Counting Bathrooms

[dblbogey]

I know I've seen this discussed here before but not sure I've seen this one. I inspected a house with 1 full bath and then in their laundry room there is a toilet. No sink etc. Is it 1 bath? 1.25 baths? What say ye!!!

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Originally posted by Rick Lipford@Dec 3 2005, 12:48 PM
I know I've seen this discussed here before but not sure I've seen this one. I inspected a house with 1 full bath and then in their laundry room there is a toilet. No sink etc. Is it 1 bath? 1.25 baths? What say ye!!!

Does it really even function as a 0.5 bath? Just a toilet and no sink? It would not be counted in my market as a bath of any sorts.

 

[Otis Key]

You can still count it but if the market doesn't indicate any contributory value, then you can't show it as such and in fact would more than likely consider it to be an over-improvement and therefore functional obsolescence.

 

[Ray Miller]

I see quite a few of these in the area I cover. Some are just off the mud room and garage, some in the laundry room, some in the basement.

No market reaction to them.

Had one the other day that was at the bottom of the stair case going down to the basement. No walls or doors around it. Just the pot sitting there in all it glory.

 

[hastalavista]

Rick-

“How” you count it isn’t as important as “how” it is valued in the marketplace. I think the important thing to do is accurately describe in the report what you saw, and then state how the market reacts to such an amenity. That will tell you if it should be counted as a “half-bath” or something other, and allow the reader to see if you are matching apples with apples.

 

[Charles Witt]

Was there a laundry tub in the room?

In our market, they sometimes would be a turnoff(i.e. to be in a laundry room). Most that scenarios I have seen ;like this have a laundry sink in the room.

But I guess if they did not have a sink, you could start the washer to wash the hands and the dryer to dry them. :rainfro: :rainfro: :rainfro: :rainfro:

If there ws just a toliet, our market would not considered this a value item.

 

[Chris Colston]

Not a unusal as one might think...see we have discussed just about everything on this forum at least once before.

Check out this thread....
http://appraisersforum.com/forum/index.php...topic=32105&hl=

 

[larryhaskell]

Rick:

I have seen a few of thosein our area but I can't remember ever having the data to support an adjustment. Most that I see are just inside the house as you enter from the garage. I believe these are just a convenience for homeowners that spend a lot of time in the garage and just want a quick potty stop. These would be too rare in our area to say they were typical.


Ray:

In a list of the top ten things I want to do B4 I die is to spend about a week in southwest Wisconsin and travel with you on some of your typical vistits to properties in your area. Some of the situations you have described have to be real because no one I know could make them up.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

1 pc bath

2 pc bath

3 pc bath

4 pc bath

5 pc bath

6 pc bath

You fill in the items. I have run into this a few time but mostly in basements.

 

[Wendy]

I've had a couple of garages w/ a toilet & a utility sink. Technically I guess that it is a half bath. Our tax records often show it as such.

There really are not enough of them to determine a market reaction via sales. I base my adjustments on "interviews". I have a list of improvements and other items that I question people about. Every time I find an oddball I add a question like "how much extra would you pay for a toilet in the garage?". To me, that is the best indicator of value in this type of instance.

I make an appropriate adjustment and explain, explain, explain!