800 square foot basement apartment - 2 bedroom granny suite. How much would rent be?

[Eug]

I am renovating my basement. Contrary to the norm, it's actually going to be a legal granny suite, with full kitchen, 2 bedrooms (12x11 and 10x9 IIRC), 1 living room, maple engineered hardwood everywhere (14 mm 10-layer, on top of Dricore), upper mid-end bathroom (with heated floor, great big rain shower, etc.). Will have a wall-mounted 42" LCD and free HD cable and networking. Brand new solid hardwood or bamboo kitchen cupboards, and gas stove. Probably granite countertop, but I'm not sure yet. Large windows at chest level in the bedrooms, since the basement floor is actually 1-2 feet below grade at the back, basically walkout level. All new R12 insulation, and bedrooms will have dual heating - forced air, with baseboard electric as a backup, with a personal thermostat in each bedroom. The living room will have a wall-mounted electric fireplace. The ceilings and internal walls are all sound insulated. The ceiling height is around 6'7"-ish. (I didn't lower the floor because of the enormous cost and hassle, and because both I and my spouse are not tall so the height is perfectly fine for us.) Washer dryer is available but will be shared by me.

It's located in the Scarborough Bluffs right by the lake, in a nice area about 1 km south of Kingston Road. (The area is mostly small bungalows or small two-story 50s brick homes, but many are being torn down by contractors for McMansions.) Lots of dog walkers, joggers, and cyclists go through the neighbourhood.

How much would something like that go for? I'm guessing that if I actually wanted to rent it out, it'd be close to $1000, but then I wonder if it'd be less because it's 1 km from a TTC route (bus) and the washer/dryer is shared. However, there will be an available parking space, and free 24/7 street parking too. Driving to the Union Station area is about 30-35 minutes in morning rush hour, or under 20 minutes on the weekend.

The reason I ask is because a family member will be staying with us for a few months, and wants to pay me rent. I will only charge a small token amount because I don't want to charge her rent, and technically it's not a separate apt. anyway since as I said the washer/dryer will be shared, and the stairway between the basement and our main floor is not closed off. (I actually could make it separate since I have a separate side door to the granny suite, and I have the space and the plumbing for a washer-dryer upstairs, but I have no desire to do that since we want the space for ourselves after our family member moves out.) Nonetheless, I'm curious how much basement apt. rents are these days in this area. I don't know because most of the rentals I've seen are further north and closer to Kingston Road, in smaller older homes.

BTW, in case you're wondering this definitely won't be a long term move-in. The person who is moving in actually currently has nicer place than mine but it's in London, ON, and most of her consulting work is in Toronto or Vancouver, so London is inconvenient. She'll be selling her place in London this summer, and buying a condo in Toronto. However, she wants to sell first to have the cash available in hand before buying.

 

[urbandreamer]

$750-$800 inclusive.

 

[Eug]

Hmmm... That's a little lower than I expected, although I'm not completely surprised. Why though do you say that? Is it because of the location? ie. Nice place, but a 1 km walk to the bus, and in the inner burbs? Or is it because of the shared laundry? (To be honest, a shared laundry would turn me off too if I were a renter.)

 

[cdr108]

Hmmm... That's a little lower than I expected, although I'm not completely surprised. Why though do you say that? Is it because of the location? ie. Nice place, but a 1 km walk to the bus, and in the inner burbs? Or is it because of the shared laundry? (To be honest, a shared laundry would turn me off too if I were a renter.)

have you done a search on MLS, craigslist, kijiji, etc to give you an idea of what rents would be?

with the above you can narrow down the location and possibly see some pics, etc for comparables.

i thought rent would range from $800-1200 inclusive since chances are the utilities won't be separate.
it sounds like you're doing a nice reno, but it may be overdoing it for a basement rental based solely on the rents you would collect.

 

[Eug]

have you done a search on MLS, craigslist, kijiji, etc to give you an idea of what rents would be?

with the above you can narrow down the location and possibly see some pics, etc for comparables.

i thought rent would range from $800-1200 inclusive since chances are the utilities won't be separate.
it sounds like you're doing a nice reno, but it may be overdoing it for a basement rental based solely on the rents you would collect.

Yeah, utilities included. I did look a bit on craigslist, but getting a direct comparable is harder than say comparing condo units. In the neighbourhood they're usually lower end homes with lower end renos, closer to Kingston Road. (The further south of Kingston Road you get, the nicer the homes get.)

To be clear though, I wasn't actually planning on renting it out. I'm only renting to my family member as a favour, and I probably won't be charging more than $500. I was just curious from a general real estate point of view. Yeah, the reno is way beyond what I'd recommend to anyone for rental purposes, but the reason I'm spending that cash is because I'm splurging on myself and my family members, not for renters. I figured I could have saved at least $10000 if I had been targeting it just as a rental property.

 

[ESPNGuy]

Im renting out my basement at Warden/Lawrence no laundry for $650 all in, with cable and internet. (not legal mind you )

From my experince people dont want to live in a "basement" and my basement was very bright, high ceiling and newly renoed

I think the cost of rent being so low gives people the options of being chooosey

 

[Eug]

Im renting out my basement at Warden/Lawrence no laundry for $650 all in, with cable and internet. (not legal mind you )

From my experince people dont want to live in a "basement" and my basement was very bright, high ceiling and newly renoed

Yeah, I don't like living in basements either, but hey, when you're short on cash... How big is your basement by the way? Mine's bright, but the ceiling ain't high - 6'7". High enough for code, but I personally prefer 7 feet or higher.

BTW, I just found a basement apt. in the Bluffs for $500. However, that would suck, as the kitchen is shared.

Looking around the city it seems they range from about $700-1300 for a 2 bedroom but usually with cheap finishes (for obvious reasons), with most under $1000. One anomaly is a $1270 2-bedroom unit I saw at Keele & Lawrence. That's not exactly where I'd think of spending $1300 for a basement apt. I suspect they'll have to drop the price.

 

[cdr108]

... Looking around the city it seems they range from about $700-1300 for a 2 bedroom but usually with cheap finishes (for obvious reasons), with most under $1000. One anomaly is a $1270 2-bedroom unit I saw at Keele & Lawrence. That's not exactly where I'd think of spending $1300 for a basement apt. I suspect they'll have to drop the price.

i don't know that location very well but it's not the most desirable from what i gather.
seems like the owner are smoking the crack that's prevalent nearby.

 

[ESPNGuy]

Yeah, I don't like living in basements either, but hey, when you're short on cash... How big is your basement by the way? Mine's bright, but the ceiling ain't high - 6'7". High enough for code, but I personally prefer 7 feet or higher.

BTW, I just found a basement apt. in the Bluffs for $500. However, that would suck, as the kitchen is shared.

Looking around the city it seems they range from about $700-1300 for a 2 bedroom but usually with cheap finishes (for obvious reasons), with most under $1000. One anomaly is a $1270 2-bedroom unit I saw at Keele & Lawrence. That's not exactly where I'd think of spending $1300 for a basement apt. I suspect they'll have to drop the price.

The bungalo main floor is about 1150sqf , so I would estiamte the basement apartment portion is about 550-650 sqf.
The kitchen is a "kitchenette" (not even a real kitchen its a livingroom/kitchen combo, living room has a nice raised laminate wood flooring. Not sure about the height im about 6'1 so It wouldnt surprise me if the height was 7'