No More 'Master' Bedrooms and Baths

One change in real estate terminology is taking hold more widely.

The terms "master bedroom," "master suite" and "master bathroom" are all OUT.

That's become clear over the past three years or so, but what would replace "master?"

There were all kinds of options tried:

• "owner's suite"
• "main bedroom"
• "principal bathroom"

Consensus, however, has formed around referring to these rooms as "primary," meaning "primary bedroom," "primary suite" and "primary bathroom."

CRMLS Makes a 'Primary' Change

This week, the largest MLS system in California, California Regional MLS (CRMLS), took a vote in a committee to make the change official.

Listing input fields that currently (still!) use the term "master" would all change to "primary." (The vote awaits Board of Directors approval.) The vote likely means that this year, you'll see the change in the display of properties in our area on almost all websites.

Listing descriptions, written by real estate agents, are still free to use any terminology. But that's actually where you've seen more change in recent years, as agents have been sensitive to the feeling that "master" has racist and sexist overtones, while the MLS data fields were frozen using the "old" wording.

Your blog author here is on the advisory committee that took the vote Tuesday, and advocated for passage, noting that continued use of "master bedroom" within the MLS system these days had begun to look "archaic."

A 'Fully Loaded Term'

What, exactly, is the problem with "master bedroom," etc?

We liked how writer Alison Hunter phrased the controversy on a HomeLight blog post, where she says the word "master" is a "fully loaded term in every sense of the word."

The word “master” carries a hefty load of baggage. In addition to conjuring a mental association with slavery, it is also term that inexorably describes a male person in power. (Swap out “mistress bedroom ” or “madam bedroom” for “master bedroom,” and we’re probably not talking about real estate anymore.)

Home builders have been experimenting with alternative terms for at least 10 years, often settling on "owner's suite." But that term does have an odd feel for homes where the resident is not the owner. What if you are listing a house for rent? Do you need to specify that the tenants are allowed to use the "owner's suite?"

Three years ago, a data-standards group for MLS systems, the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO), advocated the change to "primary."

But around the same time, the National Association of Realtors was still defending the "master."

Then-president Vince Malta said in a press statement, "NAR sees no reason that real estate professionals cannot use the term, as there is also no evidence that it has any historical connection to slavery or any other kind of discrimination."

It's true – as some have said – that slaves and masters typically did not even live in the same house. But once you're debating the fine points of living arrangements under a system of human bondage, you're losing.

CRMLS won't be the first to shed "master" for "primary" in its databases. The Houston Association of Realtors took this step way back in June 2020, appearing to be first, and a regional Northern California MLS (MLSlistings) did so in August 2021. Canadian real estate agents made the switch earlier in 2021. There are likely several more MLSes that have made the change without making news.

The vote at CRMLS wasn't without debate. One committee member noted that the same topic was raised a couple of years ago, and the panel chose then to wait for a mandate from the state or national associations. Another argued for giving agents the option of selecting "master" or "primary," but this was deemed to be too much of a technical challenge.

Mostly, voices said the time for change had come, and sticking with the old wording no longer made sense. The "ayes" had it.