2 Full Baths or Larger Master Bedroom? (vinyl, floor plan, painting, tile)
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I have a beach house is being rebuilt from the studs out. It has one large bath upstairs, a small half bath (toilet and sink), downstairs, and a decent size Master bedroom. It will be rented out when done (property taxes are outrageous in NH). I'm thinking of adding another bath upstairs by taking space from the Master Bath and large bathroom already there. I'm thinking when people come back from the beach, they'll want two bathrooms to shower in, so they don't have to wait in line. But is it worth making the Master bedroom smaller? My rental agent thinks a large bedroom is more important. I'd really appreciate input: what would you rather, if you were renting a beach house (not oceanfront; a short walk).
Well I suppose it would depend on some info that's not provided here.
For what length of time are you renting this place for? A week at a time, or for the whole summer? If I'm just renting for a week or two, I probably won't care much about how big the master bedroom is. But if I'm renting for the entire summer I'm probably bringing more things with me and dealing with a small bedroom would be a hassle and discomfort.
And, probably most importantly, how many other bedrooms are there? Is this just a 2BR cottage with perhaps my kiddies staying in the second room or an occasional adult guest? If so, I probably wouldn't care that much about a second bath. The kiddies aren't going to take a shower right away after a trip to the beach, not unless I'm there to put them in the shower, which means we aren't showering simultaneously. If I'm inviting an occasional guest to join me during the summer but they aren't a full-time guest, the occasional hassle of waiting for a shower is probably worth the savings in monthly rent that would come with a second bath. I would definitely be doing some comparison shopping to consider how much extra I am paying for that second shower and if it is worth it. If the bathroom looked like it was just thrown in at the last minute, too, I would take a close look at the water heater to make sure it wasn't just a last minute addition without a properly sized water heater to back it up.
Now if there are more than two bedrooms in the cottage I would probably want a second bath, or at least a second shower.
I would consider a nicely done outdoor shower, if it were available. Nicely done, of course--stone pavers, teak surround, rain showerhead--not just a garden hose and some pipe over a concrete pad.
Could you just add a shower to the 1/2 bath so you dont have to take so much space from the larger master bath? We dont have a beach front house for sure, but only have one bath tub and the other 2 bathrooms have showers. When it comes to shower size I would recommend something a little bigger then the standard 3x3, thats what we have and I hate it, and plan to make one of them a 4x5. When I lived next to the beach I hated waiting to take a shower, so I would strongly recommend having more then one shower. Just make sure the water heater is big enough. Nothing like running out of hot water!
Actually, if you go with a second shower and you have room in the budget, I'd go with POU water heaters. Less chance of scalding if each shower is on it's own heater, and you should see some major savings on utilities.
What about just adding an outdoor shower? That's something that always makes me think beach house. I grew up with one....
Nothing better than an outdoor shower as far as I'm concerned!
It would be cheaper than messing with interior walls and interior plumbing right?
I think your rental agent is an idiot. But!, as Kodaka said, it might make a difference if I was renting for the summer versus a long weekend or week.
If your putting the house on a rental program with a long term investment in mind- add the bathroom. I think it would be a good investment.
The flip-side would be this- what has been it's rental history? What is the general rental history of other houses in the area?- Weekend, weekly, monthly, whole summer?
If histories show more extended stays versus the shorter one- then maybe, just maybe your agent has a leg to stand on.
Let's face it- when we go to the beach, we go for the beach not a large bedroom that we'll only see through closed eyelids. Or, maybe that's just me!?
If possible can you add a full modern bath on the 1st floor? Try to keep the home view as a square because for some reason it was easier for us to rent our current rental home when the floor plan became easy to walk through.
Remodeling from the studs out would be a great time to add lots of xtra circuits and TV mounts. To me it makes sense to add an additional bath upstairs. However, if your realtor says add something different, i would get a second opinion.
I use to rent and we rented a small home before we purchased but the rental was on the deep water channel in NJ. Since your home is a beach home I would like to see you divide the larger bath upstairs and take some room away from another location giving you two baths. Don't go small because you may be narrowing the family renters and opening the ideas for younger and possibly more destructive renters and it is very disturbing to enter a bathroom when they are smaller than the normal 5x8. If you do a shower instead of a tub then try to install ceramic tile around the shower or tub because the tub or shower surrounds are usually plastic and can be easily damaged. They are also not easily repaired.
I had a rental in Ft Lauderdale Fl and they cost me $16,000 after 2 months...I did collect but it was a huge hassel...
Our instant hot water heater has a small footprint and produces lots of hot water but expensive. We love ours.
Thank you all for the excellent advice. I’ll go through each post here:
Kodaka, we’re renting for a week or two at a time. Rental agent says the season is down to about 8 weeks here in the summer (he says it was traditionally 10 weeks, then 9, now 8: due to schools being let out later and later into the summer). Really hurts: it will take all 8 weeks to recoup taxes (forget utilities, that’s a loss). It’s a 3 bedroom house; the house I grew up in, in our family since the turn of the Century. The rental agent says there is great demand for rental houses, since extended families rent them, and hotels would be too expensive. Small cottages here in the NH Seacoast are not in demand, since just a few people would get a hotel.
We’re putting in a new water heater, so we’ll make sure it is appropriately sized. Good point there, since I’m tempted to put in a big tub (to make it more upscale). Is it worth it, given the extra utility cost to heat more hot water? Any advice on that?
The outdoor shower is an excellent idea. We’ll think on that; we vinyl sided the house a couple of years ago to get away from painting the shingles every year.
FutureBettyCrocker, the small ½ bath downstairs is tiny, and the surrounding area is a traffic path, so we can’t borrow space without major moving of structural walls. I would love to do that instead, but the house won’t let me. We’ll look at the plan to make sure the areas are appropriately spacious, as you say.
JimRom, my husband says he’s looking at POU (point of use) water heaters. They are particularly good since the house may be rented sporadically during the first few years, and not at all during 10 months of the year (though we shut the utilities off in winter).
Bellalunatic, the outside shower is a great idea, as noted above. And I wish we didn’t have to reconfigure inside, but the NH Seacoast is not as warm as Florida, so we can’t count on an outside bathroom to solve the problem of multiple people needing showers. It’s just too cold on some days when fronts come through.
K'ledgeBldr, we considered renting the house out for the winter at a reduced rate; many people do this here. If we could find someone we could trust, we’d do it. Problem is, in NH, there is no protection for landlords. We can only charge 1st month rent and security deposit, not 1st, last, and security deposit (as was traditional) due to NH law. So if they don’t pay after the initial payment, you’re into forclosure, which can take a year or more. That could cost you the summer, where the rent pays for the taxes, and 10 month’s rent. And that’s if there are no damages. We can’t take a chance on that much of a loss. And with job losses continuing, even the best tenants could default now. I agree that the Master Bed doesn’t need to be huge; no one will be staying there long. And the views from the 2nd floor are nice (salt marshfront), to offset the size.
Synergy1, I noted above the 1st floor ½ bath is tiny. The house is square (a New Englander style), so I didn’t know that was good. I’m happy at least one thing about this house is good as it is! The note on cable and electric is a good point; it didn’t have much for either and I hadn’t thought of TV.
How about internet connection? Do we need it? I turned the phone off so nobody could run up calls. On the point of renters, you’re so right about not allowing the wrong sort of summer renters due to possibility of property damage. My rental agent knows not to rent to teenagers looking for a party spot. I’d rather forfeit the rent than have to try the legal system to recoup losses; that’s never worked for me before.
I talked to my husband about the shower stalls, and he recognizes that they might be damaged. He’s got carpentry skills, so he could replace them if needed. We had tile before, and it was dated, so down it came. And the wall was c. 1900, so down it came. As you see, it’s hard to know when to stop in a house this old that has never been really renovated. And finally, the instant hot water heater seems to be the way to go.
If you’re still following, would you put a basement under this house, lifting it up 2’ more and digging underneath? The house has almost no storage, and someday we’ll need to live here for 2 years as a primary residence to keep the tax code from killing us with taxes (assuming the real estate market ever recovers). We had initial indications it would cost $15-20,000 to put in a full basement, but the one contractor we found who did the excavation and basement construction wanted $35,000. That sounds too much to me.
Bellalunatic, the outside shower is a great idea, as noted above. And I wish we didn’t have to reconfigure inside, but the NH Seacoast is not as warm as Florida, so we can’t count on an outside bathroom to solve the problem of multiple people needing showers. It’s just too cold on some days when fronts come through.
but if it is too cold to shower outside, chances are the guests won't be out swimming anyway. Right?
Growing up, we had only a single bathroom--it was not attached to any of the bedrooms, but equally accessible to all. I don't think I would like having to go through someone else's bedroom to use the shower. As an adult, I would not like to share the shower with someone I was not sleeping with.
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