Welcome back to the Wisdom Lifestyle Money Show. I'm your host, Scott Dillingham. Today, I wanted to talk to you guys about a lot of different investment opportunities that we see going on. We get calls all the time, right? Being an investor focused brokerage, people reach out to
Scott Dillingham:us all the time.
Scott Dillingham:And so there's a couple of different things that we're really, really focused on that investors get excited about when we speak to them. So there's projects and there's lending. So first we'll talk about lending and then we'll dive into projects. So with lending, so we get asked all the time, Hey, I have this money, can you lend it out for us? So yes, we do that.
Scott Dillingham:Now, thing is, we only like to do it with investors that have a lot
Scott Dillingham:of money, because we need
Scott Dillingham:to keep track of who has what and when they have it, right? Because if a client comes to us and says, hey, I need XYZ funds and you've only got 50 or a 100
Scott Dillingham:k, right, it's hard for us
Scott Dillingham:to track that. So we really target the larger investors that have, you know, 500, a million, couple million, right? That is the best fit for our lending product. So if you have under 500,000 and you want to lend privately, there are other mortgage brokers that you could potentially work with. It has its own risks and I'll explain why in a second.
Scott Dillingham:So it may not be worth it for you, but we generally don't wanna get involved with an investor unless they've got 500 or above. Now our clients being that they are investors, it's a different clientele, right? So different level of risks. I being an investor could be biased, but I think it's a lot less
Scott Dillingham:risky than dealing with other
Scott Dillingham:scenarios. So I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about here. So our client base, being that they're investors, a lot of times they're turning over properties. Now the thing is, is if you're turning over property, you're either turning it over because the rents are too low, you're turning it over because you're adding more units, it could also be that the existing landlord didn't repair anything and it's in complete disrepair. So
Scott Dillingham:the banks and the major prime lenders, if the property is in rough shape, they don't wanna move forward on it. So that's where private lenders come in good because when we analyze a deal, we get today's appraisal value, so we know what we're looking at. Then
Scott Dillingham:we get the customer's plans and quotes for improvements, and we send that to an appraiser to confirm that it will be worth that much money when it's done. So we tap into private funds. This is one example. I'm gonna share
Scott Dillingham:some more examples here in a minute. But we tap into these private funds, and we've already done the pre approval for the client, we've already lined up their lender when this
Scott Dillingham:is done because investors, they don't wanna pay, you know, as the borrowing investor, you don't wanna pay more interest than you need to. So we get the private funds, pay the fees, to activate that loan, we renovate the property, do whatever we need to do to it, maybe it is, we just need to rent it out, the rent didn't qualify, so we just needed to rent it out. But then we have to take out already lined up. So as soon as the investor is done renovating, or as soon as they're done renting it out, we already have it approved in the system and then we fund.
Scott Dillingham:So the loans, they're not out for a very long period of time, but because of this strategy too, it really protects the investor because we wouldn't activate a private loan if we cannot see that there's a clean exit. Right? And this is drastically different
Scott Dillingham:than other brokers, other mortgage brokers who will take anybody's money and they use it for any private deal that they may have, and like I said, I've got an example for you. So let me give it to you, right? Like, let's say somebody has defaulted on their mortgage, right? They can't pay their mortgage, but their lender is repossessing the mortgage
Scott Dillingham:or the home. Right? They're repossessing home because they can't pay. A lot of these homeowners will get new private lenders, which just kind of gives them more time so they can try to sell. But the challenge is most homeowners are not all
Scott Dillingham:the time, but no one wants to leave their home. Right? The home is the number one thing that people fight for. So a lot of times they won't try to sell or do different things, it's hard to explain, I don't know why, but I just find that dealing with people with lower credit scores, late payment history, all that stuff, there's a need for that, and there's a product for that, but that's not our client base. And I think that that's fantastic for an investor who would have money that wants to lend to one of our customers.
Scott Dillingham:Now, I'm not saying everyone has perfect credit and if you don't, like, you know, there's a reason, when I first started,
Scott Dillingham:when I
Scott Dillingham:was 18, I activated credit, I didn't understand it, I ruined my credit and I learned from that and I never was bad after that, never, never, never. But you go through these life scenarios and challenges, There was COVID, there's job losses, right? So there's these things, I don't think it's like a person's bad or whatever, it's just, I look at it like, okay, I'm going to lend my money out, how am I gonna get my money back, right? And is this pathway to get my money back easier and better than this pathway over here? So that's why I really like the investor projects because we've
Scott Dillingham:already lined up their approvals on the next deal. So another way that we
Scott Dillingham:do this, and this is why we need bigger funds, It's not the smaller stuff. We need greatest loans, we literally have a client right now, that multifamily property, it's insured with CMHC, well it's going to be.
Scott Dillingham:CMHC approved the deal, but come to
Scott Dillingham:find out on the final stages of the lawyer, they did a title search and all this other stuff, and they found out that it was being sold with one extra unit than it legally has, and can legally be used for. So CMHC, like we brought the data to CMHC, it actually doesn't affect the loan size at all, it still has strong cash flow, but CMHC said, hey, this is
Scott Dillingham:a material change, we're going with less units now, we need to re approve you but not only that, because it needs to be re approved, you're back at the front of
Scott Dillingham:the line And if you've done any deals with CMHC, you know that that means four months, six months, it's a long time. So this type of lending, so we have lenders that do the bridge loans, which is fantastic, but that's where we need additional funds for, is these bridge loan style projects and properties. So with those, it's great because we already have and know that CMHC will approve this, we've done the underwriting, it's just with bureaucracy and politics and stuff, we just have to restart the process. Now his seller was now willing to extend and wait for this, so that's why we had to get him a bridge loan, so no problem, right? We had the investors,
Scott Dillingham:we had the funds, so like, it's good. But that is a great avenue for an investor to invest funds in, so if you have any, we'd love to chat.
Scott Dillingham:The other thing is projects. So I spoke about projects, there's many. I'm recording this early February, take a look at my Facebook, just look up Scott Dillingham, look at my Facebook, you'll see a couple pictures I posted there of a project that I walked through. This is a old, I don't wanna say
Scott Dillingham:it's like a gym, but it sort of was. It had multiple actual gymnasiums in it for different sports,
Scott Dillingham:had a swimming pool, it was like a recreation center and it's being converted to a 35 unit multifamily property, so we have access to deals like this all the time. Internally on the team, we have developers that are physically developing properties, so that is the one thing that I really find, especially in the Canadian market. It's hard to make a lot of money if you're buying resale. I find personally, my opinion, right? I know there's gonna be people listening out there being like, I get all my properties at MLS, I make tons of money, that's great.
Scott Dillingham:It might work in your area, and maybe it's a dollar amount that you're satisfied, you know, making, but for me and my team, we want the big dollar. So on that type of stuff, I find it's developing, it's new projects, new properties. So for that, we're well capitalized to continue to grow and scale and build these projects and develop, but we're always looking for more, right? So there's potential lenders, right? So you could be a lender on these projects, you could be an equity partner on these projects, right?
Scott Dillingham:There's all kinds of stuff. Now we know that, you know, there's XYZ company that did bad over here and they frauded people over there and you know what happens all the time, so, you know, don't just hear what I'm saying and jump all over it, research us, research me, check it out, like don't just jump into any investment with anybody, unless you've done your proper due diligence on them, but these are available and more than happy to show you what they look like, again, you can see a couple of pictures online, on my Facebook that I posted about it, I only put a couple, but I've got more if you wanna see more on the project, but the point is, is that's just one of many, there's so many different ones that are going on. So that one's a 35 unit, we're working on a 100 unit, we've got some in Alberta, the largest one we're involved in is 94 units, we've got that, but we've a whole bunch of 8s. Even locally, we have some developers that are not part of our team, but they're building six to eight units that qualify for the MLI Select program.
Scott Dillingham:So we have access to that product and the cool thing, like what's super cool, this is super cool for everybody that's hearing this, like, if you wanted to buy one
Scott Dillingham:of these things, this builder, they
Scott Dillingham:built up whole subdivisions, like completes hundreds and hundreds of homes over their career, And they said, you know what, our housing market has cooled as far as buyers, so what we're gonna do, we're just gonna build these six and eight units for ourselves, because we don't wanna lay off our crew, we wanna grow, so we're just gonna build these properties ourselves and keep them and rent them out and just like that's our new profit center, that's how we're gonna make money going forward, and that's what they're doing, right?
Scott Dillingham:And then, right, we're financing, you
Scott Dillingham:can get up to 95% loan to cost, and then as soon as they're able to refinance, they refinance and they're pulling out their funds, so there's all these fantastic ways, but anyways, these guys are willing to sell projects too, because that's what they're used to selling subdivisions, right? So I just bring that up because like we have that interconnection, right? So we can present deals to you that are not online and a lot of people, and you'll hear it, you know, the best deals are not made on realtor.ca or zolo.com, you know what
Scott Dillingham:I mean? It's literally those handshake deals, off market deals is where the money's at. So we have access to those is what I'm saying. So obviously, one is set up a call and just talk about it, talk about your goals, your funds, right? If it's a
Scott Dillingham:good fit, we wanna make sure that everybody we work with, we connect with both ways, right? It's gotta be both ways, like we have to feel a strong connection with you personally, not even business wise, just like we have to connect, like we're friends, like we're buddies, we'll go out and hang out and vice versa, right? You wanna feel that for us too, so we know like we can get along and we can work through things. So there's all kinds of opportunity and I just wanted to present that to people because on the surface level, when you look online and do all these things, like you just never know what's going on, what's a facade, because a lot of people, it is a facade, you don't know what's real. I will connect you with real developers, real builders doing this stuff, real properties you could go see in person and walk through.
Scott Dillingham:Do you know what I mean? We bring that to you, it's not this facade that do see people making. So I just wanted to share that with you. So there's lots of opportunity, and that's the biggest thing, when we're working with investors, especially new investors, they're all over the place, where do I go? Do I do this?
Scott Dillingham:Should I do that? What should I do over here? And we're all about options, right? We do believe the best investment is the one that's best for you. Maybe it is that single family house that will be best for you, do you know what I mean?
Scott Dillingham:Maybe that isn't. Maybe a 100 unit apartment building is what's best for you, right? So we know, but we'll work with you to help figure that out and we'll see if there's anything that we have access to, to get involved in. The other beautiful thing is too, is because of our network. If we don't have a project going on, and you kind of let us know what you like, or what you have, like, you know, maybe there's some connecting that we can do there for you as well.
Scott Dillingham:Keep in mind, our primary focus and product is mortgages, that is what we do. So on these deals, obviously we are providing the mortgage, that's sort of the caveat here, because we have so many investors that we work with, we have access to these things and we don't hide it, We'll share it with everybody. So definitely reach out, in the show notes will be the details to book a call or to reach out, and I encourage you to do so. It just starts with the conversation, to see where you're at, what you'd like to do, we'll see if we can find a connection, a fit, and obviously to make sure that we all work together. So, the team is growing on my side, so we
Scott Dillingham:have more and more people and as it grows, we're trying
Scott Dillingham:to hire for niches, so we're looking for that specialty and something that maybe, you know, we know a lot about in, but you know, we could be, you know, we would benefit by having, you know, a specialized expert on the team in that niche, so we are diving into that, but for sure, you know, check out our website, actually we list under our expertise, actually lists all the niches that we're gonna be
Scott Dillingham:the best at for you and we're trying to grow that, we're trying to
Scott Dillingham:make that even better for you. So anyways, thank you so much for tuning in today. Check out the booking link, let's connect, let's see what options are out there for you, whether that's lending, whether that's partnering, and if neither of those interests you, check back. At some of our previous episodes, we've had others on talking about different investment strategies and things that they do. Pro Ncito, he was a great one, right, where we talked about segregated funds and how you could put 25% down and essentially own a 100% of the stock, right?
Scott Dillingham:So there's different things that are out there for you and our goal here is just to make you aware of the different investment opportunities. Obviously jump on whatever one you feel most comfortable with and the one that you're qualified for because some
Scott Dillingham:of these you have to be accredited investors, but there's a
Scott Dillingham:lot more out there than your GIC or your tax free savings account that I don't think people realize. So anyways, I hope this episode added value, reach out if you want to partner, whether on the lending side or the building and development side, and we'll connect and we'll go from there. Thank you guys so much, have a great day.