Your extra bedroom really wants to be a bathroom

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Published Date 2/18/2025

Remember that guest bedroom where that very occasional guest stays twice a year — the room collecting dust while serving as an impromptu storage space? You may not know it yet, but it’s begging for a sledgehammer to transform it into something far more valuable: a bathroom.

Realtor.com’s Dina Sartore-Bodo offers a wild statistic: Americans are sitting on nearly 32 million extra bedrooms. You read that correctly. Meanwhile, home buyers are increasingly hunting for properties with multiple bathrooms, with over 70% of current listings featuring two or more.

Seattle-based Realtor Aaron Hendon says homes with more bathrooms sell for more money, which is really no big secret. “Let's face it – buyers with kids will almost always want more than one bath." Numbers back him up: Adding a bathroom can boost your home's listing price by about 3%, and you'll recoup over 70% of the renovation cost when you sell, he adds.

Sartore-Bodo warns that before you start picking out fancy faucets, however, there’s some legwork to consider, like positioning your new bath as close to another bathroom as possible. Your wallet will thank you for making all that ready plumbing available. Also make sure your existing plumbing can handle another bathroom, your electrical system is up to the task, and your floors are capable of supporting that luxurious new soaking tub.

No DIYs here, please, unless you're a licensed professional. "Converting a room into a bathroom can range from moderately challenging to quite complex," warns Chicago-based design consultant Jennie Berger. Indeed — this isn't the time to learn plumbing via YouTube tutorials.

The good news is that you're not just investing in future resale value; you're investing in your own sanity. No more morning bathroom traffic jams, no more sprinting up and down stairs when nature calls, and definitely no more awkward moments when multiple houseguests need to freshen up.

Sartore-Bono suggests modern tools like Renovation Designer by Realtor.com to help you visualize your new bathroom before swinging that first hammer. Because while your occasional guest might need to switch to staying on a sofa bed, everyone else will thank you for the extra bathroom.

Realtor, TBWS

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