In fact I turned my 2 1/2 car garage into a gym complete with rubber flooring, two chin up towers, dumb bell weight rack 5-85lbs, bench & a flat screen tv to do P90 in.

There was a roofing (installation) company, the roofing supplier, a garage door company, and a couple of other smaller businesses that were related to construction.I had just bought supplies from the roofing supply company not more than 2 months ago.My plywood supplier is gone.

Comparable means same beds, baths, garage, approximate size, style, construction, etc.

He held a garage sale and netted well over $1,000.

I think for most people, the arguent that, "it's a good investment" is mostly something that helps them convince themselves.The thought process might be something like the following:Two bedrooms upstairs for the kids...an extra den/office.. we could put your mom in their... nice living room...that's where the flat screen will go.. great garage... nice backyard for bbqs with family and friends... oh and its a good investment.Might even be considered a rite of passage into some next step of adulthood.

(garage converted to room, illegal)I really want that property and the only options for me to go with FHA.

If you tore down the pool house and pool and built a garage with apartment above (at a cost of $150K), still to be used as part of your personal residence for guests, and the new value of the property was still $750K, then I don't think you could roll all $900K you had spent to date into the basis once you converted the estate to a rental.The principle is that you disposed of a personal asset- the pool/pool house, with a basis of $150K, for a loss. 

Or anything with HOAs or where the owner pays ANY utilities.Around here enclosing the garage and thereby adding heated square feet was popular once but I don't like those, primarily because I see a lot of people that want an actual garage.The sweet spot here are 3/2s, though the spoiled college crowd demands a private bath with each bedroom.Speaking of the spoiled set, I just rented a four-bed to three college girls who converted the fourth bedroom into a MAKEUP ROOM.

I recently did a 800 sq.ft up plus garage and full basement.

The covenants for our development make no mention of auto tunnels - they state that "all residences must have a two car garage minimum.