Get rich in Vancouver in 2010
You can get rich — thanks to the Olympics.
Here’s the deal, now being circulated via e-mail to folks with the right sort of address. If you live in the desirable part of Metro Vancouver (more on that later) you can rent out your place for a small fortune.
As much as $14,000 per bedroom, promises the e-mail that is being circulated by some real estate agents and homeowners. So a three-bedroom home can net as much as $42,000 for the month of February 2010. Some visitors may even rent for two months or more.
Or at least that’s what the eye-popping e-mail, delivered from an “accommodations broker” south of the border, promises. It’s hard not to get cash-in-fever with that sort of loot in the offing.
So, with my scam radar turned on high, I investigated further. I mean, why not get some Olympic gold for myself?
The deal is that an unnamed contractor is compiling a database of properties that will be available. There are no guarantees. But if you;re in a “Tier One” location –Vancouver, West Vancouver, Whistler or Richmond — you can get up to $14,000 per bedroom. The payout is a little less in so-called “Tier Two” cities –Burnaby, New Westminster and Delta. If you’re living anywhere else, what they call “Tier Three” locales, well, they’ll take your name, file away a picture of your place and get back to you. Maybe.
What this is all about, of course, is that the Olympics is the biggest tourist event ever staged on Canada’s West Coast. Just about every single hotel room in the city is already booked by the “Olympic family.” If you are one of the 200,000 to 300,000 tourists expected to come to town, this means you’re likely going to have to deal with local homeowners, or these accommodation brokers, for a place to stay.
Sounds like easy money if you own, right? Well, I found turning your humble home into an Olympic-level auberge isn’t quite as simple as you might think.
If you want to turn your money pit into a nice little personal profit centre, you’ll need to squeeze two single beds into every bedroom. Then you have to have one full bathroom for every two guests. This means if you want to rent out a three-bedroom bungalow at that heady $42,000, you must have three full bathrooms. And who has six single beds?
Then there are the other demands. You’ve got to have a maid service or be willing to clean all those bathrooms yourself, or pay your kids to pick up a sponge. And does anyone really have enough crisp, clean sheets and fluffy towels for all those demanding strangers signing the big cheques?
Don’t forget to subtract that “accommodation brokers’” fee, as well, from your profits. I couldn’t find out what it is, but count on somewhere from 15 per cent to to 25 per cent off the top. Then there’s Revenue Canada: Expect to pay taxes; it’s income.
Make sure your insurance allows you to rent out to guests. If they burn the place down or slip in the hot tub after too many shots of Jagermeister, you may be facing a big loss or lawsuit.
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