Should I pull a building permit for my house hack rehab?

[Elliott G.]

I just graduated from college May of 2019 and soon as I did I bought a single family home to house hack. It's 2 bedroom 1 bath with an attached garage and an attached screened in patio. I have lived there about 7 months now and have had a tenant occupying the other room the entire time. The home is in a good location and I didn't have all too much trouble finding any of the tenants or charging good rent. Now that I have saved enough to begin some of the major renovations I plan to convert the attached garage into a bedroom then also rent that out. My question is, should I get a building permit and have the county recognize my additions or just do the additions and not have then recognize it. If I just go ahead and do the renovations it'll be alot cheaper, I don't have to pay the additional taxes on the value of the additions and it will be significantly faster that I can finish and put a new tenant in there to help me start collecting more rent. But in the other hand if I do need to refinance or try to sell the house way down the line all the value I added to the house may be more difficult for me to access. Any advice? If it helps my plan is to buy and hold while I continue to buy more properties.

[Jay M.]

Always get a permit.  Especially anything to do with electric, plumbing or gas fitting...  Did you know most insurance policies are voided if improvements are not permitted?