Tidbits
Sleepover at Ikea - Maybe this is the only way to get to the $1 early enough…
A ramen bath - Japanese spa with special baths resembling instant noodles. I wanna play!
Old age homes for dogs - 1) Old dogs don’t like to be abandoned at strange places. 2) Playing with young puppies will probably cause the older dogs to die faster due to exhaustion.
A remote-controlled pigeon - Oh the poor thing…
An article on a brilliant method of teaching grade schoolers about bats and rabies. I smell a lawsuit.
Will trade beer for Crumpler bags. Tempted by the beanbag and messenger bags…
Photos
Slumlord Envy
March 15, 2006, 8:29 pm
So Mike and I were talking the other day about how profitable renting to students can be. The vast majority of the student population, especially the coop ones, are willing to pay $400-$500 a month on quality living quarters that’s close to school. So we came up with some ideas for the ideal investment idea: assisted living for students, or really, assisted living for Chinese students.
Key points:
- Bedroom with ensuite bathroom, doesn’t even need to be full bathroom, just a 0.5 piece could make all the difference
- Option of meal plans focusing on homecooked Chinese food
- Shuttle service to and from various points in Toronto, INCLUDING Richmond Hill area that the Fed bus don’t service
- “Quiet" group study areas
- Private tutoring service available right in your own room
It’ll be touted to Chinese parents as the best place to send their little first year kids…
Then along came x-Flats, a proposed luxury student housing project that realizes quite a few of our ideas. It is in the multi-bedroom units style that V3 of UW, Ennis of UT is popular for, but also includes underground parking, entertainment rooms with DVD player, xbox, and I assume theatre projection, games room with foos and what not. Though they should throw in a gym as well, with a hot tub if they can manage it.
It basically allows parents and investors to buy individual units (from $200 - $300k) and rent them out, at $500 a room. They even have rental services that will find renters for you.
An interesting project indeed, but there are a couple of shortcomings. One, it’s too far from Waterloo, on King almost at Columbia, to walk in winter, and summer as well I guess, but a bit impractical to drive. Biking and rollerblading should be ok, but unless it’s really nice, I don’t see UW students paying $500 + utilities for that location. Second, there’s not enough underground parking spaces (85) for every bedroom they have, don’t even know if there’s enough for 2 per unit. Also unacceptable. They said it’s an 82-units complex, does that mean 82 three-five bedroom units, or 82 bedrooms in total. If it’s the former, there could be 300 people living in the place at once.. The competition for the study rooms, games room, etc, would be huge, even with 82 people. And it would not be long before the sparkling new furnishings and such be worn and old.
So yeah, if the place was closer to UW, then it might be worth looking into. Or else try to target it at Laurier students. I guess that’s not a bad thing, considering the number of decent-looking student apartments that’s been springing up around Laurier, but not around UW…
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