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| Is it worth the money... is it an investment? (Page 1/3) |
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82-T/A [At Work]
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SEP 07, 02:03 PM
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Guys... hope you don't mind. Slight debate with my wife on where my priorities / money should be spent on this home. Long story short, I just moved to San Antonio, and I'm renovating the house I bought. I got a great house in a very nice neighborhood... but it was a home that had been vacant for 2 years. I've been renovating it while living in it, and I want to maximize my profit. I'm only going to be living here for 3-4 years, so it's definitely an investment property. I want to make sure that the money I spend, I get proper ROI on it versus the time / effort. In this case, I'm working on the upstairs guest bathroom. The bathroom was kind of nasty before. Carpet, popcorn, eggshell, etc.
I've maybe spent a total of $500 on this bathroom so far. To this point I've done:
- Scraped popcorn from ceiling, sanded ceiling, painted ceiling.
- New GFI outlets, switches, timer for the heater, rebuilt heater / fan combo, and new 3" LED can in front of the built-ins.
- Removed wall-paper, re-mudded the walls, sprayed knock-down, and painted.
- New solid-core louvered door to the shower/toilet area to replace the existing door that was there.
- New toilet, toilet flange (had to cut it out), etc.
- Installed tile in both the shower room and vanity area.
- Installed waynescotting along the walls, baseboard.
- New thresholds, trim, hardware, and oil-rubbed bronze fixtures.
Now, while I do plan to keep the cabinets (and just replace the handles). I was thinking about replacing the countertops with some engineered quartz, as well as new faucets, and probably replacing the medicine cabinets. I'll also probably frame-out the mirror. The shower-surround tile in the bathroom, and the tub, are still original. All I did was clean it up, replace the hardware and drain in the tub area.
So my question is... would you be offended by this bathroom? Do you think it's worth it to me to spend another $2,000 on this bathroom to replace the sinks / countertops. My "guess" is that I'll probably get dollar for dollar in equity, but since I'm doing the work myself, I have to question if it would bring increased buying potential. Pretend for a moment that you liked "Hill Country Modern" styling (which this is), if you liked that... would you be offended by this bathroom, or would you insist on new countertops and sinks to match everything else?
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RWDPLZ
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SEP 07, 05:44 PM
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Tub, tile, countertops and sinks look fine, I find the dark hardware and cabinets off-putting, especially the faucets? If you're flipping the house you'll want to pick something more neutral.
It's only an investment if it increases the value of the house by more than you spend, or maintains the present value (where a dated bathroom would detract from the value, since a potential buyer would need to spend money to repair and renovate, and try to get all or part of that cost subtracted from the home's asking price).
$2k would be better spent on a tankless water heater, or upgraded appliances in the kitchen. Elongated bowl toilet would be a nice modern upgrade, too.
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82-T/A [At Work]
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SEP 07, 06:39 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by RWDPLZ:
Tub, tile, countertops and sinks look fine, I find the dark hardware and cabinets off-putting, especially the faucets? If you're flipping the house you'll want to pick something more neutral.
It's only an investment if it increases the value of the house by more than you spend, or maintains the present value (where a dated bathroom would detract from the value, since a potential buyer would need to spend money to repair and renovate, and try to get all or part of that cost subtracted from the home's asking price).
$2k would be better spent on a tankless water heater, or upgraded appliances in the kitchen. Elongated bowl toilet would be a nice modern upgrade, too. |
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The cabinets in the bathroom are something I'm definitely NOT going to change, unfortunately. It's a custom-made 96" vanity that was built by a local cabinet maker when they built all these homes. It's made from solid oak.
Kitchen is completely remodeled, I have top of the line appliances, Jenn Air, and Samsung. All new shaker cabinets, and rococo countertops.
The thing that I'd want people (outside of Texas) to look at... is "where" this house is. Here in Hill Country... IE: most of Central and South Texas... the oil rubbed bronze door knobs and fixtures are very much in style, and sought after. It's what all the newer homes get, so that's what I put in as well. If I was in Miami, for example... I'd build to a different style, which is ultra-modern, and a lot of chrome and stainless steel. But that doesn't sell too well here in San Antonio. The toilet in the picture is an elongated one too, so it's not a small one... though when I look at the picture above, it definitely looks like it... but it's just the angle I took the picture.
How badly do you hate the cabinets? Only thing I may do is swap out the doors... but the countertops are that old "mold-injected" countertops. Getting new cabinets though (of the same quality) would be suuuuuper expensive.[This message has been edited by 82-T/A [At Work] (edited 09-07-2017).]
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RWDPLZ
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SEP 07, 08:04 PM
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Tony Kania
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SEP 07, 08:22 PM
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My professional opinion...
Update the faucets to match the bath.
Finish the grout under the kick plate. 
It is really hard for me to give an estimate of value without location, comps, what you already have into it, etc. Not being mean, just honest. If this is truly just a short term thing, then always be cost thoughtful. Always.
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jmbishop
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SEP 07, 08:36 PM
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If the bathroom is clean, everything is in good shape and its not hideous, often its better to leave it vs trying to go for more luxurious materials. If your doing it because you want it while you're living there, go for it, like you said, it will probably pay for itself in equity. If you have to borrow money, don't. [This message has been edited by jmbishop (edited 09-07-2017).]
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Stubby79
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SEP 07, 09:34 PM
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It looks hideous. When can I move in?
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Hank is Here
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SEP 07, 10:13 PM
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A few ideas one I would paint the cabinets a medium gray to compliment the shower tile. I would also replace the faucets to match the rubbed bronze that you have in the rest of the bathroom. If you were in a subdivision I would recommend going on real estate agents websites to see what other houses have done with the same bathroom.
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cliffw
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SEP 07, 10:53 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]:
The thing that I'd want people (outside of Texas) to look at... is "where" this house is. The Texas Hill Country.
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Believe me, you are not in the Texas Hill Country.
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82-T/A [At Work]
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SEP 07, 10:53 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by RWDPLZ:
The door patterns scream 80's (not in the GOOD way), and the hardware dates it even further. Maybe if they were sanded and re-stained to a color that complimented the tile better, and the hardware was simpler in shape? The long handles overpower the scale of the cabinets, smaller knobs would make the space look and feel bigger.
If the countertops were formica, I'd say yeah, rip them out, but they look fine in the pictures?
On the tub and sink faucets, the plastic "crystal" handles is what makes me physically ill. Maybe something like this to match the other burnt bronze?
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Yeah, the cabinet doors are hideous, those are the same cabinets we had in the kitchen, it's the slope at the top. If it was just squared, it wouldn't be so horrible. We ended up doing cabinet re-facing and got all shaker for the kitchen, but just not sure I want to spend THAT kind of money. Cabinet doors are super expensive.
I had already planned on swapping out the faucets and the hardware (door pulls)... thanks for looking that stuff up, I do appreciate the time you spent on that.
The countertops are not formica, but that resin stuff... not sure what you call it... it's not plastic, and it's not stone. You had kind of picked up on what bugged me too with the cabinets.
So, if I DON'T want to replace the cabinets, then just faucets and hardware, and I should be "good"... at least with respect to ROI?
| quote | Originally posted by Hank is Here:
A few ideas one I would paint the cabinets a medium gray to compliment the shower tile. I would also replace the faucets to match the rubbed bronze that you have in the rest of the bathroom. If you were in a subdivision I would recommend going on real estate agents websites to see what other houses have done with the same bathroom. |
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Yeah, definitely going to do that (replace the faucets). Not sure I want to paint the cabinets... they're stained and textured, so I'd have to sand them down like mad first.
| quote | Originally posted by Tony Kania:
My professional opinion...
Update the faucets to match the bath.
Finish the grout under the kick plate.
It is really hard for me to give an estimate of value without location, comps, what you already have into it, etc. Not being mean, just honest. If this is truly just a short term thing, then always be cost thoughtful. Always. |
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You mean grout under the baseboards? Or are you talking about under the cabinets? I did grout under the cabinets already (finished that up today).
I've got about 35k I've put into the house so far, not including the money I actually spent on the house. But I bought the house for about 80k under the going value of the other homes. It sat vacant for about 2 years. In this particular room though, I've only got ~$500-700 into it, new toilet, new door, paint, trim, fixtures, and tile.
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Thanks guys...
Another thought... I've got this same cabinetry in the master bathroom, as well as the other guest bathroom. The other guest bathroom is easy... I can swap it out with a white shaker vanity for $250 with countertop and sink. But the master vanity is just as big as this one. It's a large walk-in shower, but the tile is the same too (tile in the shower room... ) so I think I'm going to end up just having to gut that entire bathroom (the master I mean). No way I can get away with leaving it as a simple refresh like this one.
| quote | Originally posted by cliffw:
Believe me, you are not in the Texas Hill Country. |
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It seems to be South-Central Texas... and San Antonio is more or less on the south-eastern side of that. Where I live... (North Eastern side of San Antonio) everything says Hill Country all over the place.[This message has been edited by 82-T/A [At Work] (edited 09-07-2017).]
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