Yes, although there are a number of buildings in DT and around the city which have strata bylaws which forbid short term rentals (anything under 30 days).

But if you own a detached home, or have a suite in your home, there is absolutely nothing that will stop airbnb.

EDIT:
Oops, good point, I looked at it quuickly, don't know why I thought it was the whole house.

Regardless it appears like vancouver and DT is the main area where rental prices have spiraled out of control, I see plenty of basement suites and stuff within North van and burnaby which seem reasonable. But if you look DT there is some 1000sqft places which want like 5-7k rent. That's a bit out of control. I can't remember it being that high even 2 years ago.

I've never heard that before, so your saying the actual City bylaws prevent short term rentals?

In absolute numbers I'd be liquidating about 40% of my investment portfolio plus a bit that's sitting in savings.

Long term, I see myself here in the foreseeable future probably at least another 5 years. I like the DINKs lifestyle as does the lady I'm shacked up with, but there are grumblings that our place is a bit too small/noisy (it's DT after all). No plans for a family though in the foreseeable future.

My argument's the same as yours. It'll hold value, there's always people wanting to live in DT Van. Good potential Cap rate if it's rented out. Just don't want to be stuck with the place if we need a house in the burbs in 5 years and need to liquidate (or for whatever reason).

^ If you anticipate holding the property for at least 5 years, then I think buying the unit (provided you are buying it at a fair price) seems like a calculated risk.

If something happens after your first mortgage term which requires you to sell, you'll have sufficient equity to offset any short-term fluctuations in the market and any realtor fees you'll need to pay when it comes time to sell. You should be able to build 50K in equity after 5 years, depending on your amortization and interest rate. If you have more appetite for risk, go with 2-year fixed mortgages.

I recently came across a middle-aged couple who sold their Yaletown penthouse suite to a Chinese buyer, who was purchasing the property for his son (who does have Canadian citizenship, so no need to pay the 15% tax). The son's 21st birthday is coming up, so in addition to the suite, he also received a fully loaded Range Rover as well. I guess he got the car, then remarked that he needed somewhere to park it...

Agreed - why would I post a lower rate compared to others in my area, and risk having a shitty tenant move in? I'd rather have someone who can afford the "market rate", which usually means they are respectable, educated, responsible, etc.

While I was looking for a tenant, I received lots of inquiries from desperate-sounding families. I felt bad turning them all away, but it just shows the sad state of affairs in our housing market.

Comparable units in our building have been sold in recent months at $480k and $485k. I'm thinking of going in at no more than $450k seeing as this is a private sale. I might even lowball at $440K seeing as how there's so much market uncertainty at the moment and even though it's a well run building, there are creeping issues arising due to it's age.

The absolute best thing you can do is rent your place slightly lower then you have your pick of the renters.
1 vacant month will reverse a year of the extra 150 rent you charge. I always had my pick of renters in Edmonton and it made my life much less stressful. Ask my former landlord here and she'd tell you after 20 years of renting that it's a better way to do it. To think you get worse tenants by charging less completely goes against the basics of demand.

Thanks for the tip - I charged the same rent as others in my area, and based on the pictures (maybe I'm biased, lol), I felt that my place was the most attractive. I received many inquiries!

But I understand where you're coming from - charge just a bit less (but not a HUGE amount less) so that you can have a bigger pool of potential tenants.

Yes and no.

I tried renting my place at market value. It felt like I was selling a clean M3 in a city of juveniles. I furnished the unit, up the price 50% and I have lawyers, military personnel, and doctors as tenants and don't have to sort through the trash. Best move I've made.

This is why being a slumlord isn't as easy as most people think it is.
TBH, my in-laws did the lower rent approach and had many problem tenants. Mind you, it is also an indicator that their screening process was flawed as well.
When we were renting out our small studio unit, we had many shit prospects when we asked for below market value.
One prime example was the father of the girl that wanted to rent our unit. He complained the stove was too small and had no oven.
Is your daughter going to school or is she here to bake?
Worst part is our unit is 300 sq ft and our ad clearly said 2 burner mini kitchen and no oven.

It was when we raised our rental rate and rented it out furnished that we got better tenants.

iirc i think either gridlock or dino suggested upping the rent a little higher than others in the area too for the above reason.

You need to screen people carefully regardless of price. Anybody who can afford the "rule of thumb" rate income:rent = 4:1 will have the mean to treat your place ok. You don't want people who can barely afford the rental as they will not be able to treat your place nicely even if they want to.

Speaking of rentals...

Vancouver real estate: Poll finds many renters across Metro unhappy | Vancouver Sun

Correct, but having a Bylaw and enforcing them is a completely different story. I don't know how much enforcement if any has actually been carried out yet to be honest.

The Bylaw falls under Licensing so it's 2 fold.

#1 - You're required in the City of Vancouver to get a Business Licence when operating a Business i.e. so renting out your basement requires one legally to get a Business Licence ( I know most don't but that's another story)

#2 - Under the Business Licence Bylaw, short-term rentals (less than 30 days) is not permitted unless you're operating a Hotel or Bed and Breakfast meaning as a Air Bnb you wouldn't be able to get a Licence therefore Air BnB's are not permitted.

Here's an info graphic or text if you prefer of the rules now in Vancouver.

http://vancouver.ca/doing-business/s...m-rentals.aspx

Considering the profit to be made by renting out apartments on AirBnB and VRBO in desirable locations, such as downtown Vancouver, fines whether they be from the city or a strata council are just seen as a cost of doing business.

As far as I know, the Strata Property Act can't force an owner to sell if they are a persistent violator of a strata's bylaws and rules. As long as the owner complies with payment of fines within the time frame alloted in the bylaws, strata councils are largely powerless. Even if a strata gets the city involved and issues the violating owner more fines in addition to what the strata can issue ($200 per violation of a bylaw which is quite frankly, peanuts), until the fines are raised and enforced to a level where it becomes no longer profitable to run a vacation rental business, people will continue to rent out their units. In fact, people don't seem to be discrete about it all considering that there are people I see on my Facebook newsfeed who are proud to disclose to the entire world their success of renting their units on AirBnB.

If you can get it at a deal and within a private sale like that, I'd say it's a no brainer if you plan on being there for 5+ years like you said

Why the fail twitchyzero? I haven't made a decision yet and would like to know all possible opinions.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 28 (12 members and 16 guests)

so many "guests" in this thread :ahwow:

I do both and renting short term on Airbnb or VRBO is a lot more work and has more costs then renting long term. On the plus side with a short term rental if you get a bad renter they are only there for a week or two.

cuz we are helping Ian Young on SCMP write his articles

they better be paying RS royalties or suffa the RS beatdown crew

1. Why are landlords greedy if that is what the market is willing to pay?
2. Rent = mortgage payment is more a function of historically low interest rates, which we all know will go up but not in the near or middle term.

Seeing as you're not in a must buy situation, ball's in your court. But if this is something you and your partner are seriously considering, I personally believe it would be a tough sale at 450k let alone 440k. The realtor fees will likely be in the range of 15-20k, other closing costs are the same regardless of listing with agent or private sale. Seller is probably thinking they could do a quick and easy sale and hook you up at ~470k

Wow, this is beyond fucked up.

https://www.facebook.com/launi.bowie...53557886756707

Woman outraged after realtors solicit business with sympathy card to widow | Globalnews.ca

I seen that, I wonder how much business this is going to cost them? My wife and I agreed if we sell we would not even consider using anyone from Homelife because of this.

That story is beyond blown out of proportion.

I kind of agree. I watched the video and it seems the realtors met the man first, heard of his situation then sent a letter. Not something I would have done, but pending on their intent it could have been just a thoughtful note. A classier act would have been just a letter or card itself without the marketing material. They were walking on a slippery slope and definitell took a wrong step and hit every broadcast station on the way down lol.