So What's In A Bathroom?

Beleive it or not, people often ask me what is considered a full bathroom?

When a Home is listed for sale in the MLS (MLS stands for Multiple Listing Service),   you'll see Bathrooms broken down like this (at least NH & ME MLS):

Total Baths: 4
Full: 2
3/4: 1
1/2: 1

From an Appraisal perspective this is technically not 4 Bathrooms - This home has 3 1/2 baths - A full bath basically has 3 fixtures -(toilet, a sink and a tub).   A three quater (a toilet, a sink and a shower)    is also considered a full bath . And a half bath consists of two fixtures (a toilet and a sink).   To some this is not a big deal as long as they have someplace to go!  But, if you are comparing homes simply by an online property brochure, you'll want to make sure you are comparing apples to apples (if this is important to you). 

Aso, when an Appraiser writes a report for a purchase or refinance they are suppose to list bathrooms this way - Taking the example above you would see the report showing   3.1 Baths -  (Full baths  are on the left separated by a period and half baths to the right ).  Had the home above had 1 full baths and 3 half baths it would be displayed as 1.3. 

Oh. what about a quarter bath?  A quarter bath consists of only a toilet or perhaps just a sink - If you are having your property appraised, the appraiser will only count the number of (full or half )bathrooms above grade - and will not include quarter baths in bath count (additional commentary about that item would be found elsewhere in the report. 

So next time you are pondering what makes a bathroom a bathroom, perhaps this will help.