Anonymous wrote:It's a rental - keep your costs low. Unless the 2nd floor bath is falling apart or has issues, I wouldn't upgrade. And defintly don't steal space from closets in a TH! White tile is perfectly fine for a rental. Don't upgrade anything in a rental until the renters trash it and you need to fix. I would only consider upgrading before then if you're in a fancy area and can't find renters b/c of the nicer comps. But that's rarely the case.

As someone who lives in a small, 3-level rowhouse with two bathrooms (one up, one in basement), I nonetheless agree with this. If your motivation is making money off a rental, it will take forever to make this investment back. If you were going to live in it, I would vote for adding another bath on the second floor. As my kids are getting older, having only one bath upstairs is getting to be painful. Sometimes all four of us are in there together and it's only about 8x6.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 1/2 are plenty for a 3 bd. Upgrade.

This statement is stupid.

A bathroom in the basement is hardly usable for any of the three upstairs bedrooms.

Really? You can't walk downstairs to shower? Is it ideal? No. Does it work? Yes.

It's a rental - keep your costs low. Unless the 2nd floor bath is falling apart or has issues, I wouldn't upgrade. And defintly don't steal space from closets in a TH! White tile is perfectly fine for a rental. Don't upgrade anything in a rental until the renters trash it and you need to fix. I would only consider upgrading before then if you're in a fancy area and can't find renters b/c of the nicer comps. But that's rarely the case.

Anonymous wrote:2 1/2 are plenty for a 3 bd. Upgrade.

This statement is stupid.

A bathroom in the basement is hardly usable for any of the three upstairs bedrooms.

Anonymous wrote:2 1/2 are plenty for a 3 bd. Upgrade.

Agree.

2 1/2 are plenty for a 3 bd. Upgrade.

Adding a bath is more valuable. However, how did you buy a rental without planning this in advance? You have to treat a rental like a business to make real money.

Upgrade. Closet space is a big deal, esp in a townhouse. Room sizes should be as large as possible, so carving them out to make space for a bath isn't good. I live in a th in ffx and looked at tons in Arl co and all over ffx. The floor plans in th communities kind of prevent too many additions since you want to stay within the comparable range for rent and resale, and hoa approval is a complete pain.

Bump

Just bought a townhouse in Fairfax, there were a half bath on main level, a full bath on basement, and only one full bath on the 2nd floor with 3 bedrooms. The 2nd floor bath was in OK condition, white tiles, nothing fancy. Now my husband wanted to add a 2nd bath for two small bedrooms. He said it can increase the rent and add value to the house. But my concerns are it will make the two small bedrooms even smaller, the master closet will be smaller, and of course the cost. We plan to rent the house now and sell it few years later. Which is smarter, spending the money upgrading the existing bath and the kitchen, or adding a new bath? Thanks.