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3 BR/1 Bath or 2 BR/2 Bath

13 years ago

We have a small starter home (less than 1200 sq ft) that currently has 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. For eventual resale, would it be better to just renovate the one bathroom or turn one of the rooms into a bathroom to have 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms? I think I can keep enough space for an office nook, but there would only technically be two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Thanks.

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Comments (9)

terezosa / terriks
13 years ago
That's a tough one, and the answer will probably be different depending on your area of the country and neighborhood. I would get the recommendation of a local real estate agent.
jakkom
13 years ago
We took a 3bd 1-3/4 ba down to 2 bd 2ba with a master suite. It did reduce the value of the house, OTOH it has been a joy to live with and thus the payback has been more than worth it to us.

I agree you need to discuss this with a good local realtor.
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I agree with all the posters above... but will offer my own experience with this. We bought a house with 2 bedrooms. One was a ridiculously long and skinny "master bedroom" that had been created by adding an addition to the existing 1956 ranch house. (It was 13' x 25'!!!) The other bedroom is the original 12 x 14 size. In our area (older New England homes) that's a decent-sized room. However, we're a family with one child and I work at home, and there is no den or office or anything... so my office area had to be set up within that long master bedroom. I hated that. So, we divided that space up and created another room that functions as my office, but is technically a 3rd bedroom. Now, in addition to the decent-sized 12 x 14 bedroom, we have a master bedroom measuring 12.25 x 14.25 which has an adjoining bathroom and walk-in closets, and a "teeny" 10 x 9 third bedroom/office. Now, if all neighboring homes were new development, that master would seem too small. But in our area, it's actually pretty nice. To us, coming from a 1926 Sears house, it's huge! Here's the thing.... we debated and debated about cutting up that big master. Would it be the right thing for resale (imminent in 4 years)????? Well, we had 2 realtors and a bank appraisor come to give us values on the house, and ALL 3 of them said we made totally the right decision, and the house was worth way more as we'd configured it! Of course, as noted above, that probably has a lot to do with location. We're in a fairly upscale community with mostly older homes (1800's farmhouses, 20's colonials, 40's Capes) that is populated largely by families. Maybe you can call a couple realtors who specialize in your neighborhood, and ask them what they think? Good luck.
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kkhaven, do you have other furniture in the room(s)? I ask because 10' x 11.5' is plenty of room for a full size bed or a queen size bed. Maybe you should post your guest rooms here to see what furniture configuration would work best for each room. Has to be much less expensive than converting a 3 bedroom to a 2 bedroom. BTW, I agree with the consensus here - changing to a two bedroom from a 3 bedroom would drop your homes value tremendously.
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pricklypearcactus
13 years ago
Absolutely check with a real estate agent if possible. You might also try browsing real estate websites to see what is for sale in your area and compare pricing of the two options. Is there any chance you can steal just a little space and put in a 1/2 bath somewhere without losing the extra bedroom? I think the biggest issue for most buyers is being able to have a second toilet/sink combo.
User
13 years ago
Unless that third bedroom is already tiny, I'm always hopeful that its designation as a bedroom with a tiny closet can be kept. Some codes have that there must be so many square feet to become a bedroom, but I've never had to deal with that before.

Even sacrificing some space in your current bath, making it a tiny bit smaller, and taking in half of the closet of your sacrificial bedroom and maybe a couple of square feet of floor area, would that leave you the bedroom?

In our little 2/1 cottage, discovering mold in the plaster behind a vanity, launched me into a real whirl of bath remodeling. It lead to the smallest 3/4 bath in a house (smaller ones in a boat), and the relocation of the fixtures in the existing bath due to wood rot and NO floor under the ugly tub. Also, I had to tear out the existing closet for bedroom #2 so the new master suite could be created using that bath and a new walkin closet. This requires a bumpout to the bath and wall of the bedroom, which is where our project is now halted because the old contractor failed to return, and the new contractor has to finish his current prohject for British Petroleum. :/
But the message is, I lost 3 closets counting the linen closet in the hall, but we will have a lot more space to use with the 18 to 20 foot long bumpout along one wall with only a small extension of the roofline.

Don't give up on having your cake and eating it too. With two bedrooms and two baths here, this house now would be a good rental for two roommates. But with THREE bedrooms and two baths, you would be in the single family home market. Everybody seems to want/need at least two toilets and sinks. It does not have to take up an entire bedroom.
chrisk327
13 years ago
as an owner of a 2br 1 bath house, I've learned that anything less than 3 br hurts resale.

I would try for a 3br 1.5 bath when renovating if you could spare the room.

Buyers appear to have a mental block on 2br houses no matter how nice or bigger than some 3 br houses.
weedyacres
13 years ago
For resale, I think you need to keep the 3 bedrooms.
dedtired
13 years ago
Around here a young family looking for a smaller home would want three bedrooms -- one for themselves, one for baby and a home office that will one day be the bedroom for #2 child. After the kids get a little older, they would move to a larger house with more bedrooms. I'd keep the three bedrooms and make the bathroom as nice as you can.
southerngalinnyc
13 years ago
Hi there,
In both of the smaller homes I purchased... one 1400 s.f. (two bdrm and my first home) and the other 1600 s.f. (3 bdrm) a prior owner had turned a closet into a half bath... In the first they added built in closets on either side of a window....in the second there was plenty of room in the "master"

You may lose the ability to put a chair or something in the room but I would agree with the comments above. I would try very hard not to lose a bedroom.
bpollen
13 years ago
I disagree a bit with the other posters. When I was looking to buy houses in the past, I had a list of "must haves" for the house. Always, always on my list of "must haves" was 2 baths. I didn't even look at houses with less than 2 toilets (a half bath for one of them would have sufficed). The reason for this is when a toilet is broken, what DO you do, when there is no second toilet? And toilets DO break. Also, I didn't want guests using my personal bath, in case I had underwear hanging up drying or whatever.

If the 3rd bedroom is too small to be considered a BR, it may be called a study. Like a couple of the other posters, I think a win-win situation for you would be to end up with a 3BR/1.5 bath, or 2BR/Study/1.5 bath.

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