Inside Vancouver
Bed Cheque - continued
By Jennifer Van Evra published Mar 1, 2009
Hoping to cash in on the 2010 Winter Games by renting out your house or condo? You just might—but it’s not as easy as it looks
But many have expected demand to be highest in Whistler, and officials are bracing themselves for the crunch. Already faced with enormous housing challenges, the municipal council years ago introduced strict controls on which properties can and cannot be rented to ensure that at least 75 percent of its workforce lives within the community. And of the residential properties that can legally be rented, most require stays of 28 days or longer-including during the Olympics.
"We toyed with relaxing the resident zoning over that period, and then we thought, ‘No, that's really counterproductive. That will put people on the streets,' " says Gordon McKeever, a Whistler councillor and chair of the Whistler Housing Authority deeply concerned about price gouging. "We can't have a successful Games without staff. The businesses need to run. The resort needs to operate. And that is essential for us to yield the benefits from the Games that, in the long term, will serve these property owners far more than three weeks of gouging rent."
According to Ben Thomas of VIP Mountain Holidays, McKeever may not have that much to worry about. Two years ago, he says, owners who were ready to commit to renting their Whistler properties could name their price. But now, so many people have signed up to rent their condos and chalets during 2010 that he is no longer even taking calls from owners with properties anywhere outside the main village. At the same time, dozens of spaces are unexpectedly becoming available because a few of the big-name sponsors that were supposed to woo clients in the picturesque mountain town are booking in Vancouver instead.
"They said, ‘If we base ourselves in Vancouver, it's so much easier: the airport is there, we can get 50 rooms at a really good-quality hotel with room service and daily cleans, and we can get conference space. It's one-third the price because it's low season in Vancouver and high season in Whistler. And all the events we want to watch, like hockey and ice dancing, are in Vancouver,' " he explains. "So they just pulled the plug on Whistler."
With a handshake, Ian Hamilton secures the deal with Chad McRae. Nobody can say how much McRae could have got if he'd held out, with so many forces at play. Some have already made tidy sums-the owner of a luxury home in South Vancouver reportedly brokered a $200,000 deal-while others will end up with dollar signs in their eyes but not in their pockets.
Although Mark Szekely only administers Rent2010.net and is not involved with the deals, his numbers suggest fewer than 10 percent of the 400-plus ads for Olympic rentals have been removed so far, meaning that over 90 percent of the inventory on the site has likely not been rented. (Part of the problem, he says, is that owners and prospective renters have yet to figure out a secure way to handle deposits.)
Still, an estimated 350,000 people are coming, and they have to stay somewhere. Many corporations have been making major property decisions over the past two years, and they’re expected to make hundreds more in the months to come. Homeowners can expect another wave of interest from spectators late this fall—a riskier group, warns Hamilton, because many stuff apartments and houses to the rafters with partiers—but they can also expect more competition from other owners and from hotels.
McRae suspects he could have made more from his perfectly placed apartment, but he’s happy with the $13,000 in the hand—not to mention the fact that his condo will be well cared for and that the rent money will put a significant dent in his mortgage. “Maybe you could make an extra $2,000 or $3,000, but you could also end up pricing yourself out of the market,” says McRae, who will be working long hours and plans to crash with family or friends during the Games. “And the reality is, you just don’t want to get too greedy.”
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