How to make money with your basement?

There are many reasons why people renovate their basement. It could be because of family extension, renovation before the sale to attract more buyers or an investment for passive income. We see more and more homeowner trying to make or save money by renovating basement and making it work for them. There are many strategies of passive and active income through that extra space and ALBO Renovation contractors will be happy to help you make the right choice of investment that will work for you.

Home Value

Finishing basement is strongly appreciated in today’s real estate market. Home buyers do not want to do any renovations after they go through hell trying to buy a house in Toronto these days. New owners are willing to pay top dollars to get something ready for them to use. Depending on the size and quality but fully renovated basement will increase the value of your house by more than $50.000. If your basement is designed to be a legal apartment and approved by the city for safety and possible occupancy your place can be sold for much more. House prices are hard to afford in Toronto these days and buyers are looking to have extra income from basement tenants to cover part of the mortgage.

Business

Do you own a business or want to start making money as your own boss? If so you are using or will be using office space. You can definitely transform your finished basement into apace that will be suitable for your business and you do not have to rent an office elsewhere. If you are working alone that will make you save hundreds of dollars per month by working from home. If you have few more workers in your team or company, you can even charge them for using your renovated basement as an office space. Regardless of what you do, basement space can be transformed in working environment for most of the services provided to clients.

Music Rehearsals

There are many options when you can get paid for others using your basement space for pleasure or sorts of business. We decided to suggest using new basement  for music rehearsal space and making money on it. Keep in mind that before you start such a practice your basement has to have proper soundproofing. If you are musician you can definitely host music classes yourself and transfer the knowledge to your students. The other option is preparing a larger space for music rehearsals for bands in your area. Charge them hourly and get the money going to your pocket. Make sure you follow bylaws and don’t get noise complaints from your neighbours or they will call police and make stop the operations.

Get a Tenant

Your newly renovated basement can make you money as a legal apartment in Toronto. Would you be surprised to find out that your basement space can be brining you up to $1200 per month and in some cases even more if your house has big squared footage and is located in highly popular/demanded area. To do everything from scratch, starting with concrete walls the average finish for 1000 square foot basement turned into legal apartment, it would cost possibly $50.000. First of all it increases your home value by lots if you decide to sell it in future. Second of all it will be brining you extra monthly income which can be as high as 30% return on your investment.

Host Student

In Toronto it is getting more popular to host international students in your residence. There are government programs that students apply for from other countries and get connected with local families. You have to be approved by the program as a host as well. They will assess your basement renovation for possible residence and give you approval if everything checks out. Also you will be checked for criminal record and financial stability to protect your future residents from other countries. In some cases the pay off for hosting a guest through international program is more profitable and brings more cash in, but you can face inspections for the basement space quality and will have difficulties communicating with international student due to language barriers.

Short Term Rentals

Recently popular short term rentals are everywhere in Toronto with potential to make big bucks for homeowners. Thanks to websites such as AirBnB and HomeAway people travel the world with a chance to stay in someone’s home which is more comfortable and cheaper than hotels. The potential is to make $100 per day with a quality finish basement in Toronto, especially if close to downtown or other tourist attraction areas. There are some problems with meeting the guests all the time and cleaning after them when they vacate your place, but the money earning potential is very high. If you are not sure how to rent out your basement for short terms and don’t have time available for this, you can hire management company that will do everything for you and charge percentage made from your bookings.