What rehab elements tend to increase appraisal value the most?
Specifically in Chicago, any advice on which types of rehab elements an investor in multi-family properties should focus on or give more weight to when deciding how to rehab a multi-family property? For example, in some parts of the country you might simply focus on adding square footage wherever possible. Should I be focusing on adding bedrooms for example? Hardwood floors? Premium kitchen upgrades?
On a related note, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole garden unit topic, which as a newbie I find extraordinarily confusing, especially since it seems to have the power to make or break cash flow. Conforming/non-conforming, legal/illegal.... I believe I've heard non-conforming can't be used for appraisal value, so does that mean I should analyze a garden unit differently when doing my numbers? Since I am cash-flow/BRRRR-minded, spending the extra money to convert an unfinished basement into an extra rental unit seems like maximum value vs. dollars invested for cash flow purposes, yet it seems like I'd need to consider that as sunk costs for the BRRRR side of the equation since (if I'm understanding it correctly), performing that basement upgrade would not add any appraisal value. Am I correct in my thinking here?