Realtor Shares The Unusual Bathroom Feature That Is Preventing Him From Selling A Beautiful Brand New House
“I don’t understand what this builder was trying to do here at all.”
Monkey Business Images, PC Photography / CanvaPro A realtor on TikTok posted a video of a beautiful, modern, and brand-new home in Citrus County, Florida. Although it was completely up-to-date on everything — new appliances, paint, windows, and interiors — he struggled to get the house off the market. When he showed off the master bathroom, the reason why became clear.
The realtor called the unusual bathroom feature a 'builder failure,' insisting that it was preventing him from selling the brand-new house.
“We were wondering why this house didn’t sell,” Realtor Justin Ure started his video. “I mean, it’s a really nice master bathroom here.”
Walking through the bathroom, featuring brand new tiles, a huge closet, and a luxury mirror, the realtor then panned over to the shower.
“Absolutely a builder failure," Ure captioned the video. "This is a 2023 brand new build … It’s been on the market for a while, now I understand why."
In the beautiful master bathroom, the shower temperature controller is located outside the doors — and blocked when they’re opened.
As this realtor panned towards the shower, it became clear what he considered to be a “builder’s failure” — the temperature lever for the shower is outside of the shower doors. Not only does it look strange, but he pointed out that the functionality seems completely ridiculous.
“The door opens outwards, so I don’t know what’s going on here,” he added. Not only does the shower door block the temperature lever when it’s opened, making it impossible to control the temperature once you’re inside, but you’d have to come completely out to turn it off or change it.
Seemingly a disaster for after-shower water clean-ups, this realtor admitted that he couldn’t believe this “building flaw” went unnoticed.
“Let me wash my face. Oh, the water temperature is a little too hot; let me just open the shower door … step outside, drench the floor with water, set the temperature down, then hop back in,” he said.
“Not to mention, this shower door could easily swing into that temperature lever,” he added, “and it would break the glass.” So, not only is it a functionality and aesthetic concern for the buyers, but it’s also a safety issue.
Despite the realtor’s concern over the builder’s choice, commenters admitted the feature actually seems ‘kind of smart.’
“If the shower doors opened the other way, that’d actually be perfect!” one person admitted. “I recently had a customer specifically request this on her remodel. Only difference was her valve was operated through an Alexa.”
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Voice-operated showers and ultra-temperature-controlled bathrooms might seem like unrelatable requests to the average person, but evidently, those shopping in the luxury housing market have different opinions.
What this realtor considered a “builder’s failure” was actually something a homebuyer specifically asked for — though, admittedly, not quite executed perfectly.
Still, studies on the housing market and luxury homebuyers specifically reveal that many custom features in new homes are entirely by request and against the better judgment of builders. While one homebuyer might love it, they can be counterproductive when trying to sell the home to anyone else.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories.