Financing first multi-family property.

[Abi Carleigh]

I have been shopping for my first residential and rental property the past few weeks, for the context, I am in Canada. My plan is to buy a single-family home, live upstairs and have a mortgage helper in the basement, I would be 100% percent responsible for the purchase. This has since changed since I stumbled on a multi-family (4plex). I can afford 15% of the down payment of the fourplex but my income does not qualify for it. I have crunched the numbers and I am confident that this would cash flow and appreciate over time.

How do I achieve owning this property?

Thank you.

[Eric Van Deman]

I'm not sure of the lending rules in Canada, but many mortgage brokers in the US can use a portion of the expected rental income on the other three units to help qualify you for the purchase.  I would look into that option and call a few different brokers to see if it might work for you.

[Zorya Belanger]

@Abi Carleigh  Hi Abi, was it a bank or mortgage broker who told you don't qualify? If it was a bank, I would suggest talking to an investor-focused mortgage broker, as they have a lot of different lenders they work with, with different criteria, and you may be able to qualify with someone else. Once you've explore that, and you still don't qualify with anyone, then I suggest to either bring in a joint venture partner (they could get a 10-20% ownership for helping you qualify for mortgage), or find something less expensive to buy.

[Gary McGowan]

The minimum down payment for investment properties in Canada is 20% down. As @Zorya Belanger suggested. Work with an Investor friendly mortgage broker. 

[Abi Carleigh]

Thank you@Gary McGowan