How much for the bathroom?

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  1. [photopress:WWCG_logo_JPG.JPG,full,alignright]Frances Flynn Thorsen is raising 100K with the Web Women Giving Circle for CARE — a humanitarian organization that works with women to fight global poverty.
  2. There is no good follow up item because everything else is void of the meaning in comparison. I recommend (1) following the links in the first point, (2) donate some money and/or time and (3) repeating the process until it creates an infinite loop of giving.
  3. NAR has whole pages on the social benefits of homeownership. “Homeownership also provides many benefits to the family, children and the community, such as increased education for children, lower teen-age pregnancy rate and a higher lifetime annual income for children, as discussed in the following articles and studies.” Does anyone really believe homeownership causes these things? I don’t doubt that there is a correlation, but causality?
  4. Joshua Dorkin decides to one-up (make that 22-up) Cheryl, and lists his top 35 real estate blogs!
  5. Fliperati is searching for good investment blogs… (I am too!)
  6. How much is a bathroom worth? depends on how bad you gotta go…
  7. Today’s seemingly random plug for a decent person: Seattle Agent Ann Bergstrom.
  8. I noticed some traffic coming from a MarketWatch article on the value of agents despite the web. Looks like RCG is featured in the sidepanel as an area to keep up with real estate trends. Very cool!
  9. Tom has a different take than MarketWatch his comments on how the web is helping agents compete.. He quotes an article I found most interesting because people like Brad Inman and Greg Sterling comment on the type of real estate companies that will survive a soft housing market.
  10. Dean is asking what I (and you) think of 50-year mortgages? Personally, I despise acting desperate in anything I do, and 50-year mortgages reek of desperation.

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  4. Top 10 List of Real Estate Lists

36 thoughts on “How much for the bathroom?”

  5. Speaking of bathrooms, I am a realtor in Portland Oregon, and I trying to figure out how much value a second bathroom adds to a condo. Another realtor suggested that a 2nd bathroom is worth about $30,000 but I find this to be very arbitrary. Shouldn’t you consider the value of the square footage and then add the cost of installing a bathroom?

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  7. Brian,

    The “another realtor” is correct. Whether it is a house or a condo, 2 baths vs 1 bath is a significant increase over the cost to build it. If you add a 5th bath to a 4 bath home or condo…the value is usually zero, regardless of cost to build it.

    Someone being able to go to the bathroom while someone else is in the shower is always a big value adder 🙂 So adding even a 1/4 bath to a 1 bath condo or home is of great value.

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  8. Checking on that now…

    The median price for a 2 bedroom condo with one bathroom is $205,000

    The median price for a 2 bedroom condo with two bathrooms is $267,250

    Of course that is for King County WA…a 2nd bathroom in Portland may be half that 🙂

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  9. Checked that again against two units of about the same size in the same complex. The tax assessor gives $10,000 for the extra bath. In a weak market the buyers don’t give much at all…maybe $5,000 for that extra bath. In a strong market…looks like $10,000.

    An appraiser would never give $30,000 in this market. You have to use the comps in that area, because that is what the appraiser will do regardless of what any of us think it is “worth”.

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  10. The value of an added bath is the marketablility of the property. Given a choice people will pay a little more for a property with the added bath. Put more clearly, you only get back the cost of putting in the bath, but you have a property with a higher probability of getting sold.

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  12. Jerry,

    Other than being cheap…is there any reason a builder would put carpet in a master bathroom? Why would a builder put something in a bathroom that shouldn’t get wet?

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  14. There was a time when the carpeted bath, and walk in closet were considered warm, and inviting. The thing about Seattle is that it is consistently cold, and a little damp. We have one of the lowest per cent age of tile in the country. It was something like 9% as opposed to 35% for the rest of the country. We use easy to replace vinyls because we do have rot problems. You can also change out the carpet, and the carpet allows for the sub floor to breath.

    Now, Jerry those bath room comparison photos are classics. How many people would look at the remodel as an improvement? I think you are making an excellent point that the reworked bath room is a step in the wrong direction. Just because you put in new, it doesn’t mean it’s an improvement

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  15. David- We built and lived in this home for 12 years as my SeattlePI ReaderBlog (attached to the Google “Knol”) tells. The 4 sets of suceeding owners did some strange things which I’m helping the present enlightened owners undo. I think the “after” Bath was designed by the plumber who installed it. Design should be by trained, licensed designers, plumbing by trained, licensed lumbers.

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