On this morning’s broker tour, not only did I present my newest listing, a nice home in a beautiful setting in Trapper Point, but I also learned a new home-related term that applied to one of the other listings on tour: FROG. It’s actually an old term that’s commonly used in the South, but it’s one that isn’t popular in our neck of the woods.
Depending on whom you ask, FROG is an acronym for either Finished Room Over Garage or Family Room Over Garage (see photo above, for this morning’s example). If you’re from South Carolina, you might also have an UnFROG (Unfinished Room Over Garage).
From the little research I could gather, back in the day when FROGS were first introduced, builders coined the term after they began transforming the unused space above a garage into additional interior space. Typically, the room didn’t have a closet and, therefore, couldn’t be classified as a bedroom, and the only access to the room was through the garage or laundry room. The result was dubbed a FROG. (By the way, purists say that if the room is accessible from the second floor of the main house, it’s technically considered a bonus room.) Here in Central Oregon, most people would call a FROG a bonus room.
Does your home have a FROG?
About the Author
Lisa Broadwater, GRI, CDPE, is a Central Oregon-based real estate professional who specializes in listing and selling homes, especially in Sisters, Tumalo, Bend and Redmond.