Bathroom Rehab Affects Home's Resale Value

Added December 24, 2006 by Ilyce R. Glink

Print Articles

Summary: This homeowner wants to replace one of his bathtubs with an enclosed shower, but isn't sure if it will decrease the value of his home. Buyers may be able to say if a shower versus bath would decrease the value in a home they wanted to buy. But having a fabulous shower could also increase your home value.

Q: I have a 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home. I'm thinking of replacing a bathtub in one of the full baths with a full-sized, enclosed shower.

If I do this, would my house now be considered as having less than two full baths? And, do you think this would have a negative impact on my home's resale value?

A: In terms of a future listing, I suppose, technically, that your house would now have one full bath, one 3/4 bath, and one half bath, but I think saying it that way would be complicated on a listing sheet. I'd just say 2 1/2 baths and either mention the new shower enclosure in the detail section of the listing sheet or let buyers find out for themselves.

It's hard to say whether replacing a bathtub with a shower would be a negative in the future. Fifty years ago, people were conditioned to having bathtubs in all bathrooms. Today, most adults take showers over baths because they take less time. Some seniors prefer showers to bathtubs because they're easier to get into.

And today's showers look nothing like showers stalls of old. Today's shower can be a steam room, with rain-like shower heads coming down from the ceiling instead of out from a wall, and high-pressure massage valves. From my own experience, young families need at least one bath in a house so that they can bathe babies and young children. Having a fabulous shower might make your home worth more, with at least one of these kind of bells and whistles plus nice ceramic or granite tile should give your home's value a boost rather than detracting it.

But I can see that this might be different in other parts of the country. So, let's throw it open to everyone.

Readers: Do you think replacing a bathtub with a shower would increase or decrease the value of your house in your particular neighborhood? Email me at Ilyce@ThinkGlink.com and I will include your responses in a future column.

See more articles on this topic by clicking on the "RELATED ARTICLES" above and to the right.

We have over 5000 articles on Real Estate Advice, Personal Finance Advice and Consumer Advice on our site. We encourage you to look at these articles. As always, if you have a comment on our articles, don't forget to post your comment below. We thank you for coming to ThinkGlink.com.

© Ilyce R. Glink. All rights reserved. This content may not be used, distributed, syndicated, compiled or excerpted in any medium or form without written authorization from Think Glink, Inc. For information on syndicating ThinkGlink.com please contact us.

Previous article Next article