Riversdale is one of the oldest parts of the city and much of its housing stock predates 1930, which means a large share of the two unit properties there were converted rather than purpose built. The City of Saskatoon distinguishes a legal secondary suite, which needs a building permit, proper fire separation, ceiling height and egress windows, from an unpermitted basement apartment. That distinction is worth real money because a lender will count income from the first and ignore the second.
The second driver is the land. Riversdale lots along the 20th Street West corridor sit close to downtown and the South Saskatchewan River, and zoning in parts of the neighbourhood allows more density than the house currently standing on the lot. Where that is true a buyer is partly paying for what could be built, which is why two similar looking duplexes a block apart can appraise very differently.
Rent rolls also need checking rather than believing. Existing tenants come with the building under The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, so an inflated or informal rent stated by a seller does not survive a lender's review. Joel Dyck prices Riversdale two unit properties by confirming what is permitted, what is actually collected and what the conversion work cost, including the upgrades that never reached a permit file.
Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.