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I would prefer to finish it myslef so I know it is done right. You have to anticipate the basement will occasionally get water in it over the years and build accordingly. Also keep in mind evolving use. A kids bedroom today may be your weight room in ten years, or a hobby room, or. . .
Cost wise it is better to buy one with a finished basement. Ours cost over $20,000 for materials and I did almost all the work myself. I figure with labor the cost would be around $65,000. The appraisal increased the value of the house by $5,000 due to the finished basement.
Thank you very much for the responses, I am certainly not a handyman, I can fix, maintain some things but I do not have a "bob the builder mode" to switch on, so I was really thinking that I will have to hire a contractor for the major work like flooring, walls, electric, plumbing etc.
Moreover, with the kids nearing the 10s and teens, they are increasingly consuming a lot of time, and I have a feeling it will be unfinished by the time I'm selling it in another 10 -15 years. I think I get the general drift and I have a very warm and fuzzy feeling about opting for the finished basement. I think the difference in $$ is around 25-30k between the 2 houses. You guys rock !!
For 1000sqft, if done yourself $5k-$10k, having it professionally done $15-20k, however it really depends where you live snd how elaborate your tastes are! I personally would rather already have it done, but my DH says he’d rather oversee the work or do it himself to know it’s done right! Plus, make sure the home with the finished basement had permits, otherwise you have zero proof it was done to code!
BTW...If you have kids you will love having the basement finished for them to play in or chill with their friends!!
My advice is to buy the one with the finished basement
We bought our first house (new build) with an unfinished basement and my husband was determined to finish it himself. He did, but with limited time it took 3 years. That was 3 years of having a big mess, 3 years of stuff that was in storage being moved around, 3 years of not being able to enjoy that space. I swore that if we ever moved again the basement would be finished. Fast forward some years and we ended up buying another house with an unfinished basement. With job stress and again lack of time it will never be finished and frankly the idea of having contractors in my house exhausts me. Unless you know you will have a lot of time and can complete the work quickly I'd highly advise buying the one with the finished basement.
Thank you very much for the responses, I am certainly not a handyman, I can fix, maintain some things but I do not have a "bob the builder mode" to switch on, so I was really thinking that I will have to hire a contractor for the major work like flooring, walls, electric, plumbing etc.
Moreover, with the kids nearing the 10s and teens, they are increasingly consuming a lot of time, and I have a feeling it will be unfinished by the time I'm selling it in another 10 -15 years. I think I get the general drift and I have a very warm and fuzzy feeling about opting for the finished basement. I think the difference in $$ is around 25-30k between the 2 houses. You guys rock !!
Then by all means buy a house with a finished basement. It will be way cheaper than hiring someone to do it.
When we did ours, our oldest girls were in early high school. They made their boyfriend wannabes come and help me build the walls for their future bedrooms. The walls lasted a long time. The boyfriends did not. Still, I appreciated their help. they wanted to impress me and worked hard.
We’ve finished 2 basements and I said I’d never do it again. Such a pain. Current house has 1800 sq. ft. finished with full bath, gym, bar, bedroom, etc. It is really great and a big part of why we bought the house. From what I can figure, previous owner spent $85K or so to finish it. I’d really have a hard time buying another home without the basement already done.
Sorry to hijack thread but wondering what anyones' input is regarding this. Feel free to tell me to move this or start a new one.
My sister and her hubby bought a beautiful home, built brand new. It's a beautiful home with an amazing unfinished basement, like 1300 sq feet. I told them it reminds me of a skating rink (in a good way). There is one sorta major problem, though. Basement has zero HVAC. It was the first thing I noticed when I saw it, yet it sucks for them bc they didn't realize it until after the closing. There are no vents, ducting, anything. Is that standard in an "unfinished" basement? To not have any HVAC? Like I said it's a house a guy built from spec and you can tell he made a few mistakes, this being the largest one. They basically bought the house for the basement yet can't use it unless its 60-70 degrees outside.
Assume they need the whole 9, new HVAC and ducting? Even worth it to then have new HVAC and no plumbing, etc?
I can't believe that wasn't the very first thing they (didn't) notice, but that's just me.
When we were faced with this dilemma we chose to have the basement finished as a part of the original construction. By doing that we retained the quality of the original build, we had sufficient heating ducts and electrical outlets installed, and we avoided the potential of future disruption due to having contractors working while we were living there.
Furthermore, as a part of the original mortgage, the cost of having it complete was a small addition.
I had a friend who chose to do it himself. It consumed every weekend for about 5 years and when he finally finished the job, they moved. He never got to enjoy the space.
Thank you very much for the responses, I am certainly not a handyman, I can fix, maintain some things but I do not have a "bob the builder mode" to switch on, so I was really thinking that I will have to hire a contractor for the major work like flooring, walls, electric, plumbing etc.
Moreover, with the kids nearing the 10s and teens, they are increasingly consuming a lot of time, and I have a feeling it will be unfinished by the time I'm selling it in another 10 -15 years. I think I get the general drift and I have a very warm and fuzzy feeling about opting for the finished basement. I think the difference in $$ is around 25-30k between the 2 houses. You guys rock !!
For that "small" amount of a price difference I think you're making a good decision. It's hard to know exactly, but I'm fairly certain that finishing a 1100 sq. ft. basement would cost much more than that. You're gaining 1100 sq. ft of livable space for roughly $25-$30/sq. ft. I'm a nicely finished basement could be done at that price.
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