Finish Basement or leave? Please advise

[Greg P.]

Hello all. I'm working on a house located in a blue collar mid-lower income neighborhood. ARV is around $135-160k max. The rehab with finishing the basement - adding 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom is $39k then it would go to a 4/2. To not finish basement it would be a 3/1, less sq ft but would cost $23k to do the rehab.

My question is, I've pulled some comps and noticed some of the houses with unfinished basements sold for $135k very quickly and the ones with finished basements around $145k-$150k. Would it be worth it to even finish the basement if the returns would be the same? I understand the house may sell faster and the chance of it selling at even the higher price at $155-165k could be possible, but I'm just not sure.

Please advise.

Thank you!

[Ryan Tam]

I would skip adding the bathroom and lower the selling price. The sooner you get it on the market and sold the less your holding cost. This is especially since the gain isn't much (if any) higher than the difference in reno cost. Save the time and headache and put it on the quicker.