When is the best time to finish a basement?Is it when the house is first built or after we have lived in the house for a while?

The best answer is that it depends on the circumstance. If you’re building with the bank’s money,are a first-time buyer and you don’t intend on living in the house more than a few years,finish it. Finish the basement as soon as you can so when you move in, you can quickly enjoy it. Another reason is, once you move into the house the bank will close out your loan and you will have to come up with enough money to finish it on your own. This is the primary reason why you have so many unfinished basements because they promised to finish it later and never did.  Some people have tried paying their contractors in advance and planned for them to come back after they moved in,so guess what. They never came back to finish the basement.

If you plan on living in the house long-term, you definitely want to finish the basement later. The best thing is you will be able to move into the house much earlier, and it will make your monthly payments lower.  You will have much more time to decide how you would like to finish it out.  Last, it has a potential of lowering your property taxes on the overall square footage of living space in your home.