Finish the basement

[Brittany Hart]

My husband and I are in the process of buying our first 4plex. The units are 2 bed 1.5 bath and have unfinished basements. We plan on finishing the basements to bring in higher rent. We are also upgrading the kitchen, painting, installing new flooring, and new fixtures to bring in better renters. There is a .5 bath on the first floor with the kitchen and living room, and a full bath upstairs with two fairly small bedrooms. My question is should we just put a master bedroom in the basement with a walkin closet and lots of storage, or should we also spend the money on another full bath?the basement is ~480 sq ft

[Al Williamson]

@Brittany Hart those are great questions. Your market has the best answers. What's the going rent on properties that you're trying to emulate? Know the numbers for yourself BEFORE spending on upgrades.

Plus, you can always test your market by running CL ads touting the improved unit BEFORE making the improvements. See how many calls you get.

Lastly, a word of caution, beware of your own personal bias. Don't get emotional during remodeling. Stay with the facts that you pick up doing the hard data mining yourself.

That's how you build the awareness that will make you capable of spotting great opportunities in the future.