“When Caitlin Dowling and her husband Dave Knight bought their house at Fraser and 10th about a year ago, they wound up going over budget — like just about every purchaser these days in the city’s red hot real estate market.They had to choose between a house that offered rental opportunities or a smaller townhouse, and chose the former.“We ended up stretching,” Dowling said in an interview. “We went a bit beyond our means.” To cover the gap, they hopped on what seems to be a growing bandwagon: they rented the top floor of their house through the short-term online rental site Airbnb.Since starting to take in visitors around the beginning of March, she estimates they have pulled in roughly $2,000 a month to help cover $2,500-a-month mortgage payments.The couple is not alone. A poll conducted by an insurance company found that 43 per cent of Vancouverites who own houses are renting basement suites, laneway homes or other parts of their residences.”
– Vancouver Sun, 25 August 2015,
via Mortgage helpers go mainstream in Vancouver.
Vancouver Real Estate Anecdote Archive 