You might ask a local real estate agent for their thoughts—they have great knowledge about these things and can give you good info.

What is the demographic of the average buyer in your area? No tub is a deal breaker for young families, but not so much for young couples or empty nesters. You can also post your floorplan here if you want to get suggestions for squeezing in a tub. Do you have an adjacent closet you can sacrifice, or get a few square feet from an adjacent room to make a difference?

Some people think one bathroom is a deal breaker. Some think no tub is a deal breaker. Look at sales of the past few years on zillow from your neighborhood. See how long things were on the market that had one bath and how long things were on the market with no tub. Do houses like yours in your neighborhood tend to attract families?

I vote two bathrooms. Your current need for a roommate outweighs the possible future sale.

However, I also wonder if we can fit a tub in. Can we see a floor plan? Maybe it is doable.

@Juliet someone on here told me not long ago never to ask a real estate agent those kinds of questions. Their answer will be the one that gets them the biggest commission.

Have you priced out this work or can you diy? at least in my area you’d have to have a roomate for a very long time to pay for 2 bathsrooms. adding 1/2 bath and leaving tub would probably be sweet spot for resale.

Cathi, in this case, the answer that gets the biggest commision is correct, because it gets the biggest sale price. Interests are aligned in this question.

With no other information two bathrooms with showers would have more value than one full bath with tub.

@cathi33, and isn’t that good info to have?

I would post a floor plan of the bathroom and the rooms surrounding it. There may be options you haven't considered.

Not sure where you live - by me this will require architects plans as well as a permit. Between costs and materials, you can be between $50k - 60 K ( maybe squeeze it down to 45K.

Will you have a roommate long enough to recoup at least half that money?

Having 2 bathrooms certainly adds to the value of the house. The tub may be a deal breaker for some, but not for others. It also will depend - are these going to be small showers and cramped spaces? That may be less attractive than a nicely remodeled large bath.

How soon do you plan to sell?

I agree with Debbie, one large nicely remodeled washroom is better than 2 tiny cramped spaces. Buyers now a days loom for luxury spaces, especially bathrooms.

No one can answer this question without appropriate context.

Without knowing more, a two bathroom house is ALWAYS going to be more desirable than a one bathroom house - even a half bathroom is significantly better.

People claim that one bathtub is necessary but I don't think that is really true - the window in which children must take baths is relatively short so there are an enormous amount of potential buyers who don't want tubs and don't need tubs.

Many people would actually prefer a really nice walk in shower to a mediocre tub shower combination. I got rid of the tub in the master bath and now have a very luxurious large shower there and the other bathroom as a nice stall shower.

Personally I would not buy a home that didn't have a large walk in shower AND a second bath.

I like the idea of a powder room with the other bathroom having a more generous shower and vanity.

I think a bathtub is a requirement in every home - but not necessarily in the main (master) bath. No one knows when they'll have the need to soak something, LOL. However, it isn't important to some people, and I'm sure there's a big market for walk-in showers only. I personally will never buy a home that has only one toilet - even if the second toilet is just in a powder room.

I have no idea without a floor plan and IMO you need to stop until you get some good advice. Adding a toilet for instance can be a huge expense in some cases. Moving one also. Post the plan here showing the spaces yu are working with and also how big a shower do you need . I need measurements of the spaces, show the windows how you plan to access and also what part are you renting out so show that space . Do this all on graph paper to scale post here in jpeg format in a comment DO NOT start another post

The reason I’m wanting to do it is to rent out a room and not need to share the bathroom

For everyone who has suggested that the OP just add a half bath — how does that solve the issue of not wanting to share a bathroom? Will renters have to be satisfied with sponge baths?

Two bathrooms is always a plus but no you can't not have a tub in a home. It will hurt your resale.

You need to show a floor plan of the current bath and adjoining, near spaces.

Nobody can possibly answer without that.

You measure the bath, every foot and inch, every wall and window. You do the same with the adjoining spaces. All that matters for any plan is feet, inches, widows, door passages and walls.

You draw, measure, upload as a jpeg, below. Bold and neat.

Will renting a room out offset the costs of adding a full bath, over a reasonable time frame?

Without other context, in my area, a shared-house situation with each bedroom having its own bath, even if they were both small baths with showers would be preferable to a shared bath. --2 BR 2 Ba apartments rent for more than 2BR 1 Ba apartments do.

In my area, many houses were built with a full bath and an ensuite powder room for the main bedroom (this seems a little backward, but these are small 2-3 BR houses and had to have one shared bath and something not that was not only accessible through a bedroom).

Almost everyone added a powder room downstairs or in the basement. But upstairs some people converted the ensuite powder room and bathroom to two small bathrooms, one being a very small bathroom with shower. And some people converted the one and a half to one larger bathroom. In my area, the two small bathroom versions are more popular than the single larger one.

To answer your question you asked about resale, yes having at least 1 tub is better than 2 showers. You are limiting yourself when it comes to buyers if you do not have a tub. Especially when it comes to families. I would not purchase a house that did not have tub. Be it for the kids, myself soaking, washing the dog, any myriad of reasons to use a tub,