How to Analyze Finished vs Unfinished Basement Comps?

[Marvin S.]

Hey guys!

I originally was trying to assess if a home we found for a vacation home was a great deal. 

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/88/topics/1669...

I received a lot of awesome feedback and have learned a lot. I just purchased the house flipping and estimate rehab books from BP. But while finding comps I ran into a problem...

How do you analyze comps with finished basements vs comps with unfinished basements?

I'm trying to get a general assessment of Price/SQFT based on turn key ready homes in order to establish my ARV. But the home we are looking at has an unfinished basement and all the other homes in the area have their basements finished. Do I simply not calculate that square footage into the equation?

I appreciate any advice or links that you share in advance!

[Mike Hurney]

@Marvin S. I only made this mistake once, 1997.

I finished a Basement and it never made it to an Appraiser's Report. They said "...it's below grade and could not be counted. However if you put the same $25k into a second floor we could have doubled or tripled that expenditure based on the finish!"