Renovating small house for resale and need an opinion on bathroom vs. bigger kitchen?

Tamara H: Renovating small house for resale and need an opinion on bathroom vs. bigger kitchen?
We have just bought a small (480 sq ft) small house with no basement to renovate and resell. It has one bedroom, small living room and very small kitchen and even smaller bathroom. The lot is big so we have already dug a hole, poured foundation and are planning on moving the house on top of the new foundation. So, the basement will have 2 bedrooms, full bathroom, laundry room and the mainfloor bedroom will be opened up to make a bigger living room. Ok…here comes the question…would you take the bathroom out on the mainfloor and open the kitchen or would you take the tub out (it’s only a 4 ft long old tub) and keep a bathroom upstairs and keep the small kitchen? I think bigger kitchen no bathroom and my husband thinks the opposite. Please let me know your opinion.

Answers and Views:

Answer by nellbelle7
When it comes to real estate, you need to compete with homes in the area.

What is the floorplan and size of the floors in the area? Have you checked? You should. You also don’t want to end up pricing this house out of the market when it comes time to put it on the market.

The housing market is saturated right now (as you know). Budget safely.

Answer by LAURIE
Everone who buys a home looks for both conveniences, a good size kithchen and an uncramped bathroom. Go for enlarging the kitchen. You spend more time in there. If extra money is available, the bathroom on the main floor will add a bonus in selling the house.

Answer by Lauri G
According to several REALTORS I know, the ktchen enlargement is the best for increasing re-sale value.

Why not fit a little “powder room” (toilet and small pedestal sink) in a corner of main floor living room? Just an idea!

Answer by Zinger
In my experience there are three areas that are worth the investment and they are kitchen, bathroom and closets. It would be nice to have a bathroom upstairs especially with older guests and children. Upstairs all you would need is a toilet and sink. However, you need to do something about a small kitchen since that is a real negative.

Answer by busted
i am a woman. i need a bigger kitchen. i also wouldn’t die if i had to do the stairs a few extra times a day. it is a win win situation. go for the kitchen.

Answer by hopeful for change
the bigger kitchen will help more to up the value of the home.

Answer by Lear B
You could take the bath tub out and install a shower. that would take up let room. Most women always love have a larger kitchen.

Answer by barbara b
with proper layout, a small kitchen can be no problem. Mine is a galley with a nook on one end. It’s all in the cabinets. Plenty of storage, to the ceiling if need be is a must in a small kitchen. as for the bath, make it a guest bath with no tub. This would provide for company, and keep them out of your basement. Have you considered adding on to the main floor? depending on the layout of the house, you might be able to put an el out on the kitchen end to gain more space. or possibly off both the kitchen and living room thus saving the upstairs bedroom as a guest room or study.

Answer by Nancy G
I would want to keep a half-bath on the main floor. I think having only one bathroom — in the basement, no less — would be a drawback. I know that I wouldn’t like to have to go up and down the stairs to get the bathroom all the time and I wouldn’t like to send visitors to the basement to use the restroom.

If I understand what you plan for the main floor, you’ll have 480 square feet for a living room, kitchen/dining area and half bath; you should be able to design an open floor plan that would accommodate all of them nicely. A half-bath can fit into a very small space if you use a pedestal sink or a sink that mounts directly onto the wall.

Good luck.

Answer by tardis_mom
I would leave a powder room upstairs, since it would be a pain to have to go downstairs from the living room or the kitchen every time you need to go. Can you expand the kitchen a little into the tub area of the now smaller powder room?

Answer by Candi G
since your doing so much anyhow, i think you should do both. keep the bath but only as a half bath, sink and commode. then enlarge the kitchen as much as you can with the space available. if it’s odd shaped maybe you could have it be a small pantry or add more cabinets.

just a thought, can’t really help without seeing the layout.

Good Luck!

Remember to put most of you budget into the kitchen and baths, because those are what sell a house.

Answer by dawnb
You can’t go wrong improving your kitchen space so I would enlarge that space. I would try to keep a powder room type bath on the main floor with just a stool and sink. It will fit into a small space and give you a 1 1/2 bath feature that is also a plus.