I’m happy to announce that after waiting many months of renovations to be over, after getting blown off by some student tenants, after showing the basement suite to multiple people who said “I’ll call you soon”, we have actual tenants! Copied the keys, labeled them and gave them to the tenants and received a nice safety deposit and rent! I almost was skeptical that this would happen and kept waiting for that email to say “Oh I’m sorry we decided against moving in”, but it didn’t happen thankfully. I can now breathe a sigh of relief because they have signed for one year.
I suppose it’s a case of “lowered expectations” because initially we priced it $100 higher than it was and asked for the tenants to pay 50% of the electricity. Then we decreased the price to what it is now and asked for 50% of the electricity. Then we decided to include the electricity LOL. We also were pretty flexible and included some furniture like a bed and a television (that we had previously) if they asked for it.
I’ve been hush hush about the passive income front for tenants because there actually hasn’t been any action. At all.
I’m sure I’ll be learning lots as we go along and I’ll be sure to post updates on how it’s going for all of you guys to see.
PF Blog Love
- Afford Anything teaches us how to escape our office job
- Retire by 40 shares 3 Lessons he has learned from the Occupy Portland Clearing
- Little House in the Valley gives us some tips on how to stay warm without having to crank up the heat (I think I should get BF to read this since he is absolutely against lowering the heat- we’ve been having some thermostat wars LOL)
- My University Money gives some tips for new grads on where to look for their next job
- My Own Advisor gives some strategies on how to get started with DRIPS and SPP’s and Dividend Ninja does the same because they’re sharing the series!
- Krant Cents gives 5 traits of an entrepreneur- do you possess these traits?
- The Freedom 35 (and fellow Vancouverite) blog invested in Cineplex and thinks you should go watch a movie to help out his 5% dividend!
- In case you haven’t heard, My Personal Finance Journey hosts a monthly giveaway of 10% of his blog income (which is substantial LOL) with a portion donated to charity. Go enter!
- Boomer and Echo shares step 9 of his 11 steps to financial freedom
- Another great contest I wanted to share: Frugal Dad is giving away 1 of 5 $50 Amazon Gift Cards. Go enter and try your luck!
- Sorry this isn’t a PF blog, but I wanted to tell you about this film called “Generation Boomerang” about how 51% of adult children 20-29 are still living at home. Sounds like an interesting documentary. It aired on CBC last week.
If you haven’t yet entered the giveaway, do so now!
enter the youngandthrifty.ca blogiversary contest now:
Enjoy being a landlord – it has its perks (the cheques) and stress but well worth it.
@Steve Zussino- Yeah! I feel like a mother hen already. Maybe I’m a natural?
Y&T Thanx for the mention!
Looks like all your reno work is finally going to pay off. Impressive job miss, not many gen Ys in Vancouver can call themselves a landlord. This will certainly inspire others to also strive for success. Congrats, and thanks for the mention.
@LI- Thanks! Well, I will define success when I pay off my massive mortgage lol! Right now, cash flow is improved with tenants in basement and it is doing wonders for my starving student budget.
Thanks for the link, welcome to the landlord conundrum! I would rather ask for a lower rent, but have the tenant pay for the utilities. It is a variable that can affect you. When I offered my home for rent, I included the pool service and lawn service. I included the services to make sure that the property is kept up. They had to pay the utilities.
@krantcents- Yeah- we found that most people didn’t seem very interested in paying for utilities separately and there is no way we can “separate” the electricity bill because it’s under the same bill.. what are your thoughts on this KC?
Thanks for the mention Y&T!
Have a great weekend on the wild West Coast!
Liquid Independence said:
“Impressive job miss, not many gen Ys in Vancouver can call themselves a landlord. This will certainly inspire others to also strive for success.”
You can’t be from the Vancouver area (lower mainland), it is one of the only ways any couple can *afford* a dwelling. Take a drive around the city/outer districts and try and guess how many houses have *mortgage helpers*…
congrats on the basement dwellers. hope glad tidings and a hassle free occupants.
Congrats on the new tenants!
@IIW- Thanks Kevin!
Thanks for including my link! and congrats on the tenants.
@Little House- Thanks for stopping by! Are you excited for December break yet? (cus I am!! haha) I hope your school isn’t too busy for you
Congratulation on getting a tenant! Have you looked into installing their own electrical meter? Thanks for the mention!
@RB40- Hey Joe! I have thought about that (great idea by the way) but the problem is, our suite isn’t 100% legalized (but 90% of the basement suites in Vancouver aren’t legal either) therefore we can’t get separate electrical meters. For it to be legal, we would need to have 6 foot five ceilings and ours is just 6 foot or so. Therefore it would be a huge pain to lift the basement ceiling up.
Congrats on the tenants. This is awesome and I am sure a relief.
@Miss T- Super relief! Especially with half my previous income and school tuition!
Cool contest! Looks like we started our blog about a year after you! Did you enter our contest as well?
@Sustainable PF- I did
Does that mean I get more chances to win because I’m you’re “big sister” from the west?
Entered here: http://sustainablepersonalfinance.com/monthly-link-love-celebration-edition/
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