If your basement doesn't have enough height, you may not want to spend
too much effort in converting it into a living space; may as well just
leave it for storage and as a workshop. Otherwise, you may have a hard
time getting a home-gym machine installed in a not-tall-enough
basement, and you may get a higher property tax as a return for your
effort.

Of course, you still need to prevent water from entering into the
basement regardless if you want to convert it into a living space or
not.

On the other hand, if your basement has enough height, it can be a good
candidate for converting into a living space.

Jay Chan