Commercial mortgage broker Nick Hill breaks down CMHC MLI Select, house hacking, and where the real opportunities are in Canada's market right now, for investors at every stage.
GROWTH PILLAR: Real Estate & Wealth Building
WHO THIS IS FOR: SMB owners / Solopreneurs / Real estate investors / Anyone building long-term wealth through property
WHAT THEY'LL GAIN: Actionable financing strategies, a clear breakdown of CMHC MLI Select, practical advice on house hacking, and a honest read on where Canada's real estate market is headed.
Most Canadian investors are waiting for the perfect moment. Nick Hill says that moment already passed, and the next one is right now.
Nick is a commercial mortgage broker, real estate investor, and co-host of The Canadian Real Estate Investor — one of the most downloaded real estate podcasts in the country. He's the co-founder of BLD Financial, where his team helps investors across Canada fund multifamily builds, construction projects, and commercial deals.
In this conversation with Fred Crouch and Bernie Franzgrote, Nick covers a lot of ground — and none of it is fluffy.
What you'll learn:
Nick also shares his take on Canada's permitting problem, the boomer wealth transfer, and why boring markets are actually good markets.
Connect with Nick:
Hosted by Fred Crouch — Gentry Real Estate Services, 36+ years in real estate — and Bernie Franzgrote, producer and co-host.
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Next Steps
Fred (00:00)
Bernie, that was quite a podcast we had featuring Joe Narauter.
When we discussed investment strategies in the Dominican Republic. What did you think about that one?
Bernie (00:09)
You know, it's it's interesting when you're not in a place and someone's talking about it being developed and you realize, hey, hurricane season ⁓ is it gonna affect you? No, because we're on high ground. I'm like, I like that story. And you're on the right side of the island. but it's fascinating. What we take for granted here isn't necessarily what happens there, but they are eager to grow ⁓ real estate assets in that area.
And so there's a lot of opportunities. If you go in with the with a good intent, ⁓ there are opportunities there. And in fact I think we even thought that there might be the the ability to do retirement homes ⁓ of some sort in that space because hey, who wouldn't want to be there?
Fred (00:49)
Yeah, as the conversation progressed, I think we made a pretty good argument. But Joe was already aware of that. Joe's been dealing with, you know, this this hotel since he was a teenager. And he's not a spring chicken today, but he most certainly has taken it about as far as I think he can take it. But he was overall generally optimistic about the investment scenario down there, the possibilities. So it was good. I I think it was and will be.
a good podcast for those of our listeners that are considering, you know, that as a you know a foreign investment venue.
Bernie (01:22)
I I think the one part that was really interesting about what he was saying, do your ground research, not research, but be on the ground and have chats with people.
Fred (01:30)
like any other investment. You know, we spoke about this before, how often I've said this. It's very difficult to manage an asset real estate based, anyways, if you're not there, if you don't have, you know, boots on the ground. If you're a a single investor, it's particularly challenging to invest in a property in Calgary or Vancouver in this in in in this country, anyways, or in California, for instance, or in Florida, unless you've
got good strong management behind you. So it's a little different when we start talking about cotenancies. And I think that's one of the reasons why, you know, a lot of our listeners kind of lean that way. But at the end of the day, you're you're absolutely right. I I think he's been far more successful since he started committing and spending time down, you know, in the DR. Anyways, let's move on.
Listeners, we're pleased to have with us today Nick Hill, a commercial mortgage broker, real estate investor, and one half of the Dynamic Duo who host, along with Daniel Foch Canada's number one real estate podcast, the Canadian Real Estate Investor. Nick has a wealth of experience and knowledge dealing with all things real estate related, from financing your next development project to what markets are worth investing your hard-earned investment dollars into.
Welcome to the show, Nick.
Nick (02:52)
Thank you so much for having me. What an introduction. Wow.
Fred (02:55)
Well, well I could have gone on, quite frankly, ad nauseum, but I had to really tailor it down.
Nick (03:00)
Let's not do that.
Fred (03:01)
So I I have to ask you, because you've got such a background, you know, you're a mortgage broker, you're a real estate investor, and now quite frankly, a prominent podcast voice in Canada. How did all those roads lead to one another?
Nick (03:17)
man, that is a that's a big question. I'll start where I guess all things kind of started. So I had I have a background in in kind of starting my own businesses, a background in construction, and spent some time in commercial real estate in Toronto as well. and nearing the end of my kind of more corporate career, you know, suit every day to the office type type of stuff, I ⁓ I was fascinated with the idea of buying.
Duplexes and and small multifamily properties. I'd been listening for years obsessively to the Bigger Pockets podcast, which I'm sure some of your listeners will be familiar with. And if not, I'd recommend that they go check it out. It went on an incredible run for the better part of a decade. And I listened to every episode. And what that trained me to do was a few things. One, I I knew that, you know, I was circuling circulating real estate. I was, I was in it as a profession, but I wasn't investing in it as an asset.
So it taught me that's where you know real wealth can be made if done correctly and fairly simply as well. And look, I'm a simple man at the end of the day. So I like the idea of that. That was the first step. ⁓ it also taught me that things in different countries and different provinces, different states are all very different. And I was listening to this podcast and hearing the returns that they were getting, things like the 10 ⁓ 41 exchange, just all these.
mechanisms that and and financial products that exist south of our border here in Canada and thinking and then going and looking them up and thinking, okay, well that doesn't exist here. So why isn't there a podcast for Canada? And of course there were several real estate podcasts for Canada, but none really in the way that Dan, my co-host and I wanted to kind of have the cadence that that we have now, which is really data driven, taking studies, taking anything from like Stats Canada, CMHC,
The Bank of Canada, Collier's cap rate reports, all these different types of really in-depth reports and distilling them down to so the average Canadian, the average investor, the average real estate curious person can go and understand them. so ⁓ that was the next piece. And then ⁓ actually during kind of right before COVID, I'd bought my first duplex, maybe a year or two before. And then as I as COVID got closer to actually happening,
I ended up getting laid off. I had started another business very quickly and I had ⁓ started to buy more properties. So I actually bought properties before I was a mortgage agent. And I was looking at my mortgage agent during that time period, being like, Okay, well, you know, I've done the construction piece, I've done the real estate piece. I'm pretty good at both, but the money seems to be, you know, I need to get closer to the money, I need to understand the financial price, I need to understand amortization and.
Fixed versus variable mortgages and all this stuff because that's really if you can understand the finances behind real estate, you'll understand how to make money. I owned a couple properties. I became a mortgage agent to ⁓ because I was like, I own properties now. This is great. I was essentially unemployed. I had I had a small business at the time, but not, you know, not your standard paycheck. And I was like, okay, well, I I own a bunch of real estate now, but
I feel broker than ever, right? I'm I'm house rich, but I'm I'm not surviving off the cash flow. I gotta go get a job here. ⁓ so I thought, what better to do than become a mortgage agent? Did that, and about a year into doing that, I met or I met my now co-host. We started a a podcast together called Brick and Mortar. It was it lived in relative obscurity on online, but it was a ton of fun. It taught us how to how to conduct ourselves on a podcast, how to interview people, how to break down data.
how to speak with one another. anyways, we did that for about a almost a year, and then we had an opportunity to join a much larger network that found out about us. and that's the Canadian investor. So they cover, you know, capital markets, stocks, and they were getting a ton of questions about real estate. they didn't know what they were talking when it came to this asset class. and
We jumped on board and it's really just been a roller coaster since then. We're over four million audio downloads and I think ⁓ approaching a million on on kind of other mixed media platforms. we've got to interview billionaires, Dragon's Den, ex Dragons Den ⁓ people. we've traveled the entire country multiple times hosting events and ⁓ it's really just been ⁓ an awesome
journey. So that's kind of how all those things intersected. I started buying I was listening to bigger pockets for a long time, wanted to get into the podcast game. thought it was necessary in Canada, was buying properties, became a mortgage agent and, you know, all these years later here I am.
Fred (07:38)
What a story. Who was your best interview? Or most interesting. Interesting interview.
Nick (07:42)
Yeah.
We had the opportunity to go in, which this was probably the coolest experience. ⁓ Chip Wilson, the the billionaire founder of Lululemon, one of the wealthiest Canadians. I was born and raised in BC. He's in BC. his first Lululemon store was a couple kilometers away from where I was born. you know, I actually funnily enough, I actually was living out in BC in Vancouver in my early twenties and
was my friend had a catering company and she got this crazy catering gig. She couldn't tell anyone about. And it was actually at his house for his wife's fortieth birthday party where they called in the red hot chili peppers to play a private show. So it was very serendipitous. Yeah, it was it was pretty amazing. very serendipitous for me to be able to interview him live at his office and spend a couple hours with him. well over a decade later. And ⁓ just a fascinating person full of amazing advice. And
Still probably I think one of our most, if not our most, downloaded and and listened to episode.
Fred (08:34)
Amazing. Amazing. Now for those listeners that aren't familiar with a ten forty one exchange, do you care to walk us through exactly what it is? It's an
Nick (08:43)
I'm
probably yeah, I'm probably not the best person to talk about the intricacies of it because I've never conducted one myself because I'm strictly a Canadian investor. But essentially, from my understanding, is you basically ⁓ are able to essentially transfer transfer your ⁓ wealth through real estate into larger real estate assets, being very tax sheltered and and capital gains protected and stuff. Whereas here in Canada, you know, we we get taxed to death on just about everything and and ⁓
It it feels sometimes like they don't like entrepreneurs or hirners or or business owners, which is crazy to me because and nothing against people that work, you know, quote unquote regular jobs, but there is a a lot of work and stress and grit that it takes to be a an entrepreneur, a business owner, someone who's even on commission sales kind of thing. So
Fred (09:31)
Absolutely. Thanks for that. A 1041 exchange allows you to transfer the equity on the sale of an asset into a similar asset at no tax cost in the US. That's a nutshell of what it actually is. It's an incredible advantage to those who want to keep their real estate investment dollars in real estate.
So at the end of the day, you only really get nailed by the folks of the IRS should you completely cash out of your real estate asset. So, anyways, thank you very much for that. Bernie.
Bernie (10:06)
Well, Nick, wow. congratulations on the on the downloads. That is ⁓ that's pretty outstanding. Thank you. ⁓ was gonna ask you, so what what's your day job now? ⁓ are are are you are you brokering? Are you podcasting? Are you are you juggling several plates at the same time? Which where's your where's your main ⁓ what's your main space?
Nick (10:12)
Thank you.
Yeah, it's a bit of a ⁓ well-orchestrated circus over here. you know, doing all these things for for years and having exceptional people around me ⁓ in support systems and and support staff and partnerships. I'm actually able to to conduct quite a few things. I mean, I still work like 60, 70 hour weeks, to be honest, but I love what I do. So the three main things that that get my attention primarily is commercial mortgage broker.
So my, you know, my clients are doing large transactions, you know, two, 10, 20 million plus in in a lot of cases. And ⁓ these are very complicated deals. The sales cycle is quite long, you know, minimum six months, upwards of of years in in some cases. so that takes up a lot of my time. I'm able to help clients across Canada. my partners and I at Build Financial have built a really incredible team, and we can get into that later.
So that that's the kind of the main component. I do spend about ⁓ one day a week kind of creating content. So that's my day today. I'm on with you lovely gentlemen. And then I've got ⁓ three podcasts that we're doing later today between Dan and I. Wow. Yeah. So so usually one day a week, we've got it kind of down to a science, one day a week. We release two episodes a week and it takes a you know a couple hours to prepare the episodes. We do them, you know, about half scripted, if not a bit more, just because we cover so many data heavy,
studies and and whatnot that we want to make sure that yeah that we want to make sure that our listeners are getting nothing but value in the 35 to 45 minutes that they donate to us. and then the other thing that I'm lucky enough to do ⁓ which has really just kind of taken off this year. We've been building it for the last couple of years slowly is ⁓ an events business, which I really never thought I would be part of. but this year, for instance, so we we've done two out of our four events this year.
One of them in Vancouver, one of them in Edmonton. ⁓ we have one coming up in September 15th in Toronto, and then another one in Montreal later this year. And those events, we have speakers and sponsors and panels. They're really at they're at really cool venues. the ticket price and everything is amazing. Like we're not there just trying to shell sell you a course or shill anything out. It's a room full of amazing people. And we usually get about 250 to over 300 attendees. So that's how I divide my time.
Fred (12:33)
Amazing.
Bernie (12:37)
On any on on any of your topics, do you ever touch anything that's like a hot button? south of the border, AI data centers are like, you know, really a hot topic. But I I I mean that's that's the flavor of the day. Do you have do you have other issues that you bring up in your podcast that are like, okay, you know, you wanna do this and how's that gonna pan out?
Nick (12:55)
Yeah, totally. I mean, we so we try to be very kind of nonpartisan. We've we've covered for instance, both the both parties housing plans, right? We had both housing ministers on from both sides of the aisle. we we do we have done episodes on data centers, you know, an episode that it was like can Elon Musk save Canada kind of thing, right? You know, a little clickbaity title right there. but we we try to, you know.
We don't really put our personal opinions in we don't inject them in into our ⁓ we're we're we're really just there present well researched information in in a very easy to understand fashion. but yeah, I mean we cover all the the hot topics, any new bill that's passed, anything having to do with the landlord tenant board. you know, I I'm a tenant and a landlord. So I think we're able to provide some some really good per perspective on on some of these kind of issues.
without again having a very clear agenda. you know, for me personally, we've seen a lot of people and and other social media creators and podcasters here in this country swing one way or another or get quite political. and look, it works for some people and and so be it. politics for me are, you know, something I I like to keep semi private. and I don't think it's, you know, I'm not a political commentator. It's not my job to be out there.
saying what I believe in or don't believe in. So we we keep it professional and we keep it to real estate. But we of course we touch on all the hot button topics. We have to.
Fred (14:18)
Just the facts, just the facts, man.
Nick (14:20)
That's it. That's it, baby. Just the facts. Yeah.
Fred (14:22)
Just the facts. You know, with ⁓ in Canada, anyways, GTP slowing, which it appears to be doing, and the Bank of Canada holding rates frustratingly, at least from my perspective, and Kuzma under review, how should Canadian investors, in your opinion, be thinking about where the real opportunities are right now?
Nick (14:43)
Yeah, look, I mean, not only everything you said is is of course completely accurate, Fred, but I think it's it, you know, we're the only country in in an ⁓ technical recession in the G twenty now. And, you know, technical recession, okay, sure. from our perspective, it we've kind of been in a recession for probably quite some time. certain things have been propped up and boosted up to avoid that. And I think, you know, the term vibe session, which became popular a couple of years ago,
I think that's really the main like you know, it's that's the the the sentiment is what moves the market. It's what gets people off their couches and back in the stores and back producing and back taking risks. and we don't have that right now. So not only are we in a a technical, you know, financial economic recession, I think we're also in the in still in that vibe session. So this this presents an interesting scenario for for people. So
It really comes down to who you are, where you are in life and what you are trying to accomplish. You know, if I am a young person right now, yeah, look it and you know, I I still consider myself young. I'll be thirty seven this year, but let's say twenty to forty, twenty to forty five kind of thing.
speaker-3 (15:48)
This
Nick (15:48)
This
is like this is the time for for you know people with ambition to to start taking some some risks and to get out there. I know it sounds counterintuitive because everything is so hard right now, but you know, this is where money is made, this is where opportunity is found. When you're in a recession, there's more problems than ever and you get paid in accordance with the amount of problems or the size of problems you solve. solve some problems right now.
Fred (16:12)
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Nick (16:16)
You know, from a strictly real estate perspective, I would say, look, it's always a good time to do a good deal. Okay. And the one thing that never gets out of style in real estate is finding good deals. So if you are a young person that I'm talking to, and you are looking to get into real estate and you're like, I've got 8,000 bucks, you know, what the hell do I do? you know, don't go spend that on a course, don't go try to, you know, borrow a bunch of money from friends and family.
Go do the hard thing and find a deal and bring it to an investor. Spend your time networking. So this is for me, if you're if you're young and trying to get started, that's what I would be doing. And that's what I did you know, when I was younger. if you are an existing investor that has a portfolio, this is really the age of the operator. You need to be it's similar to a business owner, right? You need to be looking at your margins. You need to be looking at where can we.
Hut? Where can we save? Where can we pull back? What can I take on? What's a luxury that was nice in, you know, the bull run that is not necessary right now? You should be implementing AI. You should be trying to, you know, use as much technology to make your business run, run smoother and leaner through these times. You know, we see a lot of people panic selling and stuff right now. And and I get that, you know, people are in really, really tough scenarios. So this is not me, you know.
I'm not saying hold on for dear life, never not, you know, team never sell all that kind of stuff. Every situation's different. but if you are a property owner, I think it's the age of of of the operator. And the last people I'll touch on is if you are a serious investor, an active investor, someone with money, someone with ⁓ enough of a risk tolerance to ⁓ to match your your your capital, now is the time to buy.
⁓ and I'm not saying that to to be a bull. I'm not saying that to, you know, to get business. I'm saying that because I s I work with and see a lot of serious real estate investors and professionals across the country. And they are all making moves. The the real ones right now are making moves. ⁓ and a lot of and and a lot of other people are in damage control. So if you fall into one of those three categories, that's where that's what I would be doing.
Fred (18:21)
Yeah, brilliant. That's a brilliant synopsis. Thank you very much for that. We're very fond of saying on our show that if there are no problems, Bernie.
Bernie (18:30)
There are no opportunities.
Fred (18:31)
Yeah, we start the show and finish the show with that all the time. So we're we're hearing you. But that's been my ⁓ experience as well. very little at the lower end of the market going on, but the large players, the players that have cash to whom financing is isn't really a problem, they're making moves on much larger portfolios, large portfolios because they can.
And the market's reflecting that. So they can usually get very favorable terms from a seller. So brilliant. Well well spoken. Well said for that.
Nick (19:04)
Thank you.
Bernie (19:05)
So we talked about ⁓ yeah, young and upcoming. So what about the older and outgoing? Are are the boomers influencing the market? Are is that a silver tsunami floating around that's making things kind of go, hm.
Nick (19:18)
The the boomers are a very interesting they provide a lot of interesting data points ⁓ in in today's Canada. ⁓ I I you know have so many stats floating around in my head that that pardon me if I butcher these, but I and I might not even use exact numbers, but most boomers in Canada own their home outright and or have or have very little mortgage left on it. That is that is a massive data point right there. That those same homes are for the most part.
largely empty. meaning that, you know, you've got a five-bedroom house, you're really only use or four-bedroom house, right? even even a three-bedroom house, you're really usually only using the one bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, and and the bedroom. you know, we've studied like heat maps of of how Canadians, Americans, and Australians, who have the three biggest square foot per capita globally, we've studied how they use their homes and
You know, there's millions of empty bedrooms here in Ontario alone and and well over 10 million in in in ⁓ Canada as a whole. So the boomers, you know, wealthiest generation. there's a lot of I don't even know the word to use here. There's a lot of ⁓ commentary that goes back and forth in in the market about, you know, the easiest generation, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Look, every every generation's different, right? ⁓ I think that ⁓
In a lot of ways, it's easier to be more successful in today's day and age, utilizing the proper things and and having the right combination of of soft and hard skills for for people to be successful. But, you know, the boomers also present a lot of interesting opportunities. If you are a a boomer that owns a bunch of real estate, you know, I would be probably holding right now because it's not a good time to to liquidate unless you absolutely need to, in which case, do so.
⁓ again, and the same advice goes again, like be this is the age of the operator, right? If you've owned these buildings for for quite some time, which is the case in a lot of the transactions we're seeing, right? You know, some some person in their mid to late sixties, all the way into their eighties that that has owned a you know, a large multifamily building for thirty, forty years, kind of thing, right? They bought it during the MERB program of like the seventies and eighties, even.
Fred (21:26)
Surprised you even know about that. Yeah. ⁓
Nick (21:28)
Yeah. which is aga again kind of similar to the CMHC MLI select product that I that I use a lot right now. But ⁓ yeah, and and I think from from people looking at boomers and thinking, where is this gonna go? Well, I I mean again, I think there are a lot of potential issues, you know, just just funding what it's gonna cost. And this is we're seeing this in Europe and and you know, across the world with aging populations and not enough of a
younger population to essentially support these aging people ⁓ financially, physically, and to house them. so you know, I think there's a ton of opportunity for boomers themselves or for other generations to come in and you know, kind of capitalize. It might not be the right word, but you guys know what I'm saying. You know, seize the opportunity of take advantage. What is gonna take advantage? Like what's gonna happen to all these people that are in these large homes that
Don't want to maybe sacrifice the style and the comfort of what they've had for a long time. Well, the product that they're looking for doesn't exist. Okay. So I think there's going to be a massive boom in new style of retirement living, retirement communities. we're already seeing that there was some crazy stat that like the best performing REIT of the last few years, real estate investment trust for investment vehicle that you can buy, the best performing REIT was a seniors housing REIT. So
I think there's a massive amount of of opportunity there. We also see a lot of the boomers moving to interesting parts of Canada, you know, kind of looking for more affordability in a lot of cases, right? We see a lot of interprovincial migration to the prairies and to the beautiful provinces on the east coast. so you know, I think it's an interesting opportunity. The other thing about the boomers is the ones that are that want to stay in the in the cities, Toronto.
Calgary, the major city, strong Calgary, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, you know, they want to age in place, they want to stay in these in these homes. Well, this is where the ⁓ opportunity of multiplexing properties becomes very, very interesting as well, right? You bring in a financial partner and a general contractor, and you can turn your single family home in in you know, inner somewhere in the city into a ideally a five or more unit building, get incredible financing on it, be able to
Essentially condominiumize and sell some of those units, recoup your money and and then have you know, rental income from the others while also still living there, or have your you know, sons or daughters or whatever and have that kind of multi-generational household going on. So the boomers are really all over the place, presenting a lot of opportunities. ⁓ and you know, it's definitely an ongoing story. the last thing I'll touch on is.
The silver tsunami that you mentioned, Bernie. And we've covered this quite extensively on the show. It's something that we've been talking about for years. We work a lot with ⁓ home builders, developers, home builder associations. And ⁓ this is a massive concern. This is a so the silver tsunami essentially just means silver being gray hair, and and gray beards, Bernie, exactly. Gray mustaches, Fred. ⁓ you know, this is ⁓ this is when we see
Mass retirement. And I mean like so much retirement that is actually double digit retirement over the next 20 years. where we are gonna see a lot of these journeymen, a lot of these ⁓ red seal tradespeople, which is the main concern, leave the industry. I'm talking, you know, steam fitters, plumbers, HVAC, electrical, all of the stuff that we need to actually make the world go round, to actually build the infrastructure that creates and allows real estate to operate.
they're all retiring and they have not trained or backfilled enough young people in order to do this. This is why you've actually seen the quality of work in a lot of cases go down.
Fred (25:09)
Yeah, that's that's an inter that's an interesting observation. You're absolutely right. And the tradespeople that I've come across have said that the the younger generation to them anyways just aren't interested in that type of manual work because the young lads, and I when I'm saying young, those you know, your age and younger who decide to enter into a trade, the one the ones that have
Have been overwhelmingly successful. You know, when you're talking about electricians, like it's amazing how, and it's because there's a real lack of interest. People don't look at that as a viable way to make a living. They're too caught up, quite frankly, sitting behind their screens and don't know the first thing But now we're getting into a personal.
Bernie (25:55)
Central opinion.
Nick (25:56)
I mean, look, you're you're right, Fred. I mean, I I I you know, I I come when I moved here from Vancouver, I grew up in a bit of a like spent my high school years in a kind of a smaller town. A lot of my buddies from back there are trades guys. It was a normal thing for half these guys or more to go, you know, going to university and you know, being a a a desktop warrior, keyboard jockey, whatever you want to call it. That was almost like, why would you do that kind of thing? And it's really changed in the last decade or so.
I'll tell you right now, all those guys are business owners. they have time off, they spend with their families. You know, they're the kind of people with a cottage and snowmobiles, and and you know, they they they're doing financially a lot better than a lot of the other people I know that kind of went into the corporate world that are stressed about AI now. that that, you know, the the ability to make money is is capped by how fast you can move up in a large company.
Whereas if you if you go and be a plumber, you know, you you apprentice for a couple of years, essentially going to school and getting paid for it at the same time. you know, you're all you're also around what I see a lot of trades guys doing is they're also around a lot of other trades guys. So they go and they start buying real estate together. And guess what? They can do all the renovations and stuff way cheaper. you know, multi many, many of my of my clients that are are involved in some kind of trade, whether it even be, you know, more more obscure like roofing or
demolition or something like that, they're still in that network. They're still on site. They still understand it. So I urge more and more young people. And we we've we've done ⁓ even like some some kind of charitable work around this kind of stuff that really trying to get young people to to consider trades. and let me tell you as a guy that wore a suit for a long time it's not that sexy. Okay. Ties suck. you know wearing a suit in the middle of summer you know
There's something about being on site and being able to work your way up. And by the time, you know, you're you're in your mid thirties, you you can very well be a a business owner.
Fred (27:45)
For sure. Shout out to tradespeople and those considering becoming tradespeople. Because you're right, silver tsunami, whatever you want to call it, at the end of the day, those are the people that are going to make a real difference, particularly to the real estate investor. You touch base just briefly, and I know this is we're changing changing horses here a bit, about the you said you did a fair bit of work with the CMHC select program.
Can you explain to our listeners a little more about that program? it would be brilliant to have your like hands-on perspective.
Nick (28:21)
Yeah, yeah, totally. I mean, I I I touch this stuff every day. It's a ton and amount of the ton of the work we do. So first of all, CMHC is not a lender. They are a federal insurance agency. And what they they've designed a product called CMHC ⁓ L I Select. that is mortgage loan insurance. That's what MLI stands for. And ⁓ this program kind of came on the market ⁓ three in a bit years ago, maybe something like that. Yeah, and and
Fred (28:46)
About three years ago.
Nick (28:49)
You know, it hit the ground running. ⁓ those that were early adopters are doing and have done extremely well. it's a it's it's amazing to me that a lot of people still don't know about it in in the country. But this is a program designed for five units or more. Okay. So if you have five units in a building, all the way up to several hundred units in a building, you can get incredible.
⁓ financing. And what this product does, and it's kind of cool, they've they've kind of gamified it a little bit, if you will. Okay. So it's a points based system. the points are derived from accessibility, affordability, and energy efficiency. So if you meet certain metrics, check certain boxes within any one of those categories or a combination of those categories, you can get anywhere from 50 to 100 points. Those points allow you to get things like 95% loan to value.
95% loan to cost, 50-year amortizations, and some of the lowest lending rates that that exist on the market. And that is all because ⁓ CMHC's main goal, and by the way, CMHC is amazing. You know, we we've we've had them on the podcast several times. they're sponsor they sponsor our events, they do really great work over there. It's actually the only profitable government agency. Okay. Take that in for a second. That's the only profitable government agency. Ridiculous. ⁓
But so they they've been doing really great work outside of all the data and po and papers that they publish. they have designed this insurance product, and of course, they've got many other products. But this one has been really popular across the country. We're doing deals using this product from from Vancouver all the way through Calgary and and Edmonton, all the way over to of course Ontario and the East Coast. So you know, it it just allows developers and it allows.
Citizen developers, this kind of new category that we're seeing emerge, you know, the the what we were just talking about, that homeowner that owns a piece of property in a city, and it's like, and you know, all of a sudden that's up zones to five or six or eight properties or eight units, sorry, as of right. Well, that person can now turn into a real estate investor and a developer if they bring in the right team. Now, of course, there's stipulations, there's net worth requirements, there's liquidity requirements, there's
experience requirements. So you actually need to be able to prove that you are experienced enough. if you want CMHG construction, you need to have, you know, ⁓ construction and project management and property management experience. So this isn't a program for anybody. ⁓ and there's a lot of unfortunate kind of bad advertising going on around this program.
You know, it's the we've done a lot of kind of myth busting episodes, and that's why we're on this bit of a crusade to make sure that this program isn't abused like the MERD program was. you know, there's realtors are desperate right now. People are desperate right now to look for the next deal. The condo market is absolutely terrible. Pre-construction market is absolutely terrible. So what are people doing? They're now looking at this program, and you know, you see advertisements on Instagram or whatever, you know.
own this 30 unit building in Edmonton for for ten thousand dollars or for you know for almost no money down kind of thing. And it's like, well, you know, there's elements of truth to that, but they don't tell you that you need, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank or that you need a bunch of of of team members in order to make that happen. So that's a little bit of a synopsis on MLI.
Fred (32:02)
So is that program lend itself nicely to conversions where you have an office building and you want to convert it into residential?
Nick (32:10)
So I have not done a conversion deal myself. One of my partners at Build Financial has. it was a I believe it was an old one of them was an old church, and then one of them was an older, ⁓ kind of more industrial style building. Old office, you could say, very old office. yeah, I mean, look, this if you hit those metrics, you you you get the funding. If you if you can check all those boxes, you get the funding. Now
Of course, there are, you know, a million and one documents like the this process is extraordinarily document heavy. You know, there's all these jokes, you know, they want your they want your leg and your firstborn child, blah, blah, blah, all that kind of stuff. but that should be the case if you're getting those types of terms, right? I mean, ninety-five percent on a on a large building that that's that's still cash flows in a lot of pla in a lot of cases is pretty incredible. Now, you know, we may also make the joke that
anyone that does is gonna be a very popular grandparent because your amortization's fifty years. but that's okay, right? Real estate isn't meant to be held for for the long term.
Fred (33:09)
It can be generational, absolutely. Well
Bernie (33:11)
Just going back to the ⁓ that program, so if you were looking to get into it and you kind of fit the profile, is this something you do as a joint venture? Like you were talking about your your buddies, you know, that ⁓ work the trades and going, let's let's build something, right? And you know, and and they're gonna build it right and they're gonna build it well and it meets the criteria. Is that something as a as a joint venture that'd be a good way to approach it as opposed to being a a solo, I'm here, honey?
Nick (33:38)
Yeah, that's a that's a great question. You know, I I probably see interestingly about half and half. You know, I there's still some of my clients are quite wealthy, some of them are very knowledgeable and sophisticated real estate investors, and they do this stuff alone. on on title. Now, from a partnership perspective, I look at all of everyone on my power team in real estate.
As partners of mine, power team being your core group of people you need to get anything done, your mortgage broker, your real estate agent, your appraiser, your lawyer, you know, and the list goes on and on, your contractor, etc. you need some of those people in order to get this transaction done. So if you have the money, that's great. You still need to hire someone that has the experience in order to do this. So, I see clients doing that, but I also see in in more cases than I have before,
partners getting together. Right. And this could be a homeowner and a contractor partnering together. This could be a couple of young people that are pooling their funds and starting a corporation. And you know, the corporate corporation guarantees it and then they personally guarantee it and they all make decent money. And, you know, they can pull one of these smaller projects off. And then, you know, they roll that into the next one. They roll that into the next one. So you know, it's a bit of a it's a bit of a mixed bag, but a lot of people are partnering on this stuff for ⁓
many different reasons, whether it be experience or or finance is a
Fred (34:59)
Yeah, we we spend a lot of time talking about co-tenancies, which essentially is an organized partnership. And we've been expounding the advantages of that for years and years. I've probably put 35, 40 of them together. And very often they're investors who haven't that wouldn't have known each other until they actually met on a project.
But it's very, it's it's ⁓ it's very property specific. Very, very property specific. so I I really want to move along here. We don't have you all day, and I ⁓ really want to take advantage of ⁓ your time. So ⁓ tell us about Land Bank.
Nick (35:41)
Yeah. So Land Bank is a ⁓ it was kind of the first brokerage that we that we started. It's it's still operational. I'm no longer a part of it. It's but it's a more of a consulting arm at ⁓ at this point. But you know, it was myself and a couple of partners who were buying a ton of property back in the day, building a portfolio. and we all had at mortgage expertise. And ⁓ we we decided to start that. That kind of led me to the path I'm on right now, which is at
At Build Financial, where where we we specialize, and this was kind of what I've always been doing. It's just at a bit of a different scale now. We help ⁓ investor scale, ⁓ simply put, right? So if you're looking to buy, sell, refinance, or develop any type of real estate project. Now, you know, back then I I would do just about anything. Nowadays I'm really focusing on the larger stuff, the multifamily, mixed use industrial, et cetera.
⁓ but ⁓ you know it's it's at build we it's it's great. We've got a a team of ⁓ amazing team of people, dedicated analysts, dedicated CMHC specialists, and and a team of of just rock star, dedicated, very sharp individuals that ⁓ that service clients across the country.
Fred (36:54)
So you actually will finance or look at a project right across the board, right across Canada. And you have two offices now?
Nick (37:02)
We've got two offices we are expanding slowly, but I'll I'll leave it there for now.
Fred (37:07)
Okay. Sounds great. Thanks,
Bernie (37:10)
it's interesting. ⁓ you you the land bank component and you know, we hear about Toronto, we hear about ⁓ Vancouver, you know, their the big metropolitan areas. Is there any any new areas that people should be paying attention to? Even even with the new infrastructure bills that your infrastructure that the government, the feds are putting into play, right? Because all of a sudden we're putting a highway where there's no highway before. You know, that that sounds like opportunity.
I is that something that's up and coming or is there an area right now that's ⁓ even sweeter?
Nick (37:42)
Yeah, I mean, look, it's it's a very nuanced answer because it really depends on what your investment thesis is, right? If you are you know, for for for for example, what one of our first investment thesis, we we had a portfolio of about 80 units ⁓ under this thesis was buying below replacement cost. Okay, so we picked a couple sub markets. ⁓ Fred Bray, I'm sure you'll be familiar with the likes of Cornwall, Ontario, North Bay.
Sudbury, those types of places. Yeah, sure. ⁓ and we were able to build a really great portfolio there. And what buying below replaces costs mean, it means if I look at a piece of land that has a duplex on it, even if it's not that nice of a duplex, and maybe I wouldn't live in it. And I'm not talking slumlord, you know, we were never like that. We treated all of our tenants with respect and and operated a a tight ship. but what it what that means is if you how much would it cost me to
buy that piece of land and build something on it and make the same amount of money. Right. So our it was a long-term play, you know, as tenants turned over, as homes got, you know, if we had an empty unit, we would do a massive renovation. We'd buy stuff that was on larger lots that could be potentially redeveloped at some point. But that was just one of my investment thesis. Maybe your investment thesis is looking for where defense contracts are are going. You know what I mean? Like some places on the East Coast and and
investing there. Maybe it's where you know, the boomers are going and you're looking to maybe go and start to try to buy or build retirement communities. maybe you're kind of more that luxury investor and you want to do something like a sexy Airbnb. Okay. Well go find cottage country. You know, find a really nice building in in a major metropolitan somewhere in Canada. It totally depends on what you are trying to do. I mean, you know
I know people doing deals and through different investment strategies in almost all the markets across Canada. And if you pick them up and took that strategy and that person and put them in a different market, they might not succeed. So, you know, it really is a question of who you are, what you're trying to do, how well thought out that investment. Yeah. How well thought out that investment thesis is and and the people around you. You know, Canada is a very interesting place because it's so large. there are
Many different rules and regulations that govern the different ⁓ provinces and even down to the different municipalities, it can be different. everything from commission sales to landlord tenant tax and and boards, sure, you know, the amount you can raise rent, just you know, to to operate in an Airbnb or short-term rental, just all these different things. So, you know, it's so personal and location specific.
Fred (40:17)
To make a general comment. Yeah.
Nick (40:18)
Yeah. So I would I would urge anyone to just really figure out what your why is, what your investment thesis is, and and it starts to get easier to pick a market when you start to get clearer on your goals.
Fred (40:28)
Yeah, I love that term investment thesis. Really. I mean, it's ⁓ it makes perfect sense. Absolutely. So along those same lines, tell us about clearing, because I this I found very interesting when I was doing my research. Tell us about clearing analysis paralysis, particularly what is it? And is there one particular mental shift?
That separates investors who take action from those who spend years getting ready.
Nick (40:59)
Yeah, honestly. Thank you for asking that question, Fred. That is such an important question for not just people in real estate, but anybody, man. Like I, you know, I've started many businesses and I and most of them have been failures or failures in some capacity. You know, they all experience success, of course, but you know, I'm not sitting here talking to you from you know, a private island in in a mansion or anything like that. You know, I I have I haven't made it like that yet. And of course, every business I thought I was going to.
You know, the number one reason people fail, whether it be in business or ⁓ in real estate, which is of course should be run like a business, is just not starting. And that's what analysis paralysis is. Okay. Analysis meaning I'm thinking about it, I'm working on it, I'm I'm writing a new investor deck, I'm I'm I'm rejigging the business plan. I'm I'm you know, making a couple upgrades to the product. You know, I it has to be perfect because
People are gonna laugh me out of here if I if I you know present the the imperfect widget or the the you know the not polished service or whatever it may be. completely, completely false. It's actually quite the opposite. ⁓ most people love to see other people try something. ⁓ unfortunately, in my experience, some of the people closest to you actually won't be your biggest supporters, and that's something that a lot of entrepreneurs have to get through. But you know, analysis.
trying to perfect something and the paralysis is obviously not being able to move, not being able to do anything or act. So those two words together really describe what a lot of people suffer from when they try to start something, whether it's a t-shirt company or a private equity firm, you know, maybe you're probably not if you probably don't suffer from private analysis products if you're doing a private equity firm. But for most people trying to start out, whether it's buying your first investment property, starting your first little business,
Or even just going and like knocking on doors and trying to find a deal, or even going to like a real estate networking event. It's just that fear, like, and and that is something that I've tried to dedicate the last several years of my life, something that I've never had, for better or for worse. And ⁓ and it's something that I've made it a mission of mine to try to break that mold that that people kind of get into, you know.
I was talking to a I'm I won't in the case he ever listens to this, I won't name any names or anything but or locations. But I was let's just say I was talking to someone in at one of our in the prairies at one of our meetups that I was at one of our events. This guy was like he's in his mid forties and he's like, you know what, I think I'm finally gonna think about bu buy a property. I'm like, That's amazing. Good for you. Like, you know, like and I was like, Did you have you like are you just getting into real estate? What's going on? You know, he had he had a
Kind of a you quote unquote normal job, whatever. I can't remember what he did, but he was like, you know, my wife gave me the go ahead 20 years ago to to buy something. I just couldn't find anything. I couldn't couldn't pull the trigger. And, you know, houses in this market back then were like a hundred grand or less in some cases. And ⁓ you know, 20 years later, I was like, I looked at them and I was like, look, I'm not gonna sugarcoat this. If you had even bought one property every five years, 20 years ago.
You'd probably have a net worth of over a million dollars now. If you had bought one property every two or three years, or if you'd gotten aggressive about it, you would be in a entirely and you know, I didn't mean to ruin this guy's night, but I could see the sparkle in his eye kind of lose a little bit. And ⁓ you know, I I just think it's about taking that risk, you know. Like, what is the worst that can happen? Go get a job, go live with your parents, go sleep in your car for a week if you have to, you know, like the there the absolute worst case scenario.
is never as bad as the best case scenario could be. And, you know, I I like to live by a couple of quotes. I think one of the most powerful quotes for entrepreneurs or would-be entrepreneurs, people who are thinking about getting started is you know, entrepreneurs and and investors and the people that take that little bit of risk are willing to live a few years of their life like most people won't, so that they can live the rest of their lives like most people can.
Fred (44:48)
Mm-hmm. That's very good. That's good. That's ⁓ that's very thoughtful. But no, that's I I come across the entire I I come across this all the time. And ⁓ I find that a lot of people, quite frankly, potential investors or even current investors want to be taken by the hand through the process. And I find the one thing when I'm making a
a a presentation regarding a potential investment for a co-tenancy group. I find the more information I have tends to alleviate that stress or anxiety level. It helps them make the go-no-go type of decision that we're looking for. So I always try to go into these investor meetings being exceptionally well prepared because there are so many people out there
As you said, that are just there, they're paralyzed by fear or uncertainty. And you know, to have an entrepreneurial spirit is really, I think every business person should adapt that attitude or that philosophy. But it's not wrong to suggest that even entrepreneurs need mentors. They don't have all the answers. They may have plans. So I think the key for a lot of our listeners out.
Nick (45:41)
Certainty.
Fred (46:02)
There, because the vast majority of our listeners are real estate investors or want to be real estate investors, is again, as you so I mean, you so beautifully said, you need to have your core group. I mean, we're always touting the fact that you need to create your team before you turn around and invest in your first property. You can't have all the answers to every question to any situation that may come up.
But create and develop your team beforehand. And that way you can go to them and have a meaningful discussion. And what again, you know, again, I'm I'm gonna say it again. If there are no problems.
Bernie (46:41)
There are no opportunities.
Fred (46:42)
That's right. So, you know, you have to take a look at these. You can't be fully expected to have all the answers, but by listening to your podcast and, you know, to to ours and seek seeking out those individuals who who have ⁓ the knowledge that maybe you just haven't garnered yet. Because the other thing we are very fond of saying is that experience is the best teacher. And it's so true.
Because you may not have all the answers on the first go, but the second one you'll have pretty close to all the answers. And if you don't, maybe it might take your third or fourth. But remember, experience is your best teacher.
Bernie (47:20)
Well, Nick, if I have a hundred thousand dollars in a bag and I'm going, hmm, I want to park it somewhere.
Nick (47:25)
Yeah.
Bernie (47:26)
Where do
you recommend I go parking it? Well, with me of course says Nick, but
Nick (47:30)
How do I get a bag like that?
Bernie (47:32)
Well, you know, it's you go to the bank. No, no, don't do that.
Nick (47:35)
yeah, ⁓ I think there are a lot of great opportunities in in the market right now. I mean a hundred thousand is just enough to to do something somewhat meaningful. you know, from from a stock market perspective, I have been a pretty bad investor to be honest. So I just go put it in the S P five hundred probably. if you are into crypto, you know, go ahead and and go do that to diversify. I
I actually lost all my crypto in a Spanish casino about two AM all these years ago. So it's a story for another time.
Fred (48:04)
There's a podcast topic.
speaker-3 (48:06)
Yeah.
Nick (48:06)
Yeah, that one might be a little more ⁓ heavily rated than than the usual stuff I put out. But from a real estate perspective, you know, a hundred thousand dollars that's a that's more than enough to go and buy a probably buy yourself if you qualify, of course, but that's more than enough money to go and buy a kind of starter duplex.
if not even if not even a triplex in in some markets across the country, you know, something that's priced five hundred thousand ish, right? And having that twenty percent down. lots of markets across the country that I that I love. I love the smaller, mid to smaller up and coming markets. I've always loved the cash flow investing play, not as focused on appreciation, but trying to force appreciation where I can.
So I think $100,000 can get you pretty far in a lot of markets, you know, obviously prairies and East Coast primarily. if you were to take the route that we were ⁓ discussing earlier, Bernie, with with partnerships, you know, $100,000, you become a somewhat attractive partner. You can go and LP that into a number of different funds. You can go put a hundred grand into a MIC, a mortgage investment corp, and let someone else kind of do it. ⁓ if you want to be a bit more of an active investor,
Go find a couple other people with a hundred grand or more and go and partner and and buy a bigger building. so you know, I think there's a lot of good ways to deploy a hundred grand right now. Or, you know, just YOLO it and go buy a Ferrari and and you know, a couple of jet skis or something.
Fred (49:32)
There you go. There you go.
So let's I I want to finish up with this question. Yeah, because you hit on a couple of really important points to our listeners. Secondary markets, which ⁓ I'm a big fan of. forced appreciation, a gain. I'm a huge fan. And most of our plans when it they they come to co-tenancies revolve around those two. Because I think that's where the greatest amount of opportunity lies.
For the basic investor or for an investor who maybe wants a little better return than an inflationary return. But one of the things I came across in my research was something that you referred to as house hacking. Tell me what it is, and is it still an effective investment strategy given today's market conditions?
Nick (50:20)
More effective than ever. And and I say that because it is now, I think, open to more people than ever. So house hacking, you know, I didn't come up with it. It's not something that I invented. it's actually something that I personally haven't done. I I tried to, it didn't work out. something that multiple of my real estate investing partners have done. And it's probably one of the best ways to get started in real estate investing. the difference becomes
When you go for your mortgage or to buy an investment property. Okay. So if I'm a young person, I'm going to buy my first house and there's a basement suite, or I'm just going to buy a duplex. Well, if you're buying it as an investment property, you need $20,000 down. Okay. If you are buying it as a owner, someone who's going to live in that property, you need as little as 5% down. Now I tell I usually tell people to put a bit more than 5% down because that basically means you're paying the bank rent.
⁓ in in a lot of cases, but you can get into it with with very, very little money. And what you do is you choose to live in either the either one of the sides or one of the units, or even in I've seen people do it in the basement, and they rent out the nicer, larger unit, the main floor. And guess what? Not only does this usually cover your mortgage in its entirety, but you're likely making money off of this thing too. So you are now a homeowner, an investment property owner.
That is living for free. Now, I say that it's expanded and kind of become more of an opportunity because this goes back to the multi-unit stuff right now, right? If you are house hacking, if you are living in one of these units and you've got four other units in the home, you still get a ton of benefits. So I think house hacking is one of the most overlooked ways to do it. The biggest pushback I've gotten when I when I tell people to do this, realistically, I you know, a lot of our audience is younger men.
so I tell young guys to do this and the you know I hate to throw the wives and the girlfriends under the bus here, but they're like, Yeah, my my wife or girlfriend does not want me living in the basement with you know a tenant above. This is supposed to be our house kind of thing. And I totally get that. Okay. So, you know, it is a lifestyle change. You are, you know, the excitement of owning your own home and you know, blah, blah, blah. That can diminish a little bit if you've got a tenant upstairs or or downstairs or beside you or whatever it may be. But from a financial standpoint.
from a building wealth standpoint, from a you know, pressing the fast forward button a little bit, it is, it is huge.
Fred (52:44)
Absolutely. It's a great first step for any fledgling investor as well. And I've had investors do just that. And as a matter of fact, one of our guests, most current guests, relatively well off gentleman, he bought a very attractive seven unit. And ⁓ he didn't take the the grand suite and he took the ⁓ I think the the second
level, which had a portion of the first. And he's raising two kids. And he's exception he's done exceptionally well for himself. So it all depends, you're right on the I think it has more to do with the mental attitude. And we didn't touch
Nick (53:25)
It's usually one of the spouses. Well husband or the wife is is usually against something like that. But if you can pull it off and if you can convince each other it's a good idea, it it is worth it at least for a couple of years.
Fred (53:36)
So I I have one question which we we didn't discuss before, but the one thing that I find very, very frustrating today, and one of the reasons why, and you started to discuss it earlier in the podcast, had to do with why the market is like it is. I think I had posed the question. But what I'm finding is that there's more the the
Although you know though some people would argue we're not technically in a recession, although I think those of us out there on the street would suggest we've been, as as you said, in a recession for quite some time. But I think it has more to do with it's more mental than it is actual. And in the sense, what I'm saying is that people have got this very
I think you know what I'm probably speaking about. It's the the attitude or the general premise that
Nick (54:27)
Sentiment.
Fred (54:28)
I mean, how do you
I mean, what's the answer to that? What's it gonna take to turn that attitude around? Outside of a complete, you know, shake up down south, which I think has a lot to do with it. you know, but what what's it gonna take? What do you think?
Nick (54:43)
I mean, ⁓ the unfortunate very simple, almost one word answer is is time, unfortunately, which which I know most people don't want to hear. I think there needs to be a lot of of policy changes. you know, we we we suffer from especially from a real estate perspective. I'll just speak real estate terms right now. You know, our permitting process here is the slowest in the world outside of literally, and I'm not kidding.
Slovakia, which almost is like like brutal irony. Okay. Slovakia and like our permit. It's it is ridiculous. Okay. The red tape that real estate investors, developers, business owners have to face is is quite frankly just unacceptable in a lot of cases. You know, I've clients that just waited 18 months for a permit. you know, it's just it's just it's just ridiculous. you know, I think Canadians have been
on a roller coaster. You know, we went right from the pandemic, right into interest rates going to, you know, absolute record lows, being everyone being locked inside to then people being let loose and ⁓ market going wild and you know rates shooting back up, immigration skyrocketing and then plummeting, vacancies being almost you know at all time lows to now, you know, creeping up to ⁓ in some cases, you know, six percent in in certain markets, which is crazy.
⁓ rents skyrocketed, rents are are softening across the ⁓ across the board. You know, who wants to do anything in that market? It's a it's it's a disaster. You know, one day it's this, one day it's that, one day it's this, one day the next month is this, next it's it's the the people like to be certain. Yeah, exactly. You know, people like to have a little bit of boring is good. Okay. You know, everyone likes excitement, of course, but in business and real estate and in economics, boring usually means good.
⁓ and we have not had a boring market. We'd have we'd had bear, bull, kangaroo market. It's been bouncing all over the place. So I think we need I think Canadians need to ⁓
kind of settle in for you know, I think that we're kind of grinding for the next two years. kind of in and around where we are right now, maybe a little bit worse, maybe it starts to get a little bit better. But I don't think we're in like recovery territory for, you know, a couple of years. And I don't think recovery means, you know, ripping bull market, multiple offers, zero percent interest rates, all that kind of BS again. I I really hope it doesn't. you know, I think we
We needed a bit of a healing period. and and we're in that right now, right? That the party's over and the hangover's kicked in. and and from you know, top down, I mean, there's just a lot of issues here in Canada, taxes, permits, zoning. you know, again, I don't want to get too opinionated or or political here, but I obviously I think we can all agree things need to change. And ⁓ and you know, I can't help but I'm an eternal optimist. I hope they will
So I'll leave it at that.
Fred (57:32)
Yeah, I think we're seeing right now a lot of municipalities getting the message. I mean, being led by at least the Ontario, the provincial premier, you know, about you know addressing just the issue that you spoke about. Now, this is only one area, one territory. Municipalities are notoriously slow to get what needs to be done, done. But I absolutely echo your sentiments. So
Thank you so much. That's been brilliant. We're not gonna let you off the hook yet. We got some fire QAs. They don't need big answers. Just lets our audience find out a little more about you.
Nick (58:06)
All right.
Bernie (58:11)
So Nick, what are you reading right now? What what's piqued your interest?
Nick (58:15)
I you know, I actually saw this question. I was like, damn it, I gotta think of a book. I used to read books quite a lot. I I'm a big audio book podcaster kind of guy these days. ⁓ I read an extraordinary amount of data and studies and reports and emails and research for podcasts and all that kind of stuff. So unfortunately I'm taking a bit of a sabbatical on on reading right now. I try to pick up a book here and there and I just can't find the time to get through it. So
you know, what I will say is I I really did enjoy a lot of the real estate classics, of course, but outside of real estate, Malcolm Gladwell is always someone that I really enjoyed reading and and you know, the ro the Robert Greens of the world too. So bad answer, but that's all I got.
Fred (58:55)
No, no, Malcolm Gladwell's I've I've read all his recent books anyways, so I I hear ya. So in your very you may not be reading anything right now, but did you ever have a favorite book?
Nick (59:06)
Fourth Turning was probably the last book I read, and that was really really eye opening. don't know if it'd be my favorite. I don't I don't know if I've got a favorite book, to be honest. I don't think so.
Fred (59:17)
So far it's a wash, Bernie. What are we gonna do with it?
This this one you gotta be able to answer.
Nick (59:22)
Okay, okay.
Bernie (59:23)
'Cause you know, i reading is one thing, but eating, we all have to eat. Give a favorite meal.
Nick (59:28)
No, I do. ⁓ pasta. I ⁓ Italian. I we just got back from Italy about a month or two ago. I'm headed back in two months. I love pasta. I I'll take I'll take any and all types of pasta.
Fred (59:41)
Any particular one that you really like that you if you saw in a menu, you'd say, I gotta have this.
Nick (59:46)
Yeah, I mean Carbonera in Rome is about as good as it gets.
Fred (59:49)
Yeah, that I can believe. That I can believe. So what's your favorite alcoholic beverage?
Nick (59:54)
I love a nice crispy beer, but I'm trying not to be fat, so I'm on the tequila sodas right now.
Fred (1:00:00)
Tequila
soda diet. Tequila, so that's good. You heard it first right here. Tequila soda diet. I like that.
Bernie (1:00:09)
Well, if you if you if you're having a tequila soda, ⁓ what what's the perfect circumstance? What's the perfect day? Is that the tequila soda or
Nick (1:00:18)
Yeah, well, perfect perfect day. ⁓ just perfect day in general. Honestly, I I love a I love getting up early when I can, having a bit of a slow morning. I if I had a an opportunity to do a bit of an outdoor workout ⁓ in whatever capacity, and then do a sauna or a steam room and and a cold plunge, I know it sounds probably super annoying for some people, but I literally just love that stuff. My I'm half Italian, half Swedish, so I've been in the sauna since I was a little kid.
that would be the perfect start today. And then ⁓ you know, see friends, see family and and probably make a couple of calls and try to get a deal done because I love that stuff too.
Fred (1:00:52)
Man, sounds sounds great. Do you have a favorite place in the world to visit? Now let's I know you just came back from Italy, so give me another place.
Nick (1:01:02)
Yeah. outside I'm gonna I'm gonna keep this like super local here. I my family has a kind of family cottage on the Manitoulin Island, largest freshwater island in the world. Absolutely beautiful, hit very much a hidden gem. I've been going up there since I was twelve years old. you know, I've done a lot of traveling all over the world. I absolutely love it up there. I love northern Ontario. I love cottages and just being up there and and
the quiet and the the nature and the feeling that you get. so I'll say the Manitoulin Island.
Fred (1:01:34)
Beautiful. Sounds as good as any other place. Ernie, take us home.
Bernie (1:01:38)
So, do you have a favorite type of ice cream?
Nick (1:01:40)
Nistachio Gelato.
Fred (1:01:42)
Yeah.
Bernie (1:01:42)
Sounds Italian.
Nick (1:01:42)
Going to
Fred (1:01:44)
I don't know why, but yeah. There you go. Nick, thank you for being our guest today. I'm sure there'll be all sorts of questions for you. Where can our listeners find you? What's the best way to get a hold of you?
Nick (1:01:58)
Yeah, I really appreciate you gentlemen having me on. really great conversation and and love what you guys are doing. I'm fairly easy to get a hold of. ⁓ Instagram would be at my buddy Nick. You add me, we're buddies, my buddy Nick. ⁓ LinkedIn, Nick Hill. And then if you want to send me an email you're interested in in any of the more professional stuff we spoke about, ⁓ Nick N I C K at buildbldfinancial.ca. Shoot me an email there.
Fred (1:02:25)
Wonderful. Thank you for that. Anything you care to add, Bernie?
Bernie (1:02:28)
Another thing I would add, ⁓ Nick, what is your podcast name? How do
Nick (1:02:32)
Canadian. Yeah, thank you so much. The Canadian Real Estate Investor Podcast, bit of a mouthful, but we tried to make it as SEO friendly and self-explanatory as possible. we actually just hit over 400 episodes, which is pretty cool. Goals to get to a thousand, and an immense amount of value. It's been it's been a massive amount of work for us, but something we truly love. You can find it anywhere, YouTube, Spotify, Apple. ⁓ go check it out. It'd be greatly appreciated.
Fred (1:02:59)
Yeah. Thank you.
Bernie (1:03:00)
I think the ⁓ our our conversation today has been most enlightening. understanding what CMHC has to offer, you know, and if you go knocking on the door, that's really a great ⁓ a great thing to understand that whole whole profile, understanding what's happening in the market and there are hidden gems everywhere. So even house hacking. I'm thinking someone on a computer right now, but it it's more than that.
Fred (1:03:22)
Yeah. It's a relatively new term for for well what most people always did. So but I love the moniker for sure. Yes, it's been very, very interesting. I really hope you'll consider coming back and revisiting us, Nick, because it's a conversation. That's great to hear.
Nick (1:03:23)
Yeah.
Exactly.
Would be honored.
Bernie (1:03:42)
So folks, if you're listening to this show, you can sign up for the Property Wise newsletter. In it, you'll find the latest investment opportunities, links to your favorite podcasts, all with a little bit of education thrown in and the cost, the time it takes to listen up and sign up. So and you have questions or comments, reach out to us at info@gentryres.com. That's INFO at a G E.
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Fred (1:04:06)
Again, thank you listeners for tuning in. And remember, if there are no problems.
Bernie (1:04:11)
There are no opportunities.
Fred (1:04:13)
Have a great week.