OPM is what makes it in this business, thats Other Peoples Money. credit. if you don't have it, get it. if your credit is shot, fix it. go to www.annualcreditreport.com and work on improving that credit score. its free. and watch the podcasts here on BP. education helps, but it can slow you down. you have to jump in and jump the hurdles that you can and knock down those that you cannot. no on ever learned anything without getting started and failing a time or two. think of all the great inventions created in the last 200 years. not one of them was a success without first figuring out how NOT to do it. good luck to you

In those 65 years, you are welcome to lease out the building and make improvements (depending on what the ground lease says), and collect revenue.  

Local banks that provide portfolio lending typically have a different set of rules to follow versus FNMA.  

I got in the property for $15k down + $10k in improvements for a total of $25k.

Purchase @ a discount, improve the property,  then hold.  

South of 95 has a few up and coming spots for sure but there are still some areas that are not seeing much improvement.

If you can get in 2 properties that break even at the end of your 5 year mortgage term your pay down and appreciation will be fantastic, versus a couple extra bucks you saved from paying the CMHC with 20 down.Do some homework first, if you can't qualify for a second property with your leftover down payment consider reducing the CMHC and interest with the full 20% down.

We are all from different places and it never hurts to share best practices with each other just to see how we could improve in our daily operations.I know you don't have to do this but I truly appreciate it. 

They wanted us to over-improve for the value of the house.  

Definitely a fixer upper, like $25/foot for interior, exterior, landscaping, asphalt improvement.