Fix up basement for house hack, or buy another BRRRR

[Ramzi Marjaba]

Hi All, 

I'm looking for some advise or opinions on the matter below. 

Up until August, we (my wife, my son and myself) owned 2 houses, a rental and our primary residence. In August we closed on a SFH with a seperate entrance to the basement. The plan was to fix up the basement and rent it out. Rent would be around $1200 according to other rentals in the neighborhood. In order to fix it up, I would have to tap into an LOC. Note that I have a 5 year fixed term with a bank that does not do HELOCs.

After some thought, I had another idea. Instead of fixing up the basement to rent it out, I can buy another property instead and do the BRRRR. In this case, I would also have to borrow part of the money for the down payment from family/friends, and use the LOC for the rehab.

House prices in Ottawa, Canada range between 350 to 450k, at least that is the range that I'm looking for. When fully renovated, they would get appraised around 600k conservatively.  

Which option do you think is better? I can provide more info if needed so let me know.

Thanks for your time,

Ramzi 

[Shaughn Lee]

Let's do the math, figuratively. If you fix up the basement and rent out the house what will your gross profit be per month? Times that by how long it will take to make *estimated* 150k profit from turning a 450k house into a 600k house. Which one weighs more?