Permit Process for converting 2 bedroom into 3 bedroom

[Josh L.]

What's the permit process like for converting a 2 bedroom into a 3 bedroom? How long does it take and how expensive is the process?

I've got this 2 bedroom town home with 2.5 baths with this loft space that's kind of useless. From a real estate perspective, it seems like it'd be better to convert that into a 3 bedroom 2.5 baths as that would be more valuable than a 2 bedroom and a loft with 2.5 baths.

But, then I notice that no other town homes in the same complex have done such a conversion so I'm wondering if the permit process is impossible or something. Is the city, county, or the HOA that would not allow this conversion?

Otherwise, it would seem like a no-brainer for some of the 2 bedroom models I see here that have a large separate den room downstairs  so that all they'd need to do is build a wall  and a closet for that den to make it a 3 bedroom. 

Those same 2 bedrooms already advertise themselves as a 3 bedroom on Craigslist so why wouldn't they make it official and make it a real 3 bedroom?