Castanet

Air BnB is most definitely having an effect on vacancy rates here..it's the newest Kelowna cash cow..condos on the lake Air BnB for $300+ per night...in one mth a person can make $9K in rental revenue or just $1600 per mth..

Air BnB is killing the rental market..

and I agree, the cost to buy here right now is way too over priced..crackshacks (that need MAJOR improvements) are starting at $500k and up...crazy..

and...some Landlords are kicking out long term good Tenants to increase the rent more than the allowable yrly percentage..

W105 wrote:Air BnB is most definitely having an effect on vacancy rates here..it's the newest Kelowna cash cow..condos on the lake Air BnB for $300+ per night...in one mth a person can make $9K in rental revenue or just $1600 per mth..

Air BnB is killing the rental market..

and I agree, the cost to buy here right now is way too over priced..crackshacks (that need MAJOR improvements) are starting at $500k and up...crazy..

and...some Landlords are kicking out long term good Tenants to increase the rent more than the allowable yrly percentage..

As a landlord there is way more upside to weekly rentals...and it's been around for a long time, not kelownas newest cash cow. There is upside and downside to both, just have to decide which way is better suited for you. Many other rental sites for weekly rentals also..

Liquidnails wrote:Where did I say landlords are charging too much?

You took exception to my post saying that her accusation of landlords charging too much was unfounded. You disputed my assessment of the investment viability, you said I know nothing and went on to say why she's correct. She may have lucked out with a market change but it's still clear that at this moment in time, selling the property and investing via a bank is a much better option.

The point of the thread was to contest her statement that landlords are gouging.

TylerM4 wrote:https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-story-198830-10-.htm#198830

I got a chuckle out of this letter. The writer claims landlords are ripping people off, then goes on to say she rents a 10yo 2000sqft fully furnished townhouse out for $2000 with utilities included and still makes money.

Let's do some simple math, using some assumptions:
- 10yo 2000sqft fully furnished townhouse in Rutland is worth approximately $400,000 depending on location and condition (Perhaps this is a little high?)
- 5 year fixed mortgage rate with 25 year amortization: Best rate I could find is 2.59%

Using an online calculator - that's a bi-weekly payment of $941! Assuming an average of 30 day month - $2016 a month!
Leaving nothing for utilities, property tax, repairs, maintenance, insurance, and the odd missed payment due to bad tenants or turnover.

If that same $400,000 was invested you could expect a nearly risk-free return of 6% (more if you're willing to take some risk) with no effort on her behalf. That calculates to 24,000 a year AKA $2,000 a month.

I think this women needs some help assessing her investment strategy. Even if the place is only worth $350,000, the numbers aren't even close to adding up.

Im not sure why youre basing your opinion on whether you feel the price this person is charging for rent is fair based on what you think their mortaging?

2k is fair imo. And further to that, rental should be based on market value not what you think the property oweners position is regarding what they paid for the property or what their mortage is.

monroe wrote:Im not sure why youre basing your opinion on whether you feel the price this person is charging for rent is fair based on what you think their mortaging?

2k is fair imo. And further to that, rental should be based on market value not what you think the property oweners position is regarding what they paid for the property or what their mortage is.

I'm saying that charging $2k is getting a poor return on her investment and that a landlord isn't "gouging" if he/she is charging more.

Yea, sorry Tyler, i read that on the fly.

Coincidentally enough, we're going through that right now with our own property.

Read the letter when it came out.
Nice of her to offer a place to rent to students for 2 thou a month. Perhaps having good responsible tenants she will, and perhaps many others, will offer a better rental rate.
Reality is the owner of the property would like a reasonable rate of return, 6% has been mentioned but 5% is a number I used. ( own the property) Add taxes and insurance and maintenance and you would have a rental of about $2100 +/ month on a $400,000 property. Alternative would to sell like my brother has and bank it. ( displaced a renter as new owners are living in the house). Have a lousy renter like I ended up with after giving her a legal notice of eviction, and you can end up with a head banging exercise with the RTB because she felt slighted being inconvenienced for a legal eviction.
My space is now going to be office space, nothing where the one sided RTB can get involved.
In talking to people about long term renting, many have gone to Air B&B and short term for the very reason of the RT branch.
Solutions to high rent.....structure valuations go down significantly, taxes go down, insurance go down...Think you have a better chance going to Mars ...

Lots of good rentals on the market for less than $1200. Just gotta look outside of the mainstream media.

As a landlord, I will say that I rent my suite for the "going rate". Before I post an ad, I look around for comparables then price accordingly. My last tenant paid $800 for a 1 bdrm suite. They stayed 3 years. My new tenant pays $1100. Am I gouging? I don't think so. I don't need the money, I could live without out, but why should I charge less than someone is willing to pay? This is how our market works for every service.

As for $2,000 per month for a 2000 sqft house. I think it could easily be higher. The owner is the one holding the mortgage and if the house sits vacant for a few months, is the one who has to absorb the loss. The tenant can cut their loss as they please. If this tenant doesn't like spending $2,000 per month, it's not because the rental is too expensive, it's because they want to pay less for it. By all means, pay less and live elsewhere. As a tenant, that's their choice.

Nothing is too expensive. It's just a perception. Things are sold for whatever price buyers are willing to pay. And having sales, (in this case a paying renter), justifies the price.

You're absolutely right about adjusting your price to the market.

Its sounds like you're also a landlord that is in a good financial position to reduce your rental rate by 40% when the market demand takes a downturn.

Hello, I am a long time reader first time poster to these forums.
First off I should say that I am a renter amidst this rental crisis or circus whatever you may call it. I come from a single parent family that didn't afford me the best start to my adult life so now im in my thirties and have a career in the trades on the go and a wife-to-be. We (my fiance and I) moved to Kelowna six years ago because of the volume of work here we also knew that when we moved here we would have to take a wage cut (sunshine tax) to be able to live and work in beautiful kelowna little did we know of the vow of poverty that was thrust apon us over the past six years as our wages have remained stagnant and our rental housing has gone up 45% *( we have lived in the same townhouse for that duration) i have had many conversations with my landlord as to rent increase was not legal or legitamized ( NO upgrades were completed in my units in six years or the many years before that) my land lord pretty much told us to pay up or get out, but because so few sutable properties on the market we had to pay up, I could understand a rental increase IF units were upgraded or even well maintained but the fact of the matter is we are paying 2017 prices on a building from 1976 with almost all original structure, electrical and plumbing not to mention 2x4 wall and insulation and the landords reasoning is beyond my brain capacity simply stated by him that other units with aprox the same layout and sqft are going for the same price. Ive tried expaining the facts to him like these other rentals are not as old or have been renovated to a point where they are next to new units but this is like beating a dead horse with this man, so long story short my wife-to-be and I our looking at the possiblity of leaving kelowna, leaving the province, if sutable work and housing can not be found, This would be a shame because on more than a few occations my company has told myself that i am the best man they've got and i have put my stamp of thousands of new and reno'd buildings here in the Okanagan. I dont want to have to move cities and jobs and start all over again because WE cant or dont want to pay the ridiculous prices of housing (many of them dumps or cells with a high price tag) in the Okanagan.

danny85 wrote:Hello, I am a long time reader first time poster to these forums.
First off I should say that I am a renter amidst this rental crisis or circus whatever you may call it. I come from a single parent family that didn't afford me the best start to my adult life so now im in my thirties and have a career in the trades on the go and a wife-to-be. We (my fiance and I) moved to Kelowna six years ago because of the volume of work here we also knew that when we moved here we would have to take a wage cut (sunshine tax) to be able to live and work in beautiful kelowna little did we know of the vow of poverty that was thrust apon us over the past six years as our wages have remained stagnant and our rental housing has gone up 45% *( we have lived in the same townhouse for that duration) i have had many conversations with my landlord as to rent increase was not legal or legitamized ( NO upgrades were completed in my units in six years or the many years before that) my land lord pretty much told us to pay up or get out, but because so few sutable properties on the market we had to pay up, I could understand a rental increase IF units were upgraded or even well maintained but the fact of the matter is we are paying 2017 prices on a building from 1976 with almost all original structure, electrical and plumbing not to mention 2x4 wall and insulation and the landords reasoning is beyond my brain capacity simply stated by him that other units with aprox the same layout and sqft are going for the same price. Ive tried expaining the facts to him like these other rentals are not as old or have been renovated to a point where they are next to new units but this is like beating a dead horse with this man, so long story short my wife-to-be and I our looking at the possiblity of leaving kelowna, leaving the province, if sutable work and housing can not be found, This would be a shame because on more than a few occations my company has told myself that i am the best man they've got and i have put my stamp of thousands of new and reno'd buildings here in the Okanagan. I dont want to have to move cities and jobs and start all over again because WE cant or dont want to pay the ridiculous prices of housing (many of them dumps or cells with a high price tag) in the Okanagan.

Welcome to the Forums.

You could always fight any increase and/or sue your landlord for money owed.

Take him to court, win and then find a new place. Although you'd have a hard time proving you HAD to pay him. The counter argument is that you could have just moved... he didn't force you to pay.

A Landlord can increase rent each year up to (but not greater than) the percentage equal to the inflation rate plus two percent. The allowable rent increase for each calendar year is available on the Residential Tenancy Branch's website. For 2017, the allowable rent increase is 3.7%.

danny85 wrote:Hello, I am a long time reader first time poster to these forums.
First off I should say that I am a renter amidst this rental crisis or circus whatever you may call it. I come from a single parent family that didn't afford me the best start to my adult life so now im in my thirties and have a career in the trades on the go and a wife-to-be. We (my fiance and I) moved to Kelowna six years ago because of the volume of work here we also knew that when we moved here we would have to take a wage cut (sunshine tax) to be able to live and work in beautiful kelowna little did we know of the vow of poverty that was thrust apon us over the past six years as our wages have remained stagnant and our rental housing has gone up 45% *( we have lived in the same townhouse for that duration) i have had many conversations with my landlord as to rent increase was not legal or legitamized ( NO upgrades were completed in my units in six years or the many years before that) my land lord pretty much told us to pay up or get out, but because so few sutable properties on the market we had to pay up, I could understand a rental increase IF units were upgraded or even well maintained but the fact of the matter is we are paying 2017 prices on a building from 1976 with almost all original structure, electrical and plumbing not to mention 2x4 wall and insulation and the landords reasoning is beyond my brain capacity simply stated by him that other units with aprox the same layout and sqft are going for the same price. Ive tried expaining the facts to him like these other rentals are not as old or have been renovated to a point where they are next to new units but this is like beating a dead horse with this man, so long story short my wife-to-be and I our looking at the possiblity of leaving kelowna, leaving the province, if sutable work and housing can not be found, This would be a shame because on more than a few occations my company has told myself that i am the best man they've got and i have put my stamp of thousands of new and reno'd buildings here in the Okanagan. I dont want to have to move cities and jobs and start all over again because WE cant or dont want to pay the ridiculous prices of housing (many of them dumps or cells with a high price tag) in the Okanagan.

Someone once told me when you rent something, use it to it's maximum capacity to get all of your money's worth. Not your fault if the "wear and tear" on the place increases 45% after the rent increase? You're just trying to get your money's worth. Stoves, dishwashers, laundry machines, furnaces, toilets, tubs, water heaters, flooring, walls, light switches, knobs, they all wear out with general usage.

But at the end of the day, if your wage is nowhere in site of the cost of living, leave dodge. Kelowna is simply not worth it unless you're making $120K + household income. Young families are leaving Kelowna all the time. The wages don't support a healthy lifestyle for your average family. A starter home for a family that moves here is a total dump. Much better places for a starter family elsewhere in Canada. Or USA>

https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2017/08/31/landlords-can-no-longer-evict-tenants-without-compensation.html

From the link:


Ontario tenants will have more protection from eviction starting Friday.

That’s when new measures aimed at stopping landlords from turfing people from their rental units will take effect.

Effective Friday, when a landlord ends a tenancy to have family members move in, people evicted must receive compensation.

“When a tenant is evicted through no fault of their own, they are forced to scramble to find new accommodations and cover the costs of a sudden move,” Housing Minister Peter Milczyn said in a statement.

Landlords will have to pay one month’s rent to the evicted tenant or offer him or her another comparable rental unit.

There will also be a new measure in place to ensure that an apartment isn’t vacated, ostensibly for a relative, and, less than one year later, rented out to someone else.

“If the landlord advertises, re-rents or demolishes/converts the unit within one year, she or he will be considered to have acted in bad faith, unless they can prove otherwise and could face a fine of up to $25,000,” the government says.

“The new measures will help protect tenants by discouraging landlords from unlawfully evicting them, whether for conversion of the unit into a short-term rental or immediately re-renting it at a higher rate.”


Wow, it's about time. People need protection from illegal and shady evictions. Good for Ontario.