Airlytics might still be interesting to look at even so, just to see what it predicts has the highest ROIs in a marketplace, even though it’s not in yours.
I played with it for just a few minutes. You’ll often see that the lower-priced properties (ones that sometimes don’t look so nice) have a much greater ROI than the nicer properties. Remember this is the snapshot of today; market preferences change.
My own personal sense – because market preferences change/evolve – is that it’s really nice to have that second bathroom. And if you don’t have to pay too much more for that third bedroom, that’s nice too because it’s as much work to manage a two bedroom property as a three bedroom property.
Another consideration is how new the building is, of course. In my experience newer buildings have fewer repairs, whereas for older buildings it seems ‘it’s always something.’ Of course, a lot depends on how handy you are, if you’re local, if you have access to people with ‘handy’ skills.
Local building code compliance is a must and a minimum. Look at this.
Calgary STR laws here.
This 2020 master’s project on STR regulation in Alberta is worth a look. Note that some cities in Alberta have restricted STRs to primary residences, though not Calgary in its new law.
See this, too. I’d be reluctant to buy in an HOA as HOA rules can easily change (at least in U.S., though there is litigation here nohow much they can change and whether early buyers are grandfathered from some changes. HOAs in the U.S. at least sometimes don’t manage the property well, take shortcuts to satisfy owners who want to keep the dues down. They might defer big repairs that wind up causing much more in the long run. A well-run HOA today can become poorly run overnight. Here in the U.S. you need to look at what are called CCCRs, which can be changed but require a serious vote and a majority or sometimes a supermajority vote. Don’t know the situation in Canada.
Note that Chicago has really restricted STRs in multiple-dwelling buildings; other jurisdictions too. When a jurisdiction regulates/revises STR laws they typically look to how other jurisdictions have dealt with regulation.
Personally, if I were investing I’d feel much more comfortable from a regulation and control view if I owned the whole building, say a singe family home or a 2-4 unit building, but that can be very expensive to buy and might not be one of the better markets in Calgary (I don’t know).