House Value

becca88

Hi there

Just a quick question...

I am looking at buying my first house and a lot of the ones I have been seeing online have a downstairs bathroom. Ideally I personally would prefer this upstairs, but am wondering what would happen to the value of the house if I was to sacrifice a bedroom for an upstairs bathroom. The original bathroom would I guess become a downstairs toilet and a utility area.

Typically I'm looking at Victorian terraces with either 2 or 3 beds. I'm not sure I would move the bathroom in a 2 bed to be honest, but would consider it with a three.

Thanks

foxy-stoat

The house value will certainly change, by how much would only be realised when you came to sell.

Take a look at the different asking prices of 2 vs 3 bedroom properties and you should get the idea.

AnotherJoe

If downstairs bathrooms are "expected" because that's the sort of property in your area, by losing a bedroom and gaining a utility you'd make a substantial detrimental affect to the house price. Possibly slightly offset by having two WC's.



But in general you'd be paying money to reduce the price of your house. Double Whammy


Of course if you are going to live in this house for ten or twenty years then the loss is immaterial until then and you'll have had the benefit of living in a house that works for you.

becca88

Ah ok, thank you.

To me an upstairs bathroom would be preferable and I wondered if it would be to others too, and therefore perhaps balancing out being a bedroom down. But I appreciate what you are saying. Paying money to devalue my house is not the best plan!!!

hazyjo

If it leaves you with two doubles, you may find it evens out. If an upstairs bathroom means it goes at the back of the house in the smallest room, I doubt you'd be losing value.


Depends on location and what the norm is!


I wouldn't buy a 2 bed with a downstairs bathroom.

davidmcn

Bear in mind that installing a bathroom upstairs may be fiddly if all the existing plumbing is at the back of a ground floor extension.

Mojisola

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Of course if you are going to live in this house for ten or twenty years then the loss is immaterial until then and you'll have had the benefit of living in a house that works for you.

hazyjo wrote: »

I wouldn't buy a 2 bed with a downstairs bathroom.

I'd second both of these.

Your house will reduce in price once you reduce from 3 to 2 beds but, if you stay long enough, that might not matter.

There are quite a few people who won't buy with only a downstairs bathroom so you will be opening up your potential market by making the change.

teddysmum

There are lots of terraced houses with built on downstairs bathrooms ,in this area and they sell well enough, as that is what people expect.


I was brought up in such, though before that we had an outside toilet,but my father, a bricklayer, built on the extra.


The outside toilet with a bath in the kitchen was very inconvenient, but the proper downstairs bathroom was no problem. Our present house has an upstairs bathroom, but whoever lets the dog out has to do so before using the toilet, so a downstairs one could be an advantage.

Roo89

Rather than having a full bathroom upstairs, you could have a WC, that way you don't have to go all the way downstairs if you need the loo in the middle of the night, and you won't lose a bedroom really, just make one slightly smaller?

My best friend's childhood home was like that and when her parents sold it to downsize, they got a better price than other houses on their street that had either lost a bedroom or had no WC upstairs

Cakeguts

I actually think that having a downstairs bathroom isn't a big deal. You probably use the loo more often in the day than you do in the night so having it downstairs might actually be more convenient.

Rambosmum

It depends on your area, if downstairs bathrooms are the norm where you are looking then someone who needs (or wants) three beds wouldn't care where the bathroom was, unless the house has 3 beds. So you would remove them immediately from your buyer pot if you sacrifice a bedroom for a bathroom. Someone wanting two beds would have to choose between a 2 bed with upstairs bathroom or 2 bed with down but actually would likely be priced out of your 2 bed with up.


The house would likely sit between a 3 bed downstairs bathroom and a 2 bed downstairs bathroom and be unappealing to both buyers as it would not fulfil the criteria for the former and be too expensive for the latter.