Renovating Your Bathroom to Increase Your Real Estate Value
The bathroom is an important part of a home and when your house is ready to hit the real estate market you don’t want to take a hit on your selling price because you missed the boat and have the 1960’s bathroom that “works” for your lifestyle.
Real Estate professionals say that a home without a bathtub will usually sell for $10 000 less than a home of equal value with a bathtub. Maybe a shower has always worked for your lifestyle and sacrificing some space in your bathroom hasn’t been worth installing a bathtub. Now it’s time to sell and when your home is hitting the market you should consider the costs of adding a bathtub so you don’t lose a potential $10 000 on the sale of your home.
Take this quote from a professional real estate agent at face value but don’t ignore it, thinking it won’t happen to your home “I had a listing with 3 baths – one on each floor but no tubs. The sellers had the condo built and since they didn’t care for baths, they only had showers put in. During open houses, people didn’t notice at first but when the light came on they would say ‘there’s no tub’. Showing feedback came back with the same comment; even if no one ever takes a bath, they still want a tub… just in case.” You cannot ignore these comments if your home is loaded with bathrooms but no bathtubs.
There’s many different kinds of bathtubs to have installed in your home for the real estate sale and since you are probably only looking to have a bathtub to ensure your house gets top dollar when it hits the market you will likely be looking for the economy tub and surround. An economy tub at most major Canadian lumber stores goes for approximately $300. If you would like to make things easy and avoid tile walls or waterproof panels, you can find a bathtub surround suited for the tub at approximately $200. Now remember these are basic starting prices as bathtubs can come in many different shapes and styles with associated prices sometimes up to ten times the basic starting price. Remember that when shopping, your goals with installing a tub in place of an existing shower are to increase your property value and the top of the line bathtub probably won’t be noticed by potential buyers.
Now comes the task of removing your shower and fitting your new bathtub into your bathrooms space. Finding a quality contractor to help with bathroom renovation ideas can be a good starting point to ensure things go smoothly and your home hits the market at prime buying time. Trying to save a few dollars and attempting this project by yourself could cost you more in the long run, but it is possible to do with some care. When renovating your bathroom, local building codes need to be considered and followed though with. Often a potential buyer will be assisted with a professional home inspector to look though your home. Contractors will usually be happy to help you get an accurate price on labor to finish your bathroom off to hit the market and make the sale final so that you don’t miss out on a significant price increase on your home for the relatively small task of updating your bathroom.