It's not uncommon for developers to use incentives to try to entice buyers to make a presale purchase, but for Solhouse 6035, Bosa Properties is providing an incentive that is much less common.
Officially called the Rental Revenue Program, Bosa Properties says it will guarantee rental income while also taking care of property management services, with incomes varying depending on the size of the unit.
For studio units, Bosa says it will guarantee $3,000 per month for owners, $3,400 a month for owners of one-bedroom units, $3,800 for owners of junior two-bedroom units, and somewhere between $4,300 and $4,500 for owners of two-bedroom units, according to a marketing email for Solhouse 6035.
And the guarantee is really a guarantee.
Upon inquiry, a representative from Bosa Properties tells STOREYS that if the rental income that the third-party property management company secures is less than the aforementioned amounts, Bosa Properties will pay the homebuyer the difference.
Homebuyers who qualify for the Rental Revenue Program will enter into a property management agreement with a licensed third-party management company, who will then lease the home on the owner's behalf. The agreement lasts for a term of two years, and Bosa Properties will also cover the monthly property management fee.
The incentive is being offered for a limited time to "early registrants." The representative from Bosa did not provide a precise cut-off date, but said the plan is for the program to be available for "a few weeks." They added that if homebuyers prefer to manage the home as a rental property themselves, they have the option to opt out of the program upon completion of the building, and will receive the monthly rental management fee as a credit.
An excerpt from a Solhouse 6035 marketing email.(Bosa Properties)
"Most homebuyers plan on living in our homes," Bosa Properties says. "At Solhouse, roughly 70% of purchasers are end users who intend to live in their space long-term. However, many choose to rent their homes on an interim basis and want peace of mind that they are making a smart and flexible investment. We spend a lot of time thinking through how people live and the experience of buying a home, and designed the program around flexibility, ensuring homebuyers feel well-supported and secure in their decision."
They added that Bosa Properties' development pipeline has a lot of balance between strata and purpose-built rental, with 5,000 of the latter currently planned, and that the program "adds an additional layer to our commitment by enabling more rental homes to enter the market."
Bosa says the Rental Revenue Program, in its current form, was first introduced in 2019 for their SEAandSKY master-planned community in Squamish and was also utilized for their University District project in Surrey, which recently completed construction.
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Solhouse 6035 will be located at 6035 Wilson Avenue in Burnaby, one block away from Central Park and the Expo Line SkyTrain's Patterson Station, and will rise 50 storeys, with 411 strata units and 68 rental units. The project is one of three in the area that Bosa Properties has in the works, along with the 41-storey Central Park House at 5977 Wilson Avenue and the 35-storey Kathleen x Kemp at 5980 Kathleen Avenue, both of which are currently under construction.
The Solhouse 6035 project is still pending final adoption, after the City of Burnaby granted conditional approval (third reading) in November 2022. The site is currently occupied by a three-storey rental building originally constructed in 1964 and was sold in March 2020 for $35.5M, according to BC Assessment.
