My wife and I own a 2 story house here in Toronto, and we have renters in the basement, and on the second floor. Our younger son Mike did the renovations over a 2 year time span, and the units are ultra modern with the best fixtures and appliances . Both units are private entrances.
Mike is a artistic guy, who works in the motion picture business here in Toronto. He advertised on a number of artist's groups to find tenants. The basement couple are a costume designer and a electrician, both work for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation TV network.
The second floor couple are 2 sisters, who are both make up artists. The 2 units combined bring in $3500 a month in rent, which fully covers our insurance, utilities, city property taxes and running costs. The house is mortgage free. We have a list of 5 others who would like to live here, if any one ever moves out.
In Ontario the Landlord and Tenant Board controls annual rental rates. This year the allowable annual rent increase is 2.7 percent. Our rents are somewhat below the average in this part of the city by about 15 percent. We do that because we own the house with no debt, and our tenants are also our friends.
Mike is a half owner of the house, as a reward for the hundreds of hours he spent working on it. When we go, he will own it outright. That is his retirement fund. He is now 45. JImB.