10 THINGS TO LOVE ABOUT LANEWAYS

HOME BENEFITS

1. Provide Housing For Extended Family
Most homeowners build a laneway home to provide affordable yet separate housing for their young adult children starting out in life or starting their own families. They're also ideal for elderly parents who want to live independently and defer the high cost of nursing homes as long as possible, yet be close enough to family for help.

2. Create Extra Income
Some homeowners use their laneway home to generate income from renters or vacationers as a way to help with their mortgage or to create retirement income.

3. Allow Aging-In-Place
Laneway homes let kids who grew up in a neighbourhood, stay there. And when empty nesters are ready to downsize, but want to stay in the neighbourhood they love – they can just move into the laneway and rent the main house (or let their kids move into it), and even trade rent reductions for services (e.g yardwork, vacation-watch, chauffeuring).

4. Boost Property Value
A property’s resale value can increase well above the cost of building your home, sometimes as much as $100,000.

5. Improve A Home's Re-Saleability
A potential rental unit will make a home more attractive, and affordable, to some buyers.

COMMUNITY BENEFITS

6. Add Affordable Rental Housing
Laneway homes provide reasonably priced rentals in single-family neighbourhoods close to transit, amenities, jobs, and an urban lifestyle.

7. Makes Laneways Safer
With more ‘eyes’ on the lane, laneway homes help to make alleyways safer places.

8. Retain Neighbourhood Character
Built in the backyard and designed to look like a small version of the main house, laneway homes don’t affect the curb appeal and character of older single-family neighbourhoods with their lovely tree-lined streets and turn-of-the-century homes.

9. More Energy Efficient
Small homes, by virtue of their size, use less resources and are nearly as energy efficient as condos. Add in green-build features, energy efficient appliances and heating systems, and even solar panels, and they are ultra-green.

10. Add Density To Accommodate Regional Growth
Another 1.2 million people will move to Metro Vancouver in the next 30 years. Laneway homes are a human-friendly way the city is gently increasing the density of single-family neighbourhoods to provide housing.