All Forum Posts by: Shawn Quigg

Hi Canadian BPers

Our mortgage broker somehow forgot the property we're attempting to refinance is a student rental and now can't promise the 80% cash out refi, or any refi, that we have been banking on and which we intended to use to fund the acquisition of another property that is already under contract and closes in two weeks. 

Does anyone here work with lenders or mortgage brokers situated in Canada which lend specifically on student rental homes at anything above 65% LTV at semi-reasonable rates?

Thank you all,

Shawn

@Roy N. it's a single house. Our mortgage broker seems to have forgotten that it's a student rental and now, with another property under contract - the down payment for which was coming from the refi - we're under the gun. Any Canadian lenders you know that can make this happen?

@Hai Loc, thanks!

@Roni E. appreciate the tip

There's a BP podcast with Jay and Wendy Papasan (https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/biggerpockets-podcast-362-jay-wendy-papasan) which I asked my partner to listen to and is all about onboarding a spouse. I also asked her how she thought she might be able to contribute to a possible business then empowered her to see the potential of her being involved in running the business. That worked for us, she's now very involved with a few bumps along the way. It may not work for you but I found giving my partner ownership of a certain portion of the operation was helpful. The conversation turns from risk to success at that point.

Hey BP!

My business partner and I are excited to share we've taken solid action in the past few months to get our business off the ground. We already own a high performing student rental in Windsor, ON which is cash-flowing $1,300/month pre-capex/vacancy reserves. We sold a primary residence (no capital gains tax in Canada in primary residences), which was purchased for $11k down and house hacked for four years, and pocketed $140k which we used to purchase a pre-build condo in Toronto, ON which is still not even finished being dug. When it's ready, we're expecting an assignment fee of $100k+ and will consider closing then refinancing at its new value. We're in the process of 80% LTV refinancing the student property to pull $100k out which will finance another student rental we have under contract in LaSalle, ON, a 7-min walk to a college of over 12,000 students situated in an affluent neighbourhood with no student housing. This place is a 2+1, 1-bath that will turn into a 3+3, 2-bath and is only 20 years old.

Our next steps include creating systems for running our business smoothly (considering Buildium and a rent paying feature like RentTrack which reports to credit bureaus; we also need checklists for getting our units ready), building our brand which focuses on high quality student rentals which are net-zero or zero-emission homes, and getting more properties under contract.

Does anyone have any insight to offer on:

-powering homes with solar, electric furnaces (we know they’re expensive though I can’t get anyone to actually give me a price), solar water heaters, and other measures to cut house emissions

-pre-/post-buy checklists

-systems for running rental businesses

Finally, shout out to @scottinnocente for being a knowledgeable and educated investor-real estate agent and the Green Mortgage Team for moving our financing along.

@Kris Bucci do you have Kyle’s direct contact details?

Does anyone know of a true real estate investment law firm in southwestern Ontario (Toronto, ON, London, ON, Windsor, ON, Mississauga, ON, etc)?

@Kris Bucci thanks. I’m going to reach out to him and I’ll be sure to mention your name.

@Hai Loc very obvious. 2 blocks from university, 6-bedroom, individual leases. It’d be a lot better to find a savvy lender experienced in this asset class rather than attempt to conceal each future-acquired property even if it’s easier to do when still vacant.

Hi BP,

I'm trying to refinance a student rental I bought in 2017 in Windsor, ON which has greatly appreciated since. I've talked to a big-six bank and a local credit union but as soon as they find out it's a student rental, they'll only give me a 65% LTV cash-out refi. This is far too low to make it worth it for me. Any tips on getting a lender to get up into the 75-80% range? My next stop is BDC to see if they're really about entrepreneurs.

A couple of options I see are: don’t disclose it’s a reno, don’t disclose that I’m using the cash to buy another property. I’d rather work with a lender that understands the game though. Thoughts?