Remodel Your Bathroom for Sale

Everyone thinks that bathroom renovations are expensive. Even relatively minor upgrades can cost tens of thousands of dollars if you don’t remodel wisely. If you remodel your bathroom for sale in the future, you want to recoup a substantial percentage of the money you invested in bathroom remodeling. Fortunately, you don’t need to completely gut your bathroom and spend a fortune to increase your home’s value and appeal to prospective buyers.  If you are in the DC metro area, call me at 240-401-5577 to ask about my list of great contractors that will not cost you the moon!

Buyers focus on the appearance and functionality of bathrooms.  Cracked tiles, mildew, dirty grout and pockmarked faucets will turn that buyer off quickly and permanently.  The good news is that simple repairs, such as replacing the caulk around the tub, installing a new toilet and replacing faucets can significantly improve the appearance of your bathroom inexpensively. Replacing your sink, toilet or shower with a more energy-efficient model will appeal to potential buyers, since they would use less water and save money each month.

To remodel your bathroom for sale AND attract buyers, you should replace and upgrade dated fixtures.  Avoid ornate ones and just keep things neat and functional. Make sure new fixtures complement the other components and colors of the bathroom.  Generally, white is the best color for tubs, sinks and toilets.

If the vanity in your bathroom is worn out, stained or dated, replace it with a new one with an attractive sink, faucet and countertop, as well as plenty of storage space.  It is astonishing how inexpensive a new vanity and faucet can be and it will improve the overall appearance of the bathroom and make it more functional. A new vanity and faucets will make the bathroom more desirable to buyers. Marble and granite countertops can be worth the relatively high price tag since they tend to appeal to home shoppers.

Flooring that’s worn out from years of daily use or stained can detract from the overall appearance of a bathroom.  Dirty grout is a definite turn off.  One choice is to go for a neutral ceramic tile or porcelain tile with larger squares rather than the old one inch tiles you may have grown up with.  You shouldn’t choose the cheapest materials, since they may be of poor quality, but you don’t need to spend a lots of money to install the most expensive flooring either.  Again, I encourage everyone to pick a light color for the flooring unless it mimics a quality stone flooring.   Please skip the vinyl tiles that a client chose without my input – squares of stick on vinyl with a dark patterned wood parquet pattern.

Nonslip material is important for the bathroom floor. Your bathroom floor can also see a lot of wear and tear, so durability is key as well. Porcelain is the ideal option for your bathroom floor, but natural stone is a great consideration as well. Many natural-stone varieties also have the added bonus of their mottled coloring that will help obscure scuff marks and tough stains.

If you’re unsure, subway tiles are a no-brainer for your bathroom or shower walls – trendy, clean, polished, and versatile, they’re a quality choice.

If you are planning to remodel your bathroom for sale, consider installing a soaking tub if you have room for it.   Although most people shower daily, many like the option of relaxing and soaking in a tub. If your bathroom has space for a tub, installing a soaking tub may help you attract a buyer in the future.   A nice deep tub adds a touch of luxury to your home which will appeal to your buyers.  A whirlpool tub wouldn’t help you much when you sold your house, however, since it would require a lot of maintenance and most homeowners would only use it occasionally.

Before you remodel your bathroom for sale, think about which fixes would do the most to improve its appearance and functionality and increase your home’s value. Splurging on high-end materials wouldn’t give you a significant return on investment at sale time. If you have a limited budget for bathroom renovations, some simple, relatively inexpensive upgrades may pay off a lot more in the long run than a costly remodeling project.