31 May Should Rent my property furnished or unfurnished? One of the most common questions we get asked is whether rent a property furnished or unfurnished. Let’s have a look at the advantages and disadvantages of renting your furnished property. Disadvantages of renting a furnished property Higher Vacancy Rate Furnished properties are usually rented as temporary accommodation. Tenancies are usually shorter and…
08 May Buying a home during the COVID-19 pandemic Trying to buy a house or business location during a pandemic is anything but easy. While people are fending off the worst of the epidemic with social distancing and only going out for essentials, it’s easy to think that buying a home right now is impossible. Lucky for potential homeowners, real estate agents…
04 May BC Hydro Financial Relief With not only our nation but our entire world in the middle of a crisis, many of us have lost our income, and for how long no one knows. This affects everyone, because everyone is at risk of catching COVID-19, becoming unemployed, or incurring huge amounts of debt due to a loved one becoming sick or…
08 Apr Don’t Panic – Buy and Stockpile Amid the Coronavirus Crisis By now, it should go without saying that stockpiling and panic-buying does no help to anyone. Though feeling panicked and afraid is entirely reasonable throughout a global pandemic is entirely normal, we need to be careful how we react amid these times. Getting wrapped up in the panic and mob…
02 Apr Financial Support for Tenants and Owners during COVID-19 With the whole province under a State of Emergency, and the government mandating the closure of non-essential businesses, finances are tight for countless Canadians. Thus, the provincial and the federal government have begun to find ways to support those who need it the most so we can all get through the global…
30 Mar What Landlords Need to Know During COVID-19 pandemic The global market has frozen. Trade has halted as countries close their borders and are taking drastic measures to manage and combat the disease amongst their population. The economic effect has been immense with global supply chains ceased, businesses shuttered as customers are homebound, and repercussive squeezes in the labour market as…
15 Jan Airbnb continues to be a great platform to turn available space into a profitable business. For people with extra rooms in popular cities or vacation homeowners looking to monetize their property when it’s not in use, there is something for every kind of traveller. In the early days of Airbnb, the target market tended to be a little more frugal,…
09 Dec The regulations surrounding what rules a landlord can enforce regarding pets in their rental unit fall under provincial jurisdiction. As such, there are a variety of laws nationwide that govern precisely what recourse an owner has when it comes to enforcing a pet policy. In British Columbia, Section 18 of the Residential Tenancy Act, allows landlords to restrict pets completely,…
28 Nov Very often, people purchase vacation rental properties because they want to have a vacation home for their family to enjoy. And, by turning the property into a rental investment, they can cover the costs of maintaining the house throughout the year. In many cases, if the property is in regular use, it means the owner can enjoy the property at…
11 Nov Everyone knows that you can use Airbnb to rent out your vacation property. That you can earn money from your primary residence while you’re out of town. Or even that you could make a side income by letting out an extra room in your home to budget-conscious travellers. The system has become so ubiquitous that many people talk about booking…
21 Oct When you think of how Airbnb has turned an entire industry on its head, it’s pretty amazing. Just 11 years ago, it was two roommates in San Francisco looking to help pay their rent by offering short-term rentals of their air mattress. The company that was initially called Airbedandbreakfast.com, today has more than 4 million active listings in almost 200…
02 Oct Sometimes it seems like the Vancouver and Whistler real estate markets are so far-saturated that they won’t make suitable investments. For anyone just now considering their first rental property(s), there is a real fear that the moment may have passed. Even buyers looking to invest in vacation properties have had concerns that it’s not the opportunity it once was. However,…
17 Sep They’ve long been telling us that one-day smart devices would solve all of our problems. Articles going back 15 years were talking about refrigerators that would give you health tips and reorder your favourite foods before you ever run out. The future was going to be a technological marvel. Well, the future is now. While 5G and the “Internet of…
12 Sep If you operate a rental property in British Columbia, you will want to be regularly following the Provincial Government’s annual rental increase allowance rate. For 2020, the rental increase allowance is 2.6%. As a landlord, rental increases are what allows you to make proper capital expenditures to maintain your property in a state of good repair. A failure to keep…
04 Sep In April of 2018, investors were caught a little by surprise when Whistler overtook Vancouver as Canada’s hottest housing market. A detached house in Whistler was going for about 4% more than a home in Vancouver. And, it’s safe to say that the trend has continued through 2019. Of course, numbers like this make investors stand up and take…
01 Aug It used to be that people came to Whistler for the snow. The 5,000 plus vertical feet provided one of the best downhill winter adventures anywhere in the world. When Vancouver hosted the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, it was Whistler that hosted most of the downhill events and for perfectly good reasons. Winter sports are fantastic at Whistler. However, in…
17 Jul A short-term rental has always been a great way to earn some extra dollars on your vacation property when it’s not in use by your family. However, in the past, it’s been time-consuming to manage and something that most property owners did very occasionally. With the rise of sites like Airbnb and HomeAway, many people who had been merely dabbling…
01 May Being a landlord is not a very easy job. This can be proven by a lot of landlords who manage a lot of properties. You might see on televisions and magazines that being a landlord is an easy life but this is not always the case. You have to dedicate every hour of the day to your tenants’ needs. It…
19 Apr How to Triple Your Rental Profits with Airbnb Airbnb is a wonderful resource for landlords as they try to increase their profits. Long-term rentals can usually go for $900-1000/month while the same place can be sold for $100-120 per night for a short-term or vacation stay. The difference in earning potential between short-term and long-term rentals can be a major…
17 Apr Having your own property for rent can bring you an indefinite stream of income that many people want. However, if you are new to the game, it takes some time, patience, and capital in order to succeed. If you are not a well-organized landlord, you might not be able to find trustworthy tenants that will take care of your property…
