Income Property Episode Guide, Season 3 - Pazsaz Entertainment Network

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Three Months Lost Rent
Jeremy and Angie thoughtfully planned out their choice for Angie to be a stay-at-home mom for their young son. They chose to settle down in a less expensive suburb and they bought a home that had an income suite in the basement. After renting the apartment for a year, their tenant moved out. They posted it quickly and started showing it to prospective new tenants. Three months have passed and no one is interested in renting the suite. Jeremy and Angie have come to accept they may have to invest some money into the space in order to get it rented. They have some ideas about what needs to be done but are worried about over-improving the space.

Busy Bakers Income Suite
Lori and Henri own a building in the heart of the city that houses their very successful French bakery and an income-generating suite above it. One of the suites has recently been vacated after a 12-year tenancy and they now are left with an out-of-date apartment and a busy business that leaves them no time to get the place ready for rent again. The kitchen, bath and bedrooms need a refresher and the common space is awkward. As entrepreneurs, the income is essential to save for their retirement. Their profit is dependant on the quality of their products and the apartment upstairs needs to be maintenance-free in order for them to focus on the excellence of their delicious baked goods below.

Saving A Money Pit
Courtney and Emily paid $140,000 over asking for their semi-detached house, winning out over more than a dozen offers. They justified the purchase with the decision to build an income suite in the basement to help cover the additional mortgage costs. Now that they have moved in, the reality of tackling such an enormous project on their own has begun to sink in. They interviewed contractors for the project and have not been able to persuade anyone to take on the renovation because it is either ?too large? or ?too small? a project. They can afford to float their mortgage for a little while longer, but the reality is that their dream home is a money pit and is on track to drain their financial resources faster than they can imagine.

Out Of Debt & Down The Aisle
In order to get into the housing market, Bonnie and Merv recently purchased a three-story row house. They originally thought of turning the basement into a ?man den? for Merv, but once they moved in, they quickly realized the basement apartment was almost ready to go and that it wouldn't take much to complete the renovation. Sounds great, but Bonnie is admittedly ?not handy? and compared to Merv, she might qualify as ?expert?. What's more, Bonnie is dreaming of getting married while Merv dreams of buying CDs, clothes and shoes. Merv's spending habits have put the couple into debt, but Bonnie seems to be the only one feeling the strain. Where to start? They just know they need an income suite to help them get out of the financial hole they have dug for themselves. Then perhaps they can get married and live happily ever after!

An Income Property Prescription
Laura & Pete bought their heritage home five years ago. Since then, they have been struggling to pay their mortgage each month, which consumes 50% of their income. The home came with a finished basement, and had previously been used as a chiropractor's office. Laura saw the space as a place she might one day run her own homeopathic practice from, but in the end decided she would like more separation between work and home life. Laura and Pete believe the space could be transformed into a great apartment in their hip neighborhood and could reduce their monthly mortgage payments by half. But with working 6 jobs between the both of them neither has the time to get the project started, never mind finished.

First Time Parents Seek Extra Income
Antoinette and Mike bought a ranch-style bungalow and took possession shortly after the New Year. Antoinette is set to give birth to their first child in April and while they are over the moon excited about this fast approaching event, they are also concerned about their cash flow once Antoinette goes on maternity leave. Mike works as a bricklayer, which is characteristically seasonal work and doesn't provide a steady, reliable pay packet. Antoinette's job as a high school teacher has helped to stabilize their household income. With the considerable drop in her salary expected in April they feel an income suite will make it easier to fill in some of the financial gaps. Their biggest concern is making sure the renovations completed will make certain the safety of a tenant in the basement and their family upstairs. With a baby on the way they have no time to lose.

Unemployment Insurance
Crystal bought her new duplex before selling her condo and exactly two weeks before losing her job during an unexpected corporate downsizing. Crystal decided to embrace the unexpected time off. She felt confident, since it was summer, that she would be back at work the fall season. Well, fall came and went with no job offers, and Crystal was forced to take a loss, selling her city condo so she could close on her new house. Luckily the second floor apartment had a decent bathroom and rough-in for a kitchen. Crystal managed to cobble together a working kitchen on a shoestring. She was able to bring in a tenant who stayed for 8 months and saved Crystal from defaulting on her mortgage. Crystal is now working full time after 18 months of unemployment and needs to improve the apartment to bring in a better renter to help pay off 18 months of accumulated debts.

Failure To Launch
Rushad spent a year and a half looking for an income property before he found his triplex. All 3 suites in the house needed quite a bit of improvements, so the clever young man devised a plan to get it done on a reasonable budget. First, he borrowed money from his parents and took out a loan to do the renovations. Then he renovated the 2nd floor and attic apartments and got them rented so that he could afford to do the work on the second level main floor/basement suite. The plan was to get it rented out. Then, when the tenant in the attic vacated, he'd move in! Unfortunately, it hasn't worked as planned. The main floor/basement unit has been a greater challenge than expected. Overall, it's been an expensive year for Rushad and he fears he's put all his eggs in one basket.

Staying On Track
Andrea and Luke bought their duplex two years ago and have rented out the two-bedroom upper unit ever since. Even though the unit was in need of some TLC, they easily acquired their first tenants; a quiet, professional couple that respected the apartment and the fact their landlords lived below. After they moved out, Andrea and Luke had trouble finding a renter of the same calibre. Without laundry, many prospective tenants were uninterested. They finally agreed to rent to a couple of students in order to maintain the rental income at the same rate as the year before. Since then, Andrea and Luke have endured loud music and parties as well as the constant complaints from their semi-detached neighbor. The rental income is directly linked to their a five-year plan that will allow Andrea and Luke to purchase a second property, a single-family home, in which they would like to start a family.

Law Of Landlording
Tracey bought her two-story, detached home last December for $380,000. She fell in love with the house the second she walked through the door. The original wood trim and character of the house won her over immediately. Tracey recognized that there was work that needed to be done to modernize the space and felt pretty confident that she could handle the job on her own, with a little help from the web and her favorite renovation TV shows. Ripping out drywall, carpeting and ceiling tiles were the easy parts. Now that the demo is done, Tracey is feeling overwhelmed by the electrical, plumbing and re-drywalling that still need to be completed. Her home is a disaster and she is living out of a single room. When she comes home from work, Tracey is no longer in love with her home, now all she sees is a long list of work to be completed. Tracey is at her physical limit and needs to get the upper unit finished and rented. The rental income will allow her to finish her own space and eventually, to live an ordinary life.

Single Dad's Solution
t took a year-and-a-half for divorced dad Kerry to find a house that could be a home to share with his two children and would also have a rental unit to provide extra income to fund the kids' expensive sporting activities. He found a modest suburban bungalow with two units and snagged it for $175,000. $25,000 less than his budget. However, when it came time to take possession, Kerry discovered the tenants had trashed the house and both apartments would require a complete gut. The savings realized on the purchase was immediately devoured to make the main floor unit clean and safe so that it would be comfortable for his kids when they stayed over. Although the main floor has been finished for several months, the basement unit remains a disaster and that much-needed extra income is nowhere near his bank account. With a demanding, full time job and many extracurricular kids activities, this devoted dad has no time to finish the basement apartment renovations and needs help.

Now Or Never
Lisa bought her newly built town home, her first property, at the age of 38. Years later she still loves the house but has had challenges over the years keeping it together on a single income. She knew the house had the potential to have an income suite when she purchased it, and even contacted contractors to give her quotes on finishing the basement. But time and time again she got cold feet. That is until last summer when she found herself unemployed for a few months. With no second income to provide a safety net, Lisa had to re-evaluate her future and estimate what her upcoming potential expenditures would be. She has finally decided she is ready to be a landlady, but after years thinking about it, she still does not know where to begin.

Lisa & Matt Need Help To Renovate Their Main Floor Apartment To Allow Her Disabled Brother Comfortable Visits As Well As To Generate Untapped Income
Matt and Lisa and their two teenage children, live on the top two floors of their 3-story semi detached Victorian house. To subsidize their income, they rented out the main floor unit, but that didn't work out so well and they have left the space vacant since their last tenants left 2 years ago. The apartment is definitely suffering from neglect and now they're ready to upgrade it so they can put it on the short-term rentals market for part of the year and leave it available and wheelchair accessible for Lisa's brother who is paraplegic and visits for business and pleasure regularly. Lisa and Matt feel they have all the space they need in the upper unit and the lower one is wasted if left unrented. They're ready to invest in upgrading to attract the sort of tenant they'd like ? a professional short-term renter. As is, it feels more like student party headquarters than a visiting professor's charming pied a terre - it's wasted potential and lost revenue. They need Income Property's help!