Tub or shower in rental property?

General Landlording & Rental Properties
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Tub or shower in rental property?

Jeff Bisgier
Brewster, NY · Member since 2016 · 33 posts · 16 votes

Hi Folks!

My wife and I are in the process of rehabbing our first investment property. The house is a 2bd / 1bth single family. We are having a slight disagreement about the bathroom. Right now, it has a corner shower stall only. My wife says that we need to redo the bathroom and but in a bath tub because any perspective tenants with young kids will not rent our property without a tub. I'm looking at the cost to do this and I think it will be pretty expensive. The bathroom is above a finished basement, so a contractor would have to tear open the basement ceiling to move around plumbing. We'd have to move the toilet and the sink and the baseboard heater as well.

I'm hoping to get a few opinions from you folks as to what you think would be our best move. As a side note, the house is 100 years old. Would the weight of the tub be an issue as far as the floor joists go?

Thanks!!

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Andrea Hauserman
Real Estate Agent · Chagrin Falls, OH · Member since 2017 · 33 posts · 25 votes
9y

Is it in a neighborhood Where you can attract a non-family? 

Are you planning to own more properties so you aren't dependent on this one? 2 BR to me is single prof w home office, married with guest room, single parent with 1 child, young couple with baby. Speaking as someone who represented some of those demographics as a renter, half of those need a tub, the others might not care. You could always put it up for rent and ask people as they come through whether a tub is a must as your own personal survey. Although you'd hate to take it out of circulation in the future to do the rehab, maybe wait and earn some cash flow to pay for it if needed. Similar situation for me in my first BRRR - a truly humbling situation - taught me a lot about what I look for going forward. Also, everything will sell at a price. Make your price attractive for what you have to offer and it's going to rent. Then do a cost- benefit analysis on the tub payback period and what you think you could raise the rent by.

My guess is you can increase the potential tenant pool with a tub in a 2 BR house, but it's not clear that a tub will allow you to raise the rent. In a 3 BR it would be a no-brainer but not here. Perfection is the enemy of Good Enough!! 

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  • Andrew Cameron
    Developer · Amherst, NS · Member since 2017 · 49 posts · 23 votes
    9y
    Our target demographic is seniors, so we put stand up showers in our units. Then we always talk about how this best for people with mobility issues, and how they won't have to worry about getting in and out of the tub anymore. This works really well for us. This could be a good marketing feature if you'd like to target seniors.
    1Reply
  • Jonathan Johnson
    Rental Property Investor · Charleston, WV · Member since 2013 · 262 posts · 109 votes
    9y

    I vote for Tub & Shower. Technically when houses are listed a bathroom is rated by what's in it: every major piece gets a quarter point: Tub, Shower, Toilet, Sink. So a half bath would just be a toilet and sink. 

    If you do a shower, most sites like zillow will round up that you have a full bath, but really it'll be a 3/4 bath and by the numbers is worth less to buyers. 

    Kitchens and bathrooms make or break a house.

    1Reply
  • Brian Liscio
    Little Falls, NJ · Member since 2014 · 87 posts · 49 votes
    9y
    2/1 is an ideal starter for a young family starting out. Unless it's a studio; I think you need a tub!
    2Reply
  • Patrick M.
    Rental Property Investor · Red Bank, NJ · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    9y

    I've done both. What it comes down to for me is space. If I have walls open and can get a 1 piece tub/shower in and it is a spacious enough bathroom I will do it. Where the space doesn't allow for it I put in a 1 piece shower stall. I always go with one piece, up the walls. The cost difference is negligiable. 

    If you are targeting family and pet owners definitely go with a tub. Also I would think that your home would be more marketable in the event of a sale, especially if sold to a first time family buyer.

    1Reply
  • Account Closed
    Investor · Allentown, PA · Member since 2015 · 101 posts · 69 votes
    9y

    If you are up in the air about it, keep the shower.  It doesn't cost a penny to try that strategy. And, it doesn't cost any extra money to install the tub later, if you choose to.  Heads, you win...tails, you break even

    1Reply
  • Heather Horton
    Realtor · Germantown, TN · Member since 2016 · 15 posts · 8 votes
    9y

    I have a 3/1.5 rental with only a shower in the full bath.  When we listed it for rent, I had 1 or 2 folks that cancelled their viewing appointments when they found out it didn't have a tub.  But, we ultimately rented it pretty quickly to a young couple that didn't care about a tub.

    I think you just have to look at the neighborhood to determine whether you will most likely be selling/renting to singles/couples/families/etc.  If it's a family neighborhood, definitely put in a tub!

    On a side note, I personally would never buy (or rent) a house without a tub, but I'm a bubble bath kind-of person :)

    1Reply
  • Mindy JensenPro Member
    BiggerPockets Money Podcast Host · Longmont, CO · Member since 2014 · 7k+ posts · 10k+ votes
    9y

    I had never seen a home without a tub until about a year ago. I was showing a house, and the only bathroom had a giant shower but no tub. There was definitely enough room for a tub, and the bathroom was remodeled recently so they purposely removed it.

    It was so odd, that I still remember that house. I vote with your wife, although the person who suggested "not having a bathtub meant kids may not rent it and no kids destroying his property isn't a bad thing" has an interesting perspective, too.

    [email protected]Podcast Guest on Show #261
    BiggerPockets
    1Reply
  • Jeff Bisgier
    OP
    Brewster, NY · Member since 2016 · 33 posts · 16 votes
    9y

    Thanks again to everyone who responded! Lot's of useful information!

    I re-read every post and marked down how many of you said the property should get a tub vs how many said leave the shower. Of course, it worked out this way........ 9 for the tub and 9 for leaving the shower lol! There were 6 people who said it depends on the cost, the target market or the area demographics. As I said in an earlier post, I think the best thing is to get an estimate and then make a decision. The plumbing will be the worst part I think. I may try to do the rest of the work myself, but moving plumbing I'll leave to a professional.

    Thanks!!

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  • MIchael Rickerd
    Flagstaff, AZ · Member since 2016 · 44 posts · 60 votes
    9y

    I would personally leave the shower as is, and offer the property up for rent. I would pay close attention to how prospective tenants react to no tub. To me, not having a tub is not an issue.

    If you find that families (due to the church and the school) are passing on your property because of the tub thing, I would reanalyze. If you have enough cash reserves to offer the property for rent, and then install a tub (which in my experience involving building bathrooms that require the rearrangement of things in the floor, is going to cost you) I may chose that route.

    But then again, I may just drop rent to a more attractive price, as long as the numbers still work out, and get it rented that way.

    Go with your gut, but be ready to reanalyze and shift gears at a moments notice if not having the tub is an issue. 

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