Rental Property Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2018 · 13 posts · 3 votes
Hello Bigger Pockets Community,
As both an investor in the multi-family space, and as a renter looking at potential apartments, it was surprising to visit a new "luxury" apartment complex in bustling Oakland and see that all of the units (studios, 1 bdrm, and 2 bdrms) had only showers, no bath tubs. The unit I was interested in was a 3-bath townhouse, yet had only showers.
So while there's a lap pool, gym, concierge, bocce court, and numerous other amenities, there's nary a tub in the place. . . unless you count the tubs in the dog spa. No, really.
This choice strikes me as an instant way to narrow your potential tenant base. I quickly left. And my friends who have small children would similarly veto a place that didn't have a tub. Maybe that was intentionally done by the developer to prevent young families and bath devotees from renting there. But when you're offering generous concessions to stabilize the complex, it seems like a questionable decision.
Perhaps the lesson here is the value of gathering a few different opinions when making your design choices for your rehabs and new construction. It costs nothing and may yield greater interest in your properties.
Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2015 · 435 posts · 421 votes
7y
We have a 3 family that husband remodeled from huge 2 BR/1bath units to tighter 3 br/ 1.5 bath units. He took out the old tubs, put in a stall shower in each, and the 2nd bathroom has a toilet, sink, and W/D hookups.
I wouldn't do it again. We are able to rent them, despite the fact that the bedrooms are now small, and there's no tub, because people do like the 2nd toilet and W/D hookups in the units. But plenty of people are not interested because there's no tub. So I just don't get a 3 bath unit with no tub!
Rental Property Investor · Fredericton, New Brunswick · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
7y
Depending on your market, you can get by with only showers in bachelor, 1-bedroom and {even} 2-bedroom apartments. In student apartments we have found that only having a shower is typically not an issue.
However in 3+ bedroom apartments/town-houses/SFRs, if you do not have a tub in at least one bathroom, you are eliminating families with small children as potential tenants {this may be viewed as a positive or negative pending your market and business plan}.