The Process of Commercial Real Estate Conversion with Nicholas Brown

Nicholas Brown is a mortgage agent who specializes in commercial and multifamily real estate. He is on the Self Wealth Real Estate podcast today to give us a glimpse into the mortgage world and to understand how much impact financing has on your real estate deals.   Listen now to learn more about commercial and multifamily funding, financing your conversion projects, and what situations look like from a mortgage lender's side!   Key Talking Points of the Episode   00:00 Introduction 01:28 What is Nicholas' background? 05:02 What did Nicholas realize when he became a mortgage agent? 10:11 What should people know about choosing a mortgage agent to work with? 14:42 How did Nicholas acquire his first real estate investment? 22:07 Why should investors look into conversions in commercial real estate? 26:44 Why do commercial conversions make more sense with CHMC guidelines today? 33:00 What is the biggest challenge with doing commercial conversions? 36:25 What are the benefits of doing commercial conversions? 40:30 How many commercial properties will CHMC allow you to finance as an investor? 43:09 How do building requirements create challenges for real estate investors? 46:43 What could the housing market be like in the next few years? 48:52 How does the MLI Select program work? 51:56 Why is it more reasonable to go for energy efficiency in MLI Select? 58:16 What are the benefits of qualifying for the MLI Select program? 01:00:14 What was Nicholas' least favorite deal like? 01:04:31 What has changed with Nicholas' approach to mortgages? 01:06:33 What is Nicholas' advice for his younger self? 01:07:23 What is the most overlooked or overhyped investing strategy today? 01:09:12 How can you connect with Nicholas?   Quotables   "The one thing I learned doing this mortgage agent role is that you think that's the way, and then half of these people are doing creative financing deals and never touching a bank." "The thing is when you look at CHMC, you gotta understand that the product is there not for people doing 8-plexes, 12-plexes, maybe the guys who do 24 are now on the radar – it is for the big builders."   "The problem with doing commercial conversions is there's still the downside that our costs are a little bit higher because we do now have to put Ontario builder code minimums and then if you wanna do CHMC, you gotta do energy efficiency 40+ bedrooms."   Links   Website: Bliss https://offmarketbliss.ca/   Instagram: Nicholas Brown https://www.instagram.com/themortgagearchitect/