I would go with the tub/shower combo. The majority of buyers want at least one tub in the house. Whether it is for soaking and relaxing, giving the kids or pets a bath. Washing large objects that don't fit in the kitchen sink or dishwasher, for a myriad of reasons, a tub is needed.

Combo, for the reasons already stated. There's an article on Houzz that asked this question and the comments ran 50/50 for/against. So I assume you'll get a similar result on this thread!

ETA: I just bought a house. Without a bathtub. I hate it. I will reinstall it later.

Do what best fits your needs.

May be seeing this from a different perspective: you plan to stay for the next 20 years, but if plan changes you may have to move. So the odds of moving is 50% at best. Within the 50% odds of putting the house for sale, 50% of the buyers would want to have a tub, so you install a tub now for 25% of the odds that may never realize. In addition, the future buyer may not like your tub and want to gut and redo the bathroom just like you do now.

Two years ago we remodeled 3 bathrooms. We removed two tubs from master bath and guest bath, only kept one in the hall bath. Since then I have only used the tub once to try it out. All the guests love love our showers.

You're not planning to put it on the market in the next couple of years, so don't worry about buyers, suit yourself. I agonized a bit over that before I remodeled my bathroom (and replaced the cramped tub with a FABULOUS shower) until I realized it was silly to do so and I should do what works best for me, not some potential future buyer. I, personally, hate tubs and never use them. Then, a knee injury about a year before I undertook the bathroom project sealed the deal -- I'm not getting any younger and I wanted a shower that was easy to step into and included an attractive but fully functional grab bar.

In addition, this is a nice house in a great location in a hot housing market. Given where you live, I doubt that will change any time soon. If you need to sell that house it will move regardless of what you do to the bathrooms.

For the dimensions of your bathroom, and the extended length of time you plan to stay there, I would go with the shower only unless you want a tub. If you want to give more weight to future resale, don't forget to consider the type of people that will probably be the market for your house. Families with young children may want a tub, but those with no children, or only older children, may prefer to not have one. Locations with no local grooming business may want to bateh their pets in a tub, but busy professionals with access to groomers may prefer to not mess with that task at home.

I personally wouldn't buy a home without a tub. I guess you have to decide if you want to do what suits you best right now or if you do care at all about resale.

If the house only has 1.5 bathrooms, it's probably not a big house that families with children will be the buyers of in the future.

And as long as you're not eliminating the ability of a future buyer to install a tub in the future, build a nice shower that you will enjoy.

DH and I are at odds over tub v. no tub. He wants to have a tub, I don't. We only use it when grandkids are here. We won't be doing the remodel for about 6 years, by then he will be 75. The GK's will all be old enough to shower and I sure as heck don't want to climb over the side of a tub.

We are on a lake and bought this place shortly before we retired. Our buyers would probably be retirees too. This area has a poor economy and lots of seniors, chances of young buyers, not likely.

I think you do need 1 tub in the house, for resale if nothing else. Some people like taking baths, for those with small children, bathtubs are a must. While some seniors prefer showers, others like a tub with a grab bar. We use the shower mainly, but when I sprained my ankle, I couldn't stand up in the shower and put my weight on that ankle for several weeks, so I did take baths in the tub. Its always better to have one, IMO. You might not care about it, but for resale, a tub and a shower is a plus to many people. I wouldn't buy a house without a tub, sometimes its just nice to have a nice hot soak in a bubble bath.

Given the strange size - a good shower would beat a cramped under-sized tub.

Shower with no curb, so you can age in place. If you sell, offer a couple thousand dollar credit, if needed for buyer to get tub installed.

I would go no tub if that's what you want. A new buyer can always update it to a tub years from now if you sell it then. If you do sell in 20yrs., it might be ready for an update then anyway.

In this case I wouldn't worry about some possible future buyer 5, 10 or 20 years in the future. Do what works for you now and for YOUR future.

Thanks to everyone for their comments. We've decided to go tubless. Although I initially had some trepidation about it, I finally decided that we can't predict what buyers will want 20 years from now or what options will exist for bathrooms -- perhaps bathtubs will be outlawed because of their environmental impact,
or maybe custom tub inserts for preexisting showers will be commonplace -- so we should just go with what we want now. Reno starts in a couple of weeks.

In 20 years many would redo the bathroom anyway. Do what suits your needs.

I just removed the only bath from my rental property. It has not deterred any but one couple with a 2 year old. I had my pick of tenants, so no problem there.