I’m looking to purchase a unit in this condo for investment, I’m not sure if we need to purchase parking ($30K) in this area. Anyone know how is the public transportation in this area?
As someone who lives in Bridgeland, I think the amount of transportation options are pretty good here, especially if your goal is just to get to Downtown for work. Getting to other inner-city neighbourhoods though can sometimes be a bit trickier with public transit (it's partly why I think we need an inner-city tram loop!).
But regardless, I think you need to think about the type of renter you are looking to attract. Chances are that the type of renter who doesn’t need parking will skew on the younger side, someone who is in school, or someone retired…which limits your pool. I think the vast majority of renters, especially if they are more established in their careers, or part of couples, tend to want some sort of parking (and also indoor over outdoor). We have a rental property in the Beltline, and having indoor secure parking seems to be one of those things that potential renters always mention as being important. Personally, I think having dedicated parking in the inner city is more important than having it in the suburbs, where it's easy to just street park.
Remember, we’re not NYC, Toronto or even Vancouver, where being car fee is often times easier than having a car. Car-free life here is somewhat doable, but for a relatively small niche still. As a landlord, I think you always want to have access to the widest pool of quality renters…and personally I think the pool that doesn’t need parking is somewhat small, and not always in the stage of life that produces quality long-term tenants (not always the case of course, but generally you want to play the odds).
So going with a unit without parking will save you money on the front end, but you are definitely going to limit your pool of renters, you’ll probably have more turnover (which is annoying and costly), and you’ll most likely need to charge a couple hundred bucks less in rent to begin with.
Also, if I wanted the car-free life, personally I'd rather live on the south side of the river...Beltline/Mission/EV. There's just more stuff to do there and is generally easier to access (and is a place where having a car starts being more annoying).
