The debate is ongoing about what is a better decision for your property: bathtub or shower only?

It’s a question whose importance you might be missing, as your choice of a bathing feature will help determine your property values, potentially raising your resale price and increasing the attractiveness of your property to different sets of buyers or renters.

Here’s what you should know.

Ditching the tub for a shower can create a more open, inviting bathroom.

A bathroom in a smaller property that is taking up a good amount of much-needed space with a bathtub can be greatly enhanced by opening up that space with a luxury shower. Perhaps the best thing you can do with a studio or one-bedroom unit is to take out the tub and upgrade the shower experience.

According to the New York Times, in smaller apartment bathrooms like these, removing the tub can raise your values as much as 10%, giving you a big return on investment.

Tenants and buyers without young children are going to love having an open shower space with built-in shelving for their bath products and a ledge to make shaving easy. Combine these with adjustable shower heads, quality tile materials, and LED lighting to invest in a breath-taking bathroom that is guaranteed to raise your property values or keep vacancies low.

Bathtubs are still necessities for families with young children.

If you know some of your prospective buyers or tenants are going to have younger children and you don’t want to lose their interest, don’t take out the tub just yet.

Depending on your area and market, your demographics are going to vary. If you are catering to college students or a young downtown scene, you might see no risk in removing the tub—and that’s fine. There is no solid data on whether removing a tub negatively affects property values.

However, to best ensure your property gets rented or sold, you want to keep a tub option if it have two or more bedrooms and/or bathrooms. Parents or those looking to become parents while living in your property are going to take into account the difficulty of bathing a little one with only a luxury shower. This could potentially lock out a wide base of interested buyers or renters for a larger property that you can’t afford to dismiss.

Space is going to be the deciding factor.

Ultimately, whether you go with a tub or no tub should come down to the space in the property. If you are working with a studio or one-room apartment, removing the tub and instead installing a quality shower your tenants or buyers aren’t going to want to get out of will boost your values and return like few other renovations might. If you are selling a two- or more-bedroom apartment that you know families are going to be interested in, keeping at least one tub in the home will ensure you don’t lose business you might otherwise have had.

To keep values up and vacancy low, appeal to your chosen demographic and go with your gut. Remember that any bathroom renovations are sure to raise the value of your home.

For more information on property management and real estate investment, contact 208.properties today.