Bought my first property and I hope I am doing the right thing

[Joseph Gary]

So I bought my first property in laurel, md for $315k. It is a 1306sq ft. 3bd 2.5bath townhome. It was $310k I had to go $5k above the listing due to the kind of market that I am in. After watching a few videos of Brandon Turner after I bought my home. Lol I realized that I did not get a deal. I just bought at the right time. I purchased in June 2021. I am planning on starting to rent out one of the rooms to help out paying my mortgage. I was thinking of doing it for 6months so I can get a feel for having a roommate. Last time was college, but hey I am older now and I would rather less bills as much as possible. My concerns/questions are as follows:

1. Should I fix up the small backyard? (Cut down the tree, flatten the ground, create one side turf and the other side concrete for patio/grilling purposes). 

2. The entire basement is old and I was told to turn the basement to a kitchenette, but I honestly think that is way too much money, but the space is really big and someone can literally live in my basement and go in and out of the house as they please without me seeing them. The only time I would come downstairs is to use the washer and dryer, but I still would not see them because there is a door closing off the room for their kitchenette/studio area. 

3. Rent out 2 separate rooms upstairs or just 1 room and keep the other room as one of the roommates entertainment/lounge area?

4. Should I re-do my master bathroom? It seems as though the other full bathroom in the hallway of the second floor was renovated, but they left the master bathroom work for me to do. 

Sorry for the long thread of questions, but I am a little unsure what to do and need some advice. I already got new floors, re-did the entire kitchen(painted kitchen cabinets, installed new quartz countertops, new backsplash, painted kitchen pantry doors, painted the entire first floor a nice color white, installed recessed lighting on the first floor). 

[Account Closed]

Hey Joseph, congrats on taking your first step into RE investing! I've lived in AA county for almost 10 years and one of the major advantages you have is there is a big military base and federal agencies very close to Laurel. The housing allowance for military personnel with no dependents for that area is around $1800 so you could probably ask a little more depending on what part of Laurel your townhouse is in. If I was in your position I would try to rent out the other 2 bedrooms (or even live in the basement and rent out the 3 rooms) before putting more money into the property and turn this into a house hacking situation. I would try to find single military members since they will pay their rent on time and in some cases will know someone else in the military that they'll refer to you. Try looking at FB groups for military members looking for housing. Not sure what your expenses look like but you should be able to live in it for cheap/free, then refinance it later when you're ready to get your next property. Hope this helps and good luck!