Looking for thoughts on best bang for the buck on home resale. We will probably be in this house another 10-15 years, but I don’t see this as being the last stop for us.
Right now we have a medium sized bathroom and a giant master bedroom. The bedroom abuts the bathroom. This is the only full bath in the house (there is a half-bath on the first floor; it’s an old house). The bedroom currently has his & hers closets, the shallow sliding door types (each is about 3 feet deep by 6 feet long).
We can:
Absorb some of the bedroom into the bathroom, have a sick bath with a whirlpool tub, really top-notch, and use some of the space for a large walk-in closet
Absorb some of the bedroom into an en-suite bath. Both bathrooms will be small, but will be two full baths. We’d probably end up with more or less the same closet situation we have now.
What do you think will generally be more valuable on the market?
You probably won’t get a full return on such improvements. But, the 2 full baths will be an excellent selling feature assuming the house is a 3+ bedroom house.
But if you plan to be in the house for 10-15 years, worry less about the resell and pick what you want to live with.
Other factors, is it just your spouse and yourself or do others (like kids or adult kids) share the home? If so the en-suite bath seems like a better thing than whirl-pool and again, will probably help more to sell the house in the future.
If you are going to be there 10-15 years, the real question should be, which one would work better for you for the next 10-15 years.
But to the question you asked. Generally speaking, 2.5 baths will be a better selling feature than 1.5 baths even if one bath is a true “master bath”. Unless you’re in a market where a “master bath” is de rigueur. And even then probably 2.5 baths is better. Assuming you have 3 bedrooms at least all on the upper level. If you have some unusual configuration with bedrooms in the lower level, then expanding the lower level bath (plus a master bath upstairs) might make more sense than 2.5 baths with no master.
My credentials: I’m married to a realtor, have bought and sold four houses myself, and have helped my parents buy and sell a dozen units at least in the last 20 years.
Given the time frame, cost variables, and design options, I think it would make sense to talk to a few realtors and ask them what they think based on the projected housing market and your neighborhood. They would be in a much better position to judge what would make the most sense in this situation when and if you decide to sell.
Appreciate the thoughts, but nobody’s mentioned that the one bath option allows for a really nice closet in the bedroom. Does that mean nobody thinks that has a significant impact of its own?
I completely understand that we should build what works for us- we don’t need the second bath. But like always, there’s nuance. I don’t love this place. My wife does. I’d be happier to sell sooner, but I also know that in the end we’ll be here as long as she wants to be here.
The house is very odd. It’s huge, and has somewhere between three and six bedrooms, depending on how you want to count rooms (for instance, the attic is fully finished with a closet, and is a nice space in its own right, but let’s just say the stairs to it were built before building codes were a thing)
The basement has a wet bar, kitchenette, and a full bath. I didn’t mention that before because that bath is two floors away from the bedroom, so I’m not sure how meaningful it is.
Three. Plus one(?) in the attic and two in the basement. I’m defining a bedroom as a space designed as such and having a closet. There is also a 100 square foot room on the same floor as the master which does not have a closet and which I use as an office.
Previous real estate listings have claimed between 4 and 6 total.
So even if a future homeowner chooses not to use the attic and basement as bedrooms, they might still have people in two more bedrooms on that floor. I think a second bathroom there would be desirable.
Yeah, if there are 3 bedrooms on that floor, I think you definitely need more than one full bath on that level. If possible, since you say the master is bedroom is huge, can you finagle a larger closet in the space as part of the renovation? For me, personally, a walk-in closet would be a big enticement.
Could you turn the room you’re using as an office into a full bath for the other two upstairs bedrooms, use one of the bedrooms or a downstairs room as an office, and also build yourselves the larger master bath and closet?
Or is this more renovations than you’re up for, or is it something that wouldn’t work with the layout of the house?
You sound like my wife. I really don’t want to give up my office. If I did, then yes, we could have it all. Well, except for my office. The office is on the other side of the bathroom from the master bedroom. I think it was originally built to be a nursery.