I'll start with Infill housing because Laneway Houses and Coach/ Carriage Houses are Infill houses:  the insertion of additional housing units into an already approved subdivision or neighborhood. These can be provided as additional units built on the same lot, by dividing existing homes into multiple units, or by creating new residential lots by further subdivision or lot line adjustments. Units may also be built on vacant lots.

Coach and Carriage Houses are the same.  Originally they were built out back of the main house to keep horse-drawn carriages and related tack.

Laneway House (LWH) vs. Coach House (Infill House if you're speaking with the city): The Difference

-LWH cannot be sold separately without the main house

-Coach Houses are strata titled, along with the main house and can be sold separately

-you need to multiply our lot size by 0.125 to determine how large of a LWH you can build.  Maximum square footage allowed is 750;

-when added together, the square footage of the Coach House and main house have to fall within the FSR (floor space ratio) of the lot.  In some cases the the FSR for the lot will be .6 but with a Coach House you can be allowed up to .75.  Coach Houses in Vancouver can be over 1000 square feet;

-LWH can be up to 20ft high, Coach House cannot have more than 21/2 storeys;

-LWH can only be in RS-1 and RS-5 zones whereas Coach houses are allowed in several zones and are regulated separately in each and every zone;

-you can have a LWH built above a single car garage, you can also have one parking pad next to the garage. If no garage a parking pad is necessary;

-the LWH has to be at least 16ft away from the main house and usual setback 2ft from the lane;

-lot width required for a LWH is 32.8ft.  In some cases they can be approved with 25ft wide lots in the right zone and with city and neighbour approval.....be nice to your neighbours ;)

-typical rental income from a LWH house would $1000-$1500/ month, more if used as a vacation rental but with a vacation rental comes more vacancy;

-Coach houses can sell for over a million dollars on the west side, go figure :)

I hope that clears things up!  There are still more requirements to know for both types of properties but these are the highlights in my opinion.  If you'd like some information or have any questions contact me.

Take it easy!

601-256 E. 2nd Ave, The Jacobsen

3287 Point Grey Road

335 Thompson Cr., West Vancouver

Clearyl it's easy to be sexy when when the sky is the limit and the word budget isn't in your vocabulary.  I'm sure if we all had the best personal trainers money could buy (ahem, and some disipline) we would be very sexy ;) But maybe it's sexier to be sexy with limitations.  So here are some moderately priced properties that are just as sexy.

605-256 E. 2nd Ave, The Jacobsen

203-350 E. 2nd Avenue, The Main Space

306-251 W. 4th Street, North Vancouver (don't look upstairs, may turn you off ;-b)

If you're looking for something sexy call me.....real estate only!  Have a great month!!

These lofts are going to be in the heritage component of the development.  There are only 11 total and they are all on the top floor.  Here are the quick stats of the three remaining lofts:

$480K, approx. 700 SF inside, 150 SF outdoor terrace, facing east onto Wylie

$510K, 769 SF inside, 387 SF outdoor terrace, facing south onto W. 2nd

$525K, 775 SF inside, 670 SF outdoor terrace, south west corner onto W. 2nd

Can you believe that?  670 SF of outdoor space, that's big.

They are due to complete in October of this year, 2012.  10% deposit total is required. 

Pics are from Maynards: when looking at the 2nd photo the lofts are the top two levels of floor to ceiling windows of the lowest building.