All Forum Posts by: Guillaume D.

If you insure your loan through CMHC, any bank can go down to 5% cashdown, but you need to have the "intention" to occupy the property. The word "intention" is important here. This only applies to single-family houses or duplexes, and then it goes up to 10% for owner-occupy triplexes and 4-plexes. Finally, CMHM can also insure your mortgage for buildings of 5 or more units, but cash down will still be 20% on the residential side (it actually goes up to 25% in commercial). Hope this helps!

Careful guys, these rules only apply to "residential mortgages". If you want to build a big real estate portfolio, you'll want to deal with commercial mortgages since there are not limits. Financing is based on the profitability of the building itself, and not on personal debt ratios which makes it easier to finance. 

It is legal, you only have to do it the right way and make sure that it is not considered "brokerage". 

You can find a lot of off-market deals in any market, including Montreal. You just have to grind it out and find ways to contact sellers directly like any broker would do (direct mail, cold calling, etc). You need to invest in smart Marketing expenses to generate great deals. Don't need to go to Drummondville or Sherbrooke for that ;)! You will obviously find cheaper deals in this kind of cities, but the value will hardly increase over time, if at all. It depends what you are looking for. If you're looking for cashflow specifically, then buying in smaller town makes sense because prices are low compared to rents. But if you're looking to build equity and wealth, bigger cities is the way to go. Prices tend to be higher, but potential to increase value is way higher as well.  

Hey! Welcome to BP. If you want to get involved in RE meetups and/or events in Montreal, check out the CIIQ (Club d'investisseurs immobilier du Québec), LEVIC, Immofacile, Mordus d'immobilier, Les Pros de l'immo, etc. Hope this helps.

Not sure since I don't know the US regulations on this. 

Yes, but only if you do it the right way.

@Bryan Lee Hey Bryan! It's important for you to understand that cash down needed for an owner occupied triplex would be 10% if you insure your mortgage with CMHC. In other words, the bank will finance up to 90% of the LOWEST between the purchase price and the fair market value of the building, meaning that you have to make sure to NOT overpay, otherwise down money will have to be higher than 10%. Then, banks in Canada generally don't accept seller financing deals, and there's no chance this will be accepted by CMHC. You can't just assume seller financing will work ;)! Yes, you could make it work creatively, but this means you'll have to go for a conventional loan with 20% down instead of 10% down, and you'll most likely have to convince the seller to finance WITHOUT taking a guarantee on the building. It's doable, as I've done it before, but very hard to get a seller to accept. 

The answer to this is quite simple, you have to buy bigger properties! When you buy buildings of 6 or more units, banks will finance based on the rental property's income and expenses instead of using your personal debt ratio. It has nothing to do with the fact of buying assets personally or through a corporation. My partner and I started with nothing and built a portfolio of over 100 doors in less than 2 years so it is doable, but you've got to look for bigger buildings. Good luck!

@Sina Amini Wholesaling is doable in any market, whether it's in the US or Canada. You just have to find enough good deals and this is where people usually fail. Finding great deals to wholesale is simple, but not easy. You have to invest a lot of time and a lot of dollars in Marketing, which 98% of people are not willing to do. Be careful when people tell you that it's not possible. People in Montreal tell me everyday that it's impossible to find good deals in our market. Well, I was still able to buy and hold more than 100 doors in less than two years, flip 15 houses, wholesale deals, etc. Plus, I'm not the only one doing it. Same thing with wholesaling. Good luck!