Rent to own Canada (Ontario)

[Dominika M]

Hi all,
I'm giving some thought to rent-to-own. I'd like to know how much of this is actually happening in Canada. All the people that preach it of course make it sound like big business, but i want to know of actual people. On kijiji (or Craig's list)there's plenty of rento-to-own postings, but that could really be just one person. The system i'm contemplating is to get a good prospective tenant first and then let them choose a house.
Thoughts? Is this being done? How do you feel about it? Are these a good deal for the tenant? I know that here in GTA (avg house/condo price $550,000) many people want to get into their own house, but need help.
Dominika

[Gary McGowan]

Hi,

I'm located in the GTA and own 12 Rent To Own properties at the moment. Although have not picked up a new RTO in a year as my focus has changed somewhat back to long term investments. I have found that in the larger market in Toronto it is very rare to do a RTO, Most of my properties are in the suburbs of Toronto. Durham region, Brampton, Vaughan and Barrie where the price points make better financial sense. We have never done a RTO on a condo as the condo fees really skew the numbers for both the Investor and the Tenant.