tight on my landing and they have suggested that the staircase up to the office should be put into my small third spare bedroom. I have no immediate intention of selling the house but could you advise me how much doing this might affect the price of my house. The attic conversion will cost €17,000.

Generally speaking, a good professional attic conversion adds value to a house for the very obvious reason that it adds extra space. However in your case you're both adding space (the new room) and losing space (the bedroom).

It's difficult to see how they don't cancel each other out. Buyers tend to be conservative so, if someone came to view your house, chances are they could consider the arrangement of having a staircase in the bedroom as being peculiar. If there were two similar houses for sale, they would most likely go with the more conventional layout. If the conversion was going to give you significant accommodation in the attic, such as a large double bedroom plus an en suite, then it might make sense to completely do away with the small bedroom and to enlarge the landing to make space for the staircase.

Your current plans are only yielding a room for a home office. You could try another attic conversion company to see if they can come up with another solution to the staircase problem or you could rethink the whole thing.

For the same kind of money, you should be able to buy a freestanding, prefabricated wooden building for the garden such as those made by Shomera or other similar companies.

Or you could kit out the small bedroom with a wall bed - a bed that's built into the wall and only pulled down when needed, and have built-in shelves and cupboard built to hold all your home office paraphernalia. That should cost less than your current budget. An attic conversion isn't your only option.

Underbidders offered more - but still didn't get house

We were the underbidders for a house last year. It was a private treaty sale and, while we can't be sure, we think we lost it by around €10,000. The sale fell through and the agent came back to us. We offered our original bid which was not accepted, we then upped it by €10,000. Still no go, and then another buyer came out of nowhere offering a further €10,000 which was beyond our limit.

In all, I estimate we spent around €1,000 on the whole process, between solicitor's fees, surveyor's fees, time off work etcetera. Surely as the original underbidders, our bid should have been accepted? Is there any way of avoiding this expensive merry-go-round?

Unfortunately the answer to both parts of your question is no. Estate agents have an obligation to get the best price possible and that is what the agent in your case did. As underbidder in a private treaty sale, you had no specific rights. As for spending all that money, there really is no way around this in our present private treaty system - all you can do is make sure you shop around for the best prices with a solicitor and whoever is your surveyor.

Send your queries to Property Questions, The Irish Times, 10-16 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail propertyquestions@irish-times.ie.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to respond to all questions. The above is a representative sample of queries received. This column is a readers' service and is not intended to replace professional advice. No individual correspondence will be entered into.