Should I upgrade the master bath on my occupied Rental Property

Question

To start, I have great tenant that have lived in the house since Jun 2015. They always talk about how they love the place and don't want to leave. They have never been late on rent and treat the home as their own. The husband even does small fixes around the house without getting the handyman involved "to save me some money." We have sent them little Christmas gifts each year, gift cards for a date. Now they've asked if we would consider upgrading the master bath shower. I always wanted to do it, when I was living there, it would improve the property value, but should I do it while its occupied? Thanks for any advice.

Mike Hottinga · Answer

Instead of just saying yes or no, why not get a bid or two and show your tenants the cost vs reward and work them through their request so they understand why you do not want to do it. I have used this approach with my roommates and it seems to ease the response to "no" and I don't look cheap or a jerk. I also learn what it costs to do this type of project and meet new contractors, so it is win/win.

Amanda G. · Answer

@Jim K., I am pasting this post in a doc for myself to use later. Thank you!

Jim K. · Answer

@Aaron Gorum

Huh. OK, this is one thing we do in our target area, just outside the 'Burgh.

A number of properties in our target area have old tiled tub/showers and the same three-handle water supply control systems with behind-the-wall valves they had when they were first built in the late 1940s, during the second major housing boom of the city's history. The three-handle systems are not pressure balanced or thermostatic and so if you run the kitchen faucet's cold water or flush the toilet downstairs in the second bathroom, the shower goes scalding hot. This is no longer up to the current plumbing code in our area, but the valves of course are grandfathered in.Plumbing code enforcement in Allegheny County is handled by county inspectors, as opposed to the municipal regular building code enforcement. There's a long, rather complicated process for getting plumbing changes and additions green-tagged and approved. So most hands-off and absentee landlords just keep on trying to maintain these out-of-date systems well beyond their natural service life. For the certified master plumbers of the area, these valves are real moneymakers. The only way to fix them is to find original service parts from a supply warehouse. Of course the three-handle valve bodies keep on degrading, and sooner or later, replacing parts just won't do the trick. The plumber then usually recommends rebuilding the whole wetwall and covering it and the rest of the tile surround with a cheap, ugly acrylic surround kit. And of course it has to be done NOW. Ka-CHING!

These old tile alcove surrounds in our area were built hard the old-fashioned way, thickset mortar beds on metal lath with tile beaten in over them. This is not cheap greenboard or modern cement board construction.

Here's my fix for this problem.I've had access to the back of the valve and the copper supply lines when I've done this, another nice feature of these built-for-the-GIs housing units. I turn off the water and cut out the main valve from the back, first the supply lines running up, from the floor, then top and bottom leading to the shower arm and the tub spout. On the other side, I remove the shower head and arm, and the tub spout.  I solder in MPT adapters for the hot and cold lines -- they currently cost $1.58 each at the Big Orange Retail Giant. Then I run screw-on flexible leads from those lines through the hot and cold holes in the tile back to the inside of the shower enclosure.

The flexible leads come as part of the water supply kit for the shower tower I hang in that shower. You can buy nice ones with temperature readouts and jets from the Big Orange Retail Giant for about $200. They are completely preplumbed with integrated pressure-balanced mixing valves. All you have to do is drill holes in the tiled shower walls with modern diamond-tipped bits and install brackets in the wall to hang the things, and connect the hot and cold lines. All the behind-the-wall plumbing is bypassed forever. The $200 shower towers we use have integrated tub spouts, shower wands, rainshowers, and eight massage/misting jets.

The tenants are incredibly appreciative. This is usually C-class housing. These towers beat out anything they've ever seen in a rental. But the reason I go to the expense is actually to harden the rental.

The shower tower covers the holes left by pulling the 3-handle valve, bypasses all the behind the wall plumbing, and if something happens down the line, a minimally-skilled handyman can turn off the water and pull the shower tower off the wall to unscrew the water leads, then replace the whole tower with another. No plumber and Allegheny County plumbing code enforcement needs to ever get involved in the process again. No cutting, no soldering, no green tags. No aging absentee landlord answering to the name of Jimmy having the tranquility of his nap in the Greek islands disturbed to authorize paying the property manager, the plumber, and the county inspector their respective pounds of flesh for the repair.

I do it for lousy tenants and for good tenants. I'd do it for a Section 8 tenant. I like my naps now, I'm sure I'll like them more in my seventies.

I don't know if this applies to your situation, Aaron, but you're right, tenants LOVE upgraded showers. This might be a way to do it on the cheap and save on plumbing repair costs in the future.

Brian Schoolcraft · Answer

Houses that are nicer, and have recent updates/upgrades, are much easier to rent.  If your tenant is happy, I'd wait until it is time to find a new tenant before investing the money.

Dick Stevens · Answer

I would only consider doing this if rent increased to at least the market amount post renovation.  Considering your tenant has been there since 2015 I’m guessing your rent is below market.

Aaron Gorum · Answer

Its 100% a wish list item. The shower operates correctly. This would be a tear out of the shower box and tiling a new shower.

Should I upgrade the master bath on my occupied Rental Property

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