Toronto’s steep rise in real estate prices in the past ten years, has led to many young and middle aged people purchasing homes with rental units. This allows them to make sure that their new home is earning them money to help with the steep mortgage payment that they incur to live in this beautiful city. It is a great way to make sure that you get all the advantages of living close to the TTC, losing the 2 hour commute to work, but still maintaining a backyard and a realistic amount of room for your family to live in. It also pays off an asset that may otherwise be out of your reach and gives you a healthy extra income which can be otherwise hard to get.

Renting good units in Toronto’s core has always been a breeze, with the main problem being sorting through the torrential amount of applicants one receives. Now the standout word in the sentence above is “good” unit. Good units attract better renters with more stable incomes and good references, allowing you to charge more while having less stress at the same time. These things all add up to a great investment return in both cash and stress. Hence the question “what are renters looking for and what makes a great apartment?”

Light

Dark gloomy chopped up spaces are a thing of the past, and with the amount of visuals available to people today they are not impressed with underlit spaces with no natural light. Fortunately, there are ways of improving this to make sure you are the most well lit unit in the area. Here are a few:

Pot-lights

Pot-lights add a powerful even light while maintaining the height clearance that everyone is desperate for. Having the lights blazing (put in LED’s so this cost very little) during your showings will make the space you currently have feel bigger and more inviting and get you that rent increase you are after.

Window and door size increase

This is my favourite and something that really makes a unit standout. Those small old windows from the 50’s and that solid steel door need to go. Increasing the size of these windows 40-50%floods units in natural light and also makes the unit feel so much bigger with site lines that now run outside. Change that old exterior door for a full frosted glass door, flooding the entranceway with light while maintaining your renters privacy. Having done this to units, clients are always blown away by the difference it makes to that old cramped space.

Height

This one is tough and somewhere where every inch counts. This can increase your rent dramatically as well as the beauty and liveability of your apartment, but you need to weigh the cost vs rent increase carefully. In order to increase the height of your basement apartment, a process called underpinning is necessary and something we can go further into detail in a separate blog. In order to underpin you must gut your entire Basement, so this option is usually only advised if you are doing a full renovation. This height will make a tremendous difference on your renters though and allow you to increase your rent substantially. This will be the number one way to launch your apartment into the forefront of the rental market and give you premium choice of both tenants and renters.

Tactile updates

These are the visual upgrades that make renters want to live in your apartment. I’ll list these things in order of cost to upgrade so you can start to see where the best use of your money is.

Paint

This is a must and you should do this every time your unit changes hands. Keep your tones neutral and light, and avoid colours like beige that renters have been used to seeing in their units for the past ten years. Nothing makes a place feel more clean bright and cared for then a good paint job with well chosen colours.

Flooring and trim

Those old scratched bubbled floors and trim from the 50’s have to go. The market for product has grown tremendously in the past 5-10 years in this category making a little research go a long way. Shopping for good value here will lead to a bright fresh appearance to your unit.

Cabinetry and Tile

That old counter top and peeling cabinet doors can be a major turn off to renters, especially with the glut of condo alternatives on the market all with bright new kitchens. It is quite easy to get cheap affordable kitchens and vanities these days that can make sure that good renters stick around and pay more rent.

At Alair our staff have good experience with both budgets and construction know how, and would be glad to sit down with you and go over both your project and budget. We can advise you on the best return for your dollar, where we don’t think you should spend money and where we think it would be better spent to earn you more money in the long run. Give us a call and we will be glad to come out and give you some advice and get you started on the right path to increasing the return on your home investment!