I was looking at procuring the flooring from Costco for around $2/sqft and having a local installer put it in, but I should check HD and Lowe's to see what the comparable rates would be.

You can find a lot of meetings on the MAREI calendar, both MAREI's meetings, local landlord group meetings and a few other meetings hosted by our members. 

I am not sure if I should stay local to my market.

Post the listing, Any local investor would be  able to tell you if you were fleeced in the acquisition, Birmingham is notorious for being different street to street. 500k houses one street over from 100k houses.

local REIA groups are filled with investors looking to buy properties.

I'm curious to dive deeper into the Santa Fe market and would love to learn from those with local experience.

I'm calling my local office tomorrow to find out.

Of course there could be some other local businesses that might would want to use or share a couple of the offices that would possibly increase revenue. 

Return:Finishing the basement and adding bedrooms can add significant value, especially if your local market places a premium on additional living space.

I still attend local meet ups and talk to dozens of investors and am considering other strategies like Mid-Term Rentals or rent by the room.