May 22, 2025 • 11 mins
Welcome back to the Wisdom Lifestyle Money Show! In this episode, host Scott Dillingham introduces you to the core team dedicated to helping you achieve your commercial real estate investment goals. Meet Mike Peters, Jennifer Champion, and Christine Traynor, the experts behind the commercial mortgage arm, specializing in financing across Canada and expanding into the US. Learn about their individual backgrounds, areas of focus, and how their unique perspectives can benefit your investing journey.
Key Timestamps:
[0:00] Introduction to the Wisdom Lifestyle Money Show
- Meet host Scott Dillingham
- Introduction of the commercial financing team: Mike Peters, Jennifer Champion, and Christine Trainor
- Overview of the episode's focus: introducing the team and their expertise in commercial financing
[1:15] Meet Mike Peters: Commercial Mortgage Specialist
- Mike's background in economic development and passion for business growth
- Specialization in business-focused commercial mortgages (restaurants, cemeteries, gas stations, churches)
- Experience with residential income properties (up to sixplexes)
- Collaboration with residential brokers for commercial deals
- The unique nature of commercial mortgage deals requiring a hands-on, business-focused approach
[4:30] Understanding Residential Mortgages on the Commercial Side
- Highlighting the difference between residential and commercial financing
- How commercial financing focuses on property performance and numbers
- Potential options in commercial even when residential financing is limited due to debt ratios
- Property as a business: generating income relative to expenses
- Transitioning to corporate ownership for larger personal property portfolios
[7:45] Meet Jennifer Champion: Value Add Investor
- Jennifer's journey into real estate investing, starting in New Brunswick in 2020
- Focus on value-add strategies with duplexes and fourplexes
- Expansion into commercial projects and current focus on the Alberta market
- Strategy of investing in landlord-friendly provinces with significant opportunities
- Specialization in six, eight, and ten-unit multifamily properties
- Helping others leverage the CMHC MLI Select financing program The Importance of Team Expertise and Multiple Lender Access
- The risks of working with only one bank or inexperienced individuals
- The value of the team's firsthand experience in building and developing multifamily properties
- Access to multiple lenders through the mortgage team for better terms and rates
- Educating investors on programs like MLI Select and building to fit those models
- The significance of partnering with experienced builders The MLI Select Program Explained
- Opportunities in markets like Edmonton due to median rent
- Key features of the MLI Select program: up to 95% loan to cost, 50-year amortization, 1.1 debt service coverage ratio
- The advantage of building to fit the MLI Select model from the outset
- Importance of upfront work and having financing in place Meet Christine Trainor: From Appraiser to Mortgage Expert
- Christine's background: 20 years as a real estate appraiser and business owner
- Natural transition to the mortgage space as a real estate investor
- Focus on helping people build out-of-town investment portfolios (e.g., Victoria to Edmonton)
- The importance of pre-qualifying inv
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scott Dillingham (00:00):
Welcome back to the Wisdom Lifestyle Money
Show.
I'm your host, Scott Dillingham.
Today I have three super awesomepeople that I'm excited to share
with you on the show.
They're on the team.
They're doing mortgages,commercial mortgages
specializing in Canada.
Obviously branching out into theUS like, like our team is as a
whole.
But we're gonna be here to talkto you about commercial
(00:22):
financing and I just thoughtwould kick off this episode.
With an introduction to theteam, what they're doing, what
they're up to, so you can seehow they can help benefit you on
your investing journey.
So we have Mike Peters, JenniferChampion, and Christine Trainer.
Welcome.
Thank you, Scott.
(00:42):
You're welcome.
You're welcome.
So I'm gonna start with youfirst, Mike.
Sure.
Do you mind sharing?
A brief background of yourselfand what you specialize in
financing for Canadians here.
Mike Peters (00:57):
Sure.
So, initially I got a master'sdegree in economic development
from the University of Waterloo,and I worked for the Essex
County Regional EconomicDevelopment Agency, assisting
businesses grow and expand inthe region.
And that's always been sort ofmy passion is to help businesses
grow and expand.
I've started after leaving, theeconomic development space, I
(01:20):
started several businesses of myown.
And so I I'm all about growththrough business.
So the types of commercialmortgages that I tend to
specialize are more businessfocused restaurants even
cemeteries, churches gasstations.
And then I do a fair number ofresidential income properties.
(01:41):
More or less six plexes, not toomany real large apartment
buildings.
And so I, I have a broadspectrum of, de development
areas that, that I specialize.
I have a network of residentialbrokers who you know, rely on me
besides internally at Lend Cityto complete their commercial
mortgage deals becausecommercial mortgage deals are.
(02:05):
Very, everyone's, each one isvery unique.
And so each one has to have areal hands-on approach and an
understanding of business.
So that's what I do.
Scott Dillingham (02:15):
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Thanks for sharing.
And I just wanna pull out onepart of what you said, because
somebody who's listening tothis, they may not understand
the relevance of, or theimportance of what you said is
that you're doing residentialmortgages on the commercial
side.
So I just wanna highlight thatbecause a lot of Canadian
investors will come to us andsay, oh, my debt ratios are too
(02:36):
high.
That's what my bank said.
And yeah, I mean, that might bethe truth on the residential
side, but on commercial.
It's kind of very much like theUS financing, where it's based
on the property and theproperty's numbers.
So even if your bank or lendercan't move forward on
residential, there still ispotential options in commercial.
Right?
And that's super cool.
Mike Peters (02:57):
Yes.
A number of people havesignificant property portfolios
even on the personal sidebecause it does first and
foremost rely on the property asa business.
If the property is generatingaround 20 cents to every dollar
of expenses it's gonna befavorably looked at by the
lender, even from a personalperspective.
But once you hit a certainnumber of personal then it tends
(03:20):
to make sense to put your futurepurchases into a corp.
Scott Dillingham (03:24):
Absolutely no thanks.
Thanks for sharing, and thanksfor being here, Mike.
Yeah.
So next up in the roster isJennifer Champion.
So Jennifer, let's hear yourstory and kind of what you're
focused on.
I.
Jennifer Champion (03:37):
So how I got started into investing is I am
was from Victoria, BritishColumbia, and I started
investing in New Brunswick inMarch of 2020.
So very uncertain times.
I was a value add investor doingduplexes and fourplexes.
Started building locally 45minutes outside of Victoria and
(03:59):
then started doing morecommercial projects in New
Brunswick.
And most recently now justfocused on the Alberta market.
My strategy is always the pathof least resistance.
So going to a province thatwants you as a landlord is open
for business and just has somany opportunities, just makes
sense and really on.
(04:21):
The investing side.
We do a lot of like six, eight,and 10 units.
And then we're also helpingother people take advantage of
the CMHC, MI MLI selectfinancing and get into those
opportunities themselves.
Scott Dillingham (04:34):
Awesome.
Awesome.
Yeah, no, thanks for sharing.
And Jennifer, I.
Christine, you're gonna hearfrom Christine in a second here
too.
But I think the cool thing withyou two is your partners in
this, but is not only are youfinancing multifamily, you know,
apartment buildings, is thatyou're actually building and
developing them.
And I think that's so importantbecause there's so many people.
(04:56):
Like I used to work at a bank,right?
So if you're an investor and youjust go to one bank, there is so
much risk in that.
One is you don't know who you'redealing with and if they
actually have expertise in theproduct they're offering you.
And then two, it's just oneindividual bank, right?
So.
You're gonna be potentiallygetting not the best terms, not
(05:16):
the best rates where with youguys, right, they're getting
that expertise for sure, becauseyou're doing it, you're
practicing what you preach.
But then secondly, working, youknow, on, on the mortgage team
with us, you are having accessto multiple lenders.
So instead of just the investorgoing direct to the lender,
you're able to shop around andget them.
(05:37):
Better pricing, better, youknow, better terms.
So I love that.
Do you have anything else toadd, Jennifer, before we switch
over to Christine?
I.
Jennifer Champion (05:45):
I don't think so.
I think it's just, you know,it's really interesting like
educating people on sort of, youknow, how the MLI select program
works and, you know, building tofit that model instead of, you
know, trying to do it after thefact.
And just really important withwho you're partnering with and
who you're working with in termsof like builders.
Scott Dillingham (06:07):
Yeah.
Now for those that are listeningthat don't know, could you
elaborate?
DMLI select program.
Jennifer Champion (06:14):
Yeah, so you know, one of the markets that a
lot of opportunity is inEdmonton because of the median
rent being 1665.
Here, the product just worksreally well, so it allows you to
have up to 95% loan to cost.
Up to a 50 year amortization andyour debt service has to be 1.1.
(06:34):
So when you're working with ateam from the beginning, that
building is essentially beingbuilt to fit the model instead
of, you know, sometimes afteryou're trying to fit the model
to the building and maybe theunit sizes don't work and the
rents you're getting andeverything like that.
So just really important to, youknow, do all of that upfront
work and have your financing inplace and everything so that you
(06:56):
know exactly what you're gettinginto.
Scott Dillingham (06:58):
That's awesome.
I love it.
Yeah.
Thank you for sharing.
And last but not least,Christine Trainor.
How are you, Christine?
Christine Traynor (07:05):
I'm doing great.
Thanks Scott.
How are you?
Scott Dillingham (07:07):
Awesome.
Awesome.
I would love to hear your storyand anything that you have to
share about the financing aswell.
I.
Christine Traynor (07:15):
Sure.
So, quick backstory, mybackground before getting into
mortgages and deep into theinvesting space was 20 years as
a real estate appraiser.
So, I owned and managed threereal estate appraisal firms on
Vancouver Island before exitingthose businesses in 2024.
So last year.
And, yeah, it was a natural fitto move into the mortgage space.
(07:37):
Being a real estate investor oneof the things that I love to
help people with is building outof town portfolios.
So I live in Victoria.
A large portion of my investmentportfolio is in Edmonton.
And I just love helping peopleget, I think one of the biggest
things, as Jen said, is gettingpeople into a position where
they're pre-qualified.
To move forward with whatthey're looking to do and how we
(07:58):
can help them meet thoseinvesting goals.
So, I just think it's superimportant to kind of get all of
that worked done upfront.
So you're good to go on yourinvestment when the time comes.
And I just love helpinginvestors build like legacy
wealth and really structuretheir portfolios in a way that
supports them to do that.
So.
Scott Dillingham (08:14):
That's awesome.
I love it.
And one of the things that yousaid too, that I want to call
out is like you are sort ofpre-qualifying that property for
the investor, so I love that youmentioned that because it's
true.
We have the tools where we cananalyze and see what CMH C's
gonna offer on this propertyeven before a client gets it
under contract.
Right.
We can analyze if it's a goodproperty, if it's a resale one,
(08:37):
or obviously we'll work withthe.
Builder, developer, realtor,whoever if it's a new
construction property.
But I love that you mentionedthat, you know, you've got the
tools to do that, and I thinkthat's super important because a
lot of clients go to brokers orlenders blind, and they're
uncertain of what they're gonnaget.
So that's super cool.
And just for fun, like how longdoes it take you to analyze a
(08:58):
property?
Let's say I come to you, I'vegot to perform and all that.
How long would it take you toanalyze a property to determine
the loan amount, the rough loanamount?
Christine Traynor (09:06):
Yeah, I mean, I would say our service levels
are wanting to get back toclients within 24 hours of
reaching out to us with thosedetails.
Obviously, you know, we're allhave full schedules and a lot on
the go, so we try to kind ofstrive to stay within that 24
hour timeframe of looking at aproperty so they know whether or
not they can.
You know, wanna move forwardwith putting that offer in.
And yeah, just kind of twopieces to that part, Scott, like
(09:27):
you were saying, is like, one ispre-qualifying, you know, the
investor so that they're good togo and know where there may be
any gaps, you know, in terms oftheir application whether that's
like net worth or liquidity orany of those components.
And then the other piece is theproperty and what we've started
to do with some realtorpartners.
Is pre-qualifying their listingstheir new construction listings
or their non-New constructionlistings before they're actually
(09:48):
going to market with them sothat they know when they've got
clients or, you know, or sellersor selling realtors or bringing
clients, they know where,whether or not that property
might fit or where it does fitwithin the CMHC process.
So they're not tying up aproperty for, you know, four to
six weeks of due diligence, onlyto find out that, oh, it's not
gonna work, or they don't havethe capital or whatever that
might look like.
So,
Scott Dillingham (10:06):
I love it.
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
So, what I'm gonna do, foreverybody who's listening to
this show, I'm gonna put a linkin the show notes here for
anybody to book a call withsomebody on the team.
If you want to chat about, youknow, whether it's conventional,
commercial, or you want to dosomething on, on multifamily the
key to.
Success that I firmly believe asa real estate investor, the
(10:29):
number one key to success ishaving the proper team behind
you because they will work withyou to help, you know, boost
your success rate as opposed toyou doing this on your own or
with inexperienced people.
So I think that is so importantand we're here, we're accessible
to you to strategize and come upwith some plans to.
Like Christine said make somegenerational wealth.
(10:50):
So, that's awesome.
I really appreciate all of youguys for being on here and check
in next week as well.
We're gonna be doing a deep diveinto the commercial end and
we're gonna talk about differentprograms and policies and what
to watch out for and trends.
And so if you're looking atinvesting in commercial or you
already are and you want to takeit to the next level, you're
gonna want to hear next week'sepisode.
Welcome back to the Wisdom Lifestyle Money
Show.
I'm your host, Scott Dillingham.
Today I have three super awesomepeople that I'm excited to share
with you on the show.
They're on the team.
They're doing mortgages,commercial mortgages
specializing in Canada.
Obviously branching out into theUS like, like our team is as a
whole.
But we're gonna be here to talkto you about commercial
(00:22):
financing and I just thoughtwould kick off this episode.
With an introduction to theteam, what they're doing, what
they're up to, so you can seehow they can help benefit you on
your investing journey.
So we have Mike Peters, JenniferChampion, and Christine Trainer.
Welcome.
Thank you, Scott.
(00:42):
You're welcome.
You're welcome.
So I'm gonna start with youfirst, Mike.
Sure.
Do you mind sharing?
A brief background of yourselfand what you specialize in
financing for Canadians here.
Mike Peters (00:57):
Sure.
So, initially I got a master'sdegree in economic development
from the University of Waterloo,and I worked for the Essex
County Regional EconomicDevelopment Agency, assisting
businesses grow and expand inthe region.
And that's always been sort ofmy passion is to help businesses
grow and expand.
I've started after leaving, theeconomic development space, I
(01:20):
started several businesses of myown.
And so I I'm all about growththrough business.
So the types of commercialmortgages that I tend to
specialize are more businessfocused restaurants even
cemeteries, churches gasstations.
And then I do a fair number ofresidential income properties.
(01:41):
More or less six plexes, not toomany real large apartment
buildings.
And so I, I have a broadspectrum of, de development
areas that, that I specialize.
I have a network of residentialbrokers who you know, rely on me
besides internally at Lend Cityto complete their commercial
mortgage deals becausecommercial mortgage deals are.
(02:05):
Very, everyone's, each one isvery unique.
And so each one has to have areal hands-on approach and an
understanding of business.
So that's what I do.
Scott Dillingham (02:15):
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Thanks for sharing.
And I just wanna pull out onepart of what you said, because
somebody who's listening tothis, they may not understand
the relevance of, or theimportance of what you said is
that you're doing residentialmortgages on the commercial
side.
So I just wanna highlight thatbecause a lot of Canadian
investors will come to us andsay, oh, my debt ratios are too
(02:36):
high.
That's what my bank said.
And yeah, I mean, that might bethe truth on the residential
side, but on commercial.
It's kind of very much like theUS financing, where it's based
on the property and theproperty's numbers.
So even if your bank or lendercan't move forward on
residential, there still ispotential options in commercial.
Right?
And that's super cool.
Mike Peters (02:57):
Yes.
A number of people havesignificant property portfolios
even on the personal sidebecause it does first and
foremost rely on the property asa business.
If the property is generatingaround 20 cents to every dollar
of expenses it's gonna befavorably looked at by the
lender, even from a personalperspective.
But once you hit a certainnumber of personal then it tends
(03:20):
to make sense to put your futurepurchases into a corp.
Scott Dillingham (03:24):
Absolutely no thanks.
Thanks for sharing, and thanksfor being here, Mike.
Yeah.
So next up in the roster isJennifer Champion.
So Jennifer, let's hear yourstory and kind of what you're
focused on.
I.
Jennifer Champion (03:37):
So how I got started into investing is I am
was from Victoria, BritishColumbia, and I started
investing in New Brunswick inMarch of 2020.
So very uncertain times.
I was a value add investor doingduplexes and fourplexes.
Started building locally 45minutes outside of Victoria and
(03:59):
then started doing morecommercial projects in New
Brunswick.
And most recently now justfocused on the Alberta market.
My strategy is always the pathof least resistance.
So going to a province thatwants you as a landlord is open
for business and just has somany opportunities, just makes
sense and really on.
(04:21):
The investing side.
We do a lot of like six, eight,and 10 units.
And then we're also helpingother people take advantage of
the CMHC, MI MLI selectfinancing and get into those
opportunities themselves.
Scott Dillingham (04:34):
Awesome.
Awesome.
Yeah, no, thanks for sharing.
And Jennifer, I.
Christine, you're gonna hearfrom Christine in a second here
too.
But I think the cool thing withyou two is your partners in
this, but is not only are youfinancing multifamily, you know,
apartment buildings, is thatyou're actually building and
developing them.
And I think that's so importantbecause there's so many people.
(04:56):
Like I used to work at a bank,right?
So if you're an investor and youjust go to one bank, there is so
much risk in that.
One is you don't know who you'redealing with and if they
actually have expertise in theproduct they're offering you.
And then two, it's just oneindividual bank, right?
So.
You're gonna be potentiallygetting not the best terms, not
(05:16):
the best rates where with youguys, right, they're getting
that expertise for sure, becauseyou're doing it, you're
practicing what you preach.
But then secondly, working, youknow, on, on the mortgage team
with us, you are having accessto multiple lenders.
So instead of just the investorgoing direct to the lender,
you're able to shop around andget them.
(05:37):
Better pricing, better, youknow, better terms.
So I love that.
Do you have anything else toadd, Jennifer, before we switch
over to Christine?
I.
Jennifer Champion (05:45):
I don't think so.
I think it's just, you know,it's really interesting like
educating people on sort of, youknow, how the MLI select program
works and, you know, building tofit that model instead of, you
know, trying to do it after thefact.
And just really important withwho you're partnering with and
who you're working with in termsof like builders.
Scott Dillingham (06:07):
Yeah.
Now for those that are listeningthat don't know, could you
elaborate?
DMLI select program.
Jennifer Champion (06:14):
Yeah, so you know, one of the markets that a
lot of opportunity is inEdmonton because of the median
rent being 1665.
Here, the product just worksreally well, so it allows you to
have up to 95% loan to cost.
Up to a 50 year amortization andyour debt service has to be 1.1.
(06:34):
So when you're working with ateam from the beginning, that
building is essentially beingbuilt to fit the model instead
of, you know, sometimes afteryou're trying to fit the model
to the building and maybe theunit sizes don't work and the
rents you're getting andeverything like that.
So just really important to, youknow, do all of that upfront
work and have your financing inplace and everything so that you
(06:56):
know exactly what you're gettinginto.
Scott Dillingham (06:58):
That's awesome.
I love it.
Yeah.
Thank you for sharing.
And last but not least,Christine Trainor.
How are you, Christine?
Christine Traynor (07:05):
I'm doing great.
Thanks Scott.
How are you?
Scott Dillingham (07:07):
Awesome.
Awesome.
I would love to hear your storyand anything that you have to
share about the financing aswell.
I.
Christine Traynor (07:15):
Sure.
So, quick backstory, mybackground before getting into
mortgages and deep into theinvesting space was 20 years as
a real estate appraiser.
So, I owned and managed threereal estate appraisal firms on
Vancouver Island before exitingthose businesses in 2024.
So last year.
And, yeah, it was a natural fitto move into the mortgage space.
(07:37):
Being a real estate investor oneof the things that I love to
help people with is building outof town portfolios.
So I live in Victoria.
A large portion of my investmentportfolio is in Edmonton.
And I just love helping peopleget, I think one of the biggest
things, as Jen said, is gettingpeople into a position where
they're pre-qualified.
To move forward with whatthey're looking to do and how we
(07:58):
can help them meet thoseinvesting goals.
So, I just think it's superimportant to kind of get all of
that worked done upfront.
So you're good to go on yourinvestment when the time comes.
And I just love helpinginvestors build like legacy
wealth and really structuretheir portfolios in a way that
supports them to do that.
So.
Scott Dillingham (08:14):
That's awesome.
I love it.
And one of the things that yousaid too, that I want to call
out is like you are sort ofpre-qualifying that property for
the investor, so I love that youmentioned that because it's
true.
We have the tools where we cananalyze and see what CMH C's
gonna offer on this propertyeven before a client gets it
under contract.
Right.
We can analyze if it's a goodproperty, if it's a resale one,
(08:37):
or obviously we'll work withthe.
Builder, developer, realtor,whoever if it's a new
construction property.
But I love that you mentionedthat, you know, you've got the
tools to do that, and I thinkthat's super important because a
lot of clients go to brokers orlenders blind, and they're
uncertain of what they're gonnaget.
So that's super cool.
And just for fun, like how longdoes it take you to analyze a
(08:58):
property?
Let's say I come to you, I'vegot to perform and all that.
How long would it take you toanalyze a property to determine
the loan amount, the rough loanamount?
Christine Traynor (09:06):
Yeah, I mean, I would say our service levels
are wanting to get back toclients within 24 hours of
reaching out to us with thosedetails.
Obviously, you know, we're allhave full schedules and a lot on
the go, so we try to kind ofstrive to stay within that 24
hour timeframe of looking at aproperty so they know whether or
not they can.
You know, wanna move forwardwith putting that offer in.
And yeah, just kind of twopieces to that part, Scott, like
(09:27):
you were saying, is like, one ispre-qualifying, you know, the
investor so that they're good togo and know where there may be
any gaps, you know, in terms oftheir application whether that's
like net worth or liquidity orany of those components.
And then the other piece is theproperty and what we've started
to do with some realtorpartners.
Is pre-qualifying their listingstheir new construction listings
or their non-New constructionlistings before they're actually
(09:48):
going to market with them sothat they know when they've got
clients or, you know, or sellersor selling realtors or bringing
clients, they know where,whether or not that property
might fit or where it does fitwithin the CMHC process.
So they're not tying up aproperty for, you know, four to
six weeks of due diligence, onlyto find out that, oh, it's not
gonna work, or they don't havethe capital or whatever that
might look like.
So,
Scott Dillingham (10:06):
I love it.
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
So, what I'm gonna do, foreverybody who's listening to
this show, I'm gonna put a linkin the show notes here for
anybody to book a call withsomebody on the team.
If you want to chat about, youknow, whether it's conventional,
commercial, or you want to dosomething on, on multifamily the
key to.
Success that I firmly believe asa real estate investor, the
(10:29):
number one key to success ishaving the proper team behind
you because they will work withyou to help, you know, boost
your success rate as opposed toyou doing this on your own or
with inexperienced people.
So I think that is so importantand we're here, we're accessible
to you to strategize and come upwith some plans to.
Like Christine said make somegenerational wealth.
(10:50):
So, that's awesome.
I really appreciate all of youguys for being on here and check
in next week as well.
We're gonna be doing a deep diveinto the commercial end and
we're gonna talk about differentprograms and policies and what
to watch out for and trends.
And so if you're looking atinvesting in commercial or you
already are and you want to takeit to the next level, you're
gonna want to hear next week'sepisode.
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