Alexis Levenson knew she found the perfect house when she saw it: a 1950s-style, semi-detached bungalow with plenty of space and light — and an unfinished basement she could easily convert into a legal secondary unit to rent out to pay off her mortgage.

In 2022, Levenson, 42, who works at a fintech startup, was looking to upgrade from her condo to a larger space while the market was down, in the hopes of starting a family soon. She made an ultimatum offer of $700,000 on a bungalow in the east end of Toronto and submitted permits to renovate the basement even before the deal officially closed in February 2023.

“I knew that I wouldn’t be able to afford the house on my own if I was to ever go on maternity leave or need to take time off work, or get fired,” said Levenson. “So, the intention was that the mortgage would be able to support me if anything happened to my full-time job.”

The extra income covers nearly two-thirds of her monthly mortgage payment plus property taxes, she said.

Levenson is part of a growing pool of homeowners using their extra space to pay off their mortgage. More than one-third of Canadians said they need to rent out part of their home to afford ownership , up from 25 per cent in 2021, according to a June report from Mortgage Professionals Canada.

“ Affordability is increasingly stretched in this economy,” said Lauren van den Berg, chief executive of Mortgage Professionals Canada. “For some of these households … renting part of the home is no longer just a lifestyle choice.”

Van den Berg said she has seen homeowners rent out secondary suites, basement units or garden suites and laneway homes, which are small additional dwelling units on a property.

And it’s a strategy that buyers such as Levenson are taking into consideration even before they move in.

Alex Blenkarn, a Peterborough-based realtor at Royal LePage Our Neighbourhood Realty, said over the past year first-time buyers have been asking him more questions about the potential for rental income as they tour properties. Even though interest rates on many mortgages have dropped to about four per cent, home prices are still out of reach, especially for Canadians buying solo, Blenkarn said.

He recounted working with a recent buyer who, as a single person, could only qualify for a property listed at less than $300,000. However, with the goal of renting out the basement, this opened options to consider properties priced as high as $400,000.

This trend also depends on region, according to the Mortgage Professionals report. The proportion of respondents who said they would need to depend on rental income made up just 19 per cent in the Prairies but climbed to 55 per cent in British Columbia.

This doesn’t surprise Adil Dinani, a Vancouver-based realtor with Royal LePage West Real Estate Services, who said an additional unit is one of the top three requirements most of his clients make. In British Columbia, the average home price was $946,431 in June, the highest across the country, compared with the national average of $696,078, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Dinani usually sees this strategy among “mobile buyers,” or existing homeowners taking the next step up the property line, such as from a townhouse to a bungalow.

“It’s the peak millennial at a more progressed stage of life,” he said. “The only way to take that next step up, over 50 per cent of the time, is if they have some sort of offset from a mortgage helper.”

Dinani said if he had two equally sized listings on the market, and one had a one-bedroom legal suite that could be rented out for $1,500 a month while the other didn’t, there would be no question in his mind which would sell first.

“There’s a larger pool of buyers looking for that safety net from that mortgage helper,” he said. “We’re starting to see this evolution of homeownership .”

Dinani anticipates this trend will continue in future years, too. “It is absolutely a must for any new construction home or duplex residence to have that legal suite,” Dinani said.

Take The Trails of Lily Lake community in Peterborough, for example. It contains recently constructed, multiple two-storey homes that have fully finished basements with separate entrances.

Paul Dietrich, owner of Dietrich Homes, one of the developers in the area, said he has been building this specific type of home for the past three years with the intention of incorporating legal secondary suites, as he noticed buyers were looking for ways to offset their mortgage costs amid rising home prices.

Dietrich said his recent builds in the community have sold for $750,000 and up, compared with a couple of decades ago, when properties sold for around $75,000 and up. “That’s a tenfold increase.”

However, as prices appreciate and Canadians look for creative ways to help pay off their home loans, there are tax implications and other considerations to keep in mind.

Jamie Golombek, managing director of tax and estate planning at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) Private Wealth, said that while rental income is considered taxable income, there are a few deductions to claim. These include mortgage interest and a portion of property taxes, home insurance, utilities, repairs, and maintenance and legal fees.

And the principal residence exemption to capital gains is only applicable if you meet certain requirements, he added. The first condition is that the rental use of the home is secondary to the main use of your home.

The second condition is that you haven’t made a major structural change to create a rental unit, such as constructing a laneway home on your property, Golombek said. You also cannot claim depreciation, or capital cost allowance, on your property to be exempt from the capital gains tax, he added.

And sharing space with your tenant isn’t entirely risk-free, van den Berg said.

“Being a landlord … comes with a lot of responsibilities and additional costs.”

Homeowners renting out part of their homes may have to deal with vacancy periods, late rent payments, tenant issues and taxes and be on the ball with maintenance and repairs.

“Rental income can help, but it should be part of a realistic mortgage plan, not a way to justify taking on a mortgage that’s otherwise unaffordable,” van den Berg added.

Levenson, who has been renting out the basement of her home since September 2023, said she worked with her real estate agent.

In exchange for about one month’s rental income, her agent found and vetted her current tenants, a young couple looking to rent for a longer period of time, and Levenson did her own homework as well, through credit checks, interviews and social media screening.

At the end of the day, their landlord-tenant relationship comes down to respecting each other, Levenson said. If she is hosting a get-together, she warns her tenants about additional noise well in advance, and if she goes out of town, her tenants help with taking out the garbage.

She said she also ensures maintenance issues, such as the backed-up basement drain that meant replacing her furnace and piping last year, are taken care of as quickly as possible.

Thanks to the extra financial security, Levenson was able to achieve another dream, too: starting a family as a single mother by choice.

“I have one gorgeous daughter who’s 14 months old now, and she’s got a great big backyard to play in,” Levenson said. “I was able to have a really great maternity leave for a year, knowing that I had renters who were helping to support the payment of the mortgage.”

• Email: slouis@postmedia.com

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Most real estate professionals aren’t rushing to take career advice from anonymous X (formerly Twitter) accounts with handles like @CapitanSteveo.

But the social media platform has recently revived a familiar industry debate: Could tech platforms such as Opendoor eventually reduce — or even eliminate — the role of traditional real estate agents?

A wave of tweets circulating across tech and real estate circles argues that AI, digital transaction platforms and streamlined buying tools are pushing the industry toward a future in which buyers transact directly with software, sans agents. 

While the rhetoric on X can be exaggerated, the conversation reflects a real industry anxiety that has surfaced repeatedly over the past two decades.

That concern has gained new urgency recently as AI advances and companies like Opendoor continue to simplify the homebuying process.

A 12-minute home purchase?

One widely shared tweet claims that buying a home through Opendoor can take an estimated 12 minutes, from entering the process to confirming an offer.

The post suggested that buyers can browse listings, make offers and complete large portions of the transaction digitally without working with an agent. They frame this as a preview of how homebuying transactions could eventually operate.

Buying a home online in a mere 12 minutes may sound far-fetched to some. But the point of the claim is more straightforward: If software can handle pricing, offers, contracts and financing, the need for agents could diminish.

It’s a familiar argument in tech circles, where the real estate commission structure is often described as a prime target for disruption.

FASTER: $OPEN now shows an estimated 12-minute path from entering the process to confirming an offer.

Traditional home buying requires coordination between agents, lenders, and paperwork before momentum even starts.

Not just convenience — shortening the intent-to-transaction… pic.twitter.com/qJvsCy26T1

— Nugget (@Nugget_Trades) February 28, 2026

‘That profession isn’t going away’

The debate expanded when entrepreneur and TV personality Marcus Lemonis joined the conversation on X, warning agents about claims that their careers are nearing an end.

“Alert to all Realtors,” Lemonis wrote, referencing a post suggesting agents’ jobs have a limited lifespan following the announcement of Opendoor’s 4.99 percent mortgage product.

Lemonis pushed back on the idea that agents will disappear, arguing that human professionals equipped with AI tools will continue to thrive.

“I’ll take 15,000 of them, give them AI tools that actually work, and watch a human who knows how to use AI crush it, because they love people,” he wrote.

The discussion also drew a response from Opendoor CEO Kaz Nejatian, after Inman asked about the future role of agents.

“I think there will always be a place for trusted advisors to help folks through difficult processes,” Nejatian replied, noting that Opendoor continues to work with many Realtors.

The exchange underscored a growing tension between online claims that tech will replace agents and industry leaders who see platforms evolving alongside human professionals.

I think there will always be a place for trusted advisors to help folks through difficult processes. We, at Opendoor, work with many realtors and are happy to!

— Kaz Nejatian (@nejatian) February 28, 2026

Personal relationships still drive real estate

Mike Hickman, CEO of Seven Gables Real Estate, argues that technology can assist agents, but it cannot replicate the deep community connections and nuanced understanding that human professionals bring to the market.

For Hickman, real estate is fundamentally a local and relationship-driven business. Agents often understand the subtle dynamics within neighborhoods that software platforms often struggle to capture.

Rather than replacing agents, Hickman believes AI will primarily function as a productivity tool inside brokerages. He recently spoke about the topic at the Luxury SUMMIT conference in Las Vegas, outlining a strategy focused on using AI to make managers more effective rather than eliminating roles.

“My strategy when using AI is about focus,” Hickman told Inman. “We use AI to answer less important questions, so it frees our managers up to do more important things.”

Hickman also pointed to long-standing research from the National Association of Realtors showing that 88 percent of buyers and 91 percent of sellers still use an agent in their transactions. For Hickman, that reality reflects a deeper truth about how people make one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives.

“I would be willing to debate anybody about this,” he said. “AI will not replace agents.”

‘Casual, part-time agents are in trouble’

Blake O’Shaughnessy, co-founder and CEO of Ownli, says the argument that tech could replace real estate agents deserves serious consideration, particularly as AI begins automating more parts of the transaction process.

He pointed to platforms like Opendoor as an example of the industry’s push toward simpler, more streamlined transactions, though he noted the company’s model is capital-intensive.

“Opendoor is trying to remove friction for buyers, but it’s a very expensive and capital-intensive way to solve the problem,” O’Shaughnessy said. “Still, it shows that consumers are willing to pay for simplicity.”

O’Shaughnessy doesn’t expect agents to disappear entirely, but he believes automation will shrink parts of the profession, much like Expedia reduced the need for travel agents and TurboTax reshaped the work of many accountants.

As O’Shaughnessy noted in a recent Inman piece, National Association of Realtors membership has fallen from a peak of about 1.6 million in late 2022 to roughly 1.4 million today. Some analysts project it could decline to around 1.2 million by 2026. The numbers suggest the industry has already been shedding agents for several years.

O’Shaughnessy added that many of these agents aren’t very active, anyway. One recent analysis found that the median agent completes fewer than two transactions annually, highlighting how much of the industry operates on a part-time basis. 

“It’s such a bloated industry, so I think change is necessary,” O’Shaughnessy said. “Tech and AI will replace some agents, and the casual, part-time agents are in trouble.”

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The dream of homeownership hasn’t changed, but the reality of maintaining a home in today’s market has. Rising repair costs, aging housing stock, and tighter buyer budgets are reshaping what it takes to get deals across the finish line and what happens after closing.

For real estate professionals, deferred maintenance is no longer just a homeowner issue. It’s a transaction risk. It shows up as inspection hurdles, repair disputes, renegotiations and late-stage complications that can damage trust and long-term relationships.

When buyers aren’t prepared for the true cost of maintaining a home, agents often absorb the fallout, from urgent calls about failing systems to blame when expectations don’t match reality.

With pending home sales slowing and many buyers waiting for lower rates, maintenance has become a factor agents must actively manage. And when handled well, it can also become a powerful way to differentiate and strengthen client loyalty.

Why maintenance is now a transaction issue

Across markets, agents are seeing the same pressures converge. Repair and replacement costs for major systems like HVAC, water heaters and electrical components continue to rise, with House Digest reporting that the average cost of a new HVAC system doubled from roughly $6,000 in 2020 to $12,000 in 2025.

Compounding the issue, the planned phase-out of R-410A refrigerant in 2025 is expected to drive up maintenance and replacement costs for older HVAC systems as supply tightens and demand rises, creating another pressure point buyers may not anticipate.

At the same time, many buyers are stretching financially just to close, leaving little cushion for unexpected repairs. That pressure is especially acute among younger buyers. Fortune reports that many Gen Z and millennial buyers are delaying major life milestones due to affordability constraints, making them far less willing to absorb surprise repair costs once under contract.

Add in older housing stock in many regions, and more homes are entering transactions with systems nearing the end of their useful life. In competitive markets, some buyers still forgo inspections or underestimate system age, increasing the likelihood that issues surface late in the process.

Buyer fatigue is also real. Today’s buyers are more cost-sensitive and less willing to take on surprise repairs once under contract. Sellers, meanwhile, are increasingly resistant to repair credits. That tension often lands squarely on the agent’s shoulders.

The result is more fragile deals and more pressure on agents to anticipate problems before they derail a transaction.

The hidden cost of deferred maintenance

Deferred maintenance rarely announces itself loudly. It starts with small issues that homeowners learn to live with: an aging furnace that still runs, a water heater past its prime and a few electrical quirks that seem manageable. But those small issues have a way of surfacing at the worst possible time.

During inspections, deferred maintenance can quickly turn into negotiation pressure. Buyers push for concessions, sellers push back, closing timelines stretch and in some cases, contracts fall apart when repair costs feel too high or too uncertain.

Even with cosmetic updates, neglected systems can still sour a deal. Buyers aren’t comforted by a renovated kitchen when major repairs loom. System lifespans can be unpredictable and sometimes peak at inspection when deals are most vulnerable. Agents who address maintenance early can keep transactions moving forward and avoid tension late in the process.

When deferred maintenance becomes a deal breaker

A well-priced home moved quickly through showings, and the buyer felt confident heading into inspection. But the report revealed a 15-year-old HVAC system and a water heater well past its expected lifespan. Suddenly, the buyer was facing an estimated $15,000 in near-term replacements.

The seller refused additional credits, negotiations stalled days before closing, and what initially looked like a smooth transaction nearly fell apart. While the deal ultimately closed, the process became more stressful, more contentious and far less predictable than it needed to be.

Turning maintenance conversations into a value add

Maintenance isn’t always an exciting conversation, and many agents avoid it to prevent adding friction. But in today’s market, transparency builds trust.

Proactively discussing system age, likely repair timelines and ownership costs helps buyers feel prepared rather than blindsided. It also helps sellers anticipate where maintenance issues could slow negotiations or weaken buyer confidence.

The best time to discuss maintenance risk is before it becomes a negotiation issue. These conversations do more than protect the transaction. They position agents as professionals who are thinking beyond closing — trusted advisors who stay involved well after the keys change hands.

Where home warranties fit, and why education matters

Planning for maintenance risk has become a smart strategy in today’s transactions. Experienced agents understand that maintenance does not end at closing and can leverage home warranties as a value-added tool to bring structure and reassurance to an unpredictable part of homeownership. The key is ensuring clients understand what the coverage includes and how to use it, which helps set expectations early, reduce post-close friction and protect client relationships.

This is where education becomes a differentiator. Agents who take time to explain what the selected warranty covers, how to file a claim and expected deductibles can boost client confidence. That clarity reduces after-closing call-backs and strengthens the relationship between the agent and homeowner, who will feel well taken care of.

Helping clients understand their protection plan extends an agent’s value well beyond closing. It turns moments of stress into moments of trust and reinforces the agent’s role as a long-term advisor rather than just a transactional partner.

Maintenance as a competitive advantage

Maintaining confidence in homeownership starts with a clear plan, and a home warranty is an essential tool for success. When agents help clients prepare for unexpected repairs, they equip homeowners with practical support they can rely on for years to come.

In 2026, maintenance isn’t just a homeowner’s concern; it’s a professional advantage. Real estate professionals who lead with preservation will be the ones who reduce deal friction, protect their reputation, and safeguard both homeowner confidence and the homes themselves.

Gina McCort is Vice President of Sales at Cinch Home Services, where she leads national strategy and partnerships in the residential real estate space. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Instagram.