I think there are many over looked opportunities like mother in law suites, finished basements with walk out, finished garage, or building an ADU, renting to room mates to offset cost, etc.

I'm pretty sure it was because when you turned on one of the hose bibs, water came gushing into the laundry room.

We added $40K-$50K refinishing the hardwood floors, removing wallpaper, painting walls and updating the kitchen & bathroom with new cabinets, adding granite countertops and creating a BEAUTIFUL dining room off the kitchen that was wasted space as an enclosed porch, and also added french doors leading out to a newly-built pre-finished deck we added so the new owners could enjoy their gorgeous fenced in backyard.

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As for how much to rent rooms for, you need to look up local listings to see what they rent for. 

I only have about 2 grand in savings, 10 grand in stocks/roth Ira/401k, and credit score of 760.

Even back then there were a lot of high rise hotels where you could get a decent condo-style room with hot water, cable tv etc for really cheap ($15-20USD/night).

That can be renting out rooms in a house to buying a 2,3, or 4plex and living in one of the units while renting the others out.

. - Understand the upside of the "rent by the room" strategy- Understand the upside of any repairs that can be made to the main unit. - Understand the cost/value of completing an ADU project- Underwrite mid-term and short-term upside cases as well. 

I also did a full cosmetic update of the sunroom and kitchen and am slowly working my way through the house to do the rest of the rooms as well.