What happened to all the talk about laneway houses?  Remember when that was the real estate buzz-word of the year?  Why has all the talk died down?

Maybe laneway houses simply got their fifteen-minutes of fame in the news cycle and we moved on.

Or maybe people just don’t know enough about laneway houses, and perhaps they could use a quick lesson?

In today’s Pick5, I’m going to do my best to educate you about laneway houses, specifically about the two different types.

Wait…..there are two different types?

Yes.  There are stand-alone laneway houses, which were severed from the existing lot, and then there are two-dwelling properties which have both a main house and a separate laneway house.

In today’s Pick5, we’ll see both stand-alone laneway houses as well as a few properties that have seen owners develop their backyards or garages into cool residential dwellings.

I won’t pull my punches with my feelings on the cost of building, the value added (or lack thereof…), nor the limited buyer pool for laneway houses on the resale market.Don’t say I didn’t warn you.