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Excellent! Thanks everyone! I'm glad I came here first because it has definitely altered my thinking.
I was considering option 'a' heavily because of the psychological fear of losing a room in the house (even if it's too small to be technically considered a room). My fallbacks to option 'a' were options 'b' and 'c' because I thought the lack of at least one large bathroom would be more harmful than the lack of a master bath (or a second full bath). But it seems I am wrong with the consensus being options 'd' and 'e' as the most attractive options to buyers.
If your not going to sell for 20 years, do the renovations according to what you like. Not what you think buyers would like 20 years from now.
This is the best response so far, but extending the master and adding a small bath may be quite valuable. Laundry on the 2nd floor would be nice, but I think the bath is better. No matter what, make that small room usable space...bath or laundry.
Well, I should clarify. I might sell in 2 years, I might sell in 20 years. No plans...options are open. I've been here for 6 years so far. Me personally...I like all the options and would benefit from all of them pretty equally. So to help out with the decision, I want to take the approach that most helps with the value/resale of the home.
My original question that I was going to ask was just 3 options
1) 1.5 Bathrooms with 1 small room.
2) 1.5 Bathrooms, no small room but a larger full bathroom.
2) 2.5 Bathrooms, no small room
Thanks though...I think I'm gonna go with a 2nd bathroom. The laundry vs larger bedroom vs closets debate will work itself out based on layout and what fits best.
Well, I should clarify. I might sell in 2 years, I might sell in 20 years. No plans...options are open. I've been here for 6 years so far. Me personally...I like all the options and would benefit from all of them pretty equally. So to help out with the decision, I want to take the approach that most helps with the value/resale of the home.
My original question that I was going to ask was just 3 options
1) 1.5 Bathrooms with 1 small room.
2) 1.5 Bathrooms, no small room but a larger full bathroom.
2) 2.5 Bathrooms, no small room
Thanks though...I think I'm gonna go with a 2nd bathroom. The laundry vs larger bedroom vs closets debate will work itself out based on layout and what fits best.
You keep saying 1/2 bath but am I correct in that the 1/2 bath is not on the same floor as the bedrooms?
Thus you will end up with the 2nd floor having 3 bedrooms and two baths with one of the baths off the master bedroom...or en suite....LOL
Take that small room, make it a master bath and laundry or master bath with w/i closet; but I really like the laundry upstairs. Oh boy, do I like the laundry upstairs. Speaking as a mother and grandmother, definitely laundry upstairs.
You see, from a housekeeping pov, the laundry now has to be gathered and dragged down 2 flights of stairs to a little used section of the home - meaning there is no other reason to be down there, generally -- then, the laundry do-er gets to stand in the stark, usually undecorated part of the house, alone, to fold the laundry when it's done - or some women drag the laundry up to the main floor for sorting and folding - meaning there is now a mess in one of the main floor rooms - especially if there are small children, Mom doesn't want to be hanging out in the laundry room while kids are doing whatever unsupervised. Then, this now sorted and folded laundry needs to be dragged upstairs to be put away. So assume now that there are no young kids but now Mom is older. It's not isolation that's a problem, it's the stairs.
So why not eliminate the lugging down and lugging up again as well as the isolation of laundry do-er as well as the future issue you have of the occupants getting older and the stairs becoming an issue?
Take that small room, make it a master bath and laundry or master bath with w/i closet; but I really like the laundry upstairs. Oh boy, do I like the laundry upstairs. Speaking as a mother and grandmother, definitely laundry upstairs.
You see, from a housekeeping pov, the laundry now has to be gathered and dragged down 2 flights of stairs to a little used section of the home - meaning there is no other reason to be down there, generally -- then, the laundry do-er gets to stand in the stark, usually undecorated part of the house, alone, to fold the laundry when it's done - or some women drag the laundry up to the main floor for sorting and folding - meaning there is now a mess in one of the main floor rooms - especially if there are small children, Mom doesn't want to be hanging out in the laundry room while kids are doing whatever unsupervised. Then, this now sorted and folded laundry needs to be dragged upstairs to be put away. So assume now that there are no young kids but now Mom is older. It's not isolation that's a problem, it's the stairs.
So why not eliminate the lugging down and lugging up again as well as the isolation of laundry do-er as well as the future issue you have of the occupants getting older and the stairs becoming an issue?
I think everyone prefers to have the laundry on the bedroom level. However, the OP was asking what adds the most value. Personally, in my experience as a Realtor, I've seen people not offer on a house because there was no master bath, I've seen people not offer on a house because the master didn't have enough closet space, but I can't say I've seen people not offer on a house because the laundry was in the basement. That being said, if a buyer were considering two houses that were extremely similar and the only difference at all was that one had laundry upstairs and the other had it in the basement then all other things being equal the buyer would likely pick the one with the upstairs laundry. Laundry location is pretty low on most people's list of "deal breakers" and therefore moving it doesn't add much value. If there were no laundry in the house and you added it then that would add more value than simply moving it.
If your not going to sell for 20 years, do the renovations according to what you like. Not what you think buyers would like 20 years from now.
yeah really.
I would never do now what I think someone might even remotely like 20 years from now, that really is a no brainer.
20 years is a long time.
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