Your home can be a place to live and a source of income at the same time! Instead of waiting many years for your property’s value to rise to sell it at a profit, you can start making money with your home now.
You’re probably used to seeing your home take money away from you on a monthly basis, from property taxes to utility bills. Owning a home doesn’t come cheap. Many Calgarians have already caught onto this and have transformed their home property to include a secondary suite to help with the expenses, primarily adding a basement suite. There are still homeowners that are suffering financially but haven’t explored the option of adding a secondary suite to their property.
A secondary suite is a separate living space created within the main residence of a home that is designed to accommodate a single family. Secondary suites can include basement suites, garden suites and laneway homes, but in Calgary most of these are basements. Be sure you research the regulations for legal suites in your area before you renovate or build.
You should also consider how much income your additional suite will bring in before you create one. Calculate how long it will take you to get back the money you have to spend on your renovation before you will start making money as a landlord.
The obvious way to make money is by energy saving costs. When you build a legal basement in your property, it helps to reduce excess air leaks and undone insulation. This is especially important for the long Calgary winters in reducing the loss of warm air from your home.
The other way to make money is to rent it out!
Many younger families struggle to accumulate a down payment to buy their own home. For this reason, they turn to rental options. Remodeling your basement to accommodate a separate living space will market to those who aren’t ready to take upon a mortgage of their own.
As we mentioned earlier, times are tough, and they may only get harder. You may be experiencing a bit of a struggle to pay off your own mortgage bills. Having a legal basement apart of your home to rent out can help with your expenses significantly. It’s a win-win situation that doesn’t happen regularly.
Not only can this help you during the process of owning your home, it can further increase its value, making it more attractive for future homebuyers.
There’s no better time to add a legal basement to your property. The City of Calgary is waiving fees for the development permit and secondary suite registry until May 31, 2020. These fees will be reinstated in June 2020. To avoid fines, all secondary and backyard suites must be on their suite registry by May 31, 2020.