All Forum Posts by: Steven Darrow
Steven Darrow has started 8 posts and replied 23 times.
Post: Insurance costs rising

- Developer
- Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Posts 25
- Votes 16
We're in the process of renewing our insurance policies on our apartment and commercial properties throughout Florida, and I'm being told to expect 15% increases across the board for property, liability, crime, etc. and likely larger increases (several hundred percent) on the umbrella policies. Is this consistent with what everyone else is seeing?
Post: Can you hear me from up here?

- Developer
- Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Posts 25
- Votes 16
Halifax welcomes you as well!
Post: Contractors in Halifax, Nova Scotia

- Developer
- Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Posts 25
- Votes 16
Not sure if they'll do everything you mentioned above or not, but I used R&M contracting for my deck a couple of years ago & were happy with them. I don't think they have a full website but here is the link to their facebook page:
Post: Loans for non-warrantable condo buyers?

- Developer
- Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Posts 25
- Votes 16
Yes, this sounds like the exact same scenario as mine. We're looking for lenders who will offer low down payment options and are ok keeping the loans on their books until we are warrantable.
Originally posted by @Eric Veronica:
@Steven Darrow Some lenders will offer less restrictive rules against single entity concentration if the untits being sold are lowering the single entity concentration.
For example, I am working with a developer in VA who currently owns 100 units of a 155 unit condo project. He intends to sell most of the units over the next couple years. Since this project has an obvious path to warrantabilty we have agreed to offer low down payment 30 year fixed loans which we will hold until the project becomes warrantable. Once warrantable we will deliver to Fannie.
Does this sound similar to your scenario?
Post: Condo rent to own - Florida - How to best structure? Contract?

- Developer
- Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Posts 25
- Votes 16
I'm looking for feedback on how to best structure a rent to own program for condos in the state of Florida. Generally I understand that it would be structured with a small deposit, as well as higher than market rents, with the deposit and a portion of the rent being applied to the purchase price at closing. Does anyone out there have any success with this, or additional thoughts? Does anyone have a standard contract for this?
Thanks!
Post: Loans for non-warrantable condo buyers?

- Developer
- Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Posts 25
- Votes 16
We're actually the bulk owner in this case, so we own 75% of the units in the building as it was purchased as a fractured condo deal. We'd like to list the condos for sale, but would like to have a decent lending program in place for buyers
Post: Loans for non-warrantable condo buyers?

- Developer
- Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Posts 25
- Votes 16
I'm trying to find a lender that will offer conventional style loans on a non-warrantable condo, specifically in Florida. I've found a few lenders that will offer a portfolio product with 20% down payment, but only offering 7/1 or 10/1 ARM's. Has anyone else seen anything better? Ideally I was hoping to find something with 5% or 10% down. It seems lending restrictions on these condos haven't eased much since the recession.
Post: Possible Meetup in HRM/Nova Scotia

- Developer
- Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Posts 25
- Votes 16
https://www.meetup.com/The-HRM-Real-Estate-Investo...
For some reason the link didn't post last time
Post: Possible Meetup in HRM/Nova Scotia

- Developer
- Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Posts 25
- Votes 16
There have been a few different meet ups organized over the past several years. The only one that I'm aware of that still exists is this one:
I don't think they've been meeting all that frequently, so room for new ones if someone wanted to create one.
Post: US Financing for Canadians

- Developer
- Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Posts 25
- Votes 16
@Pawan Johar - I haven't looked at this in a while but the banks I listed previously were the US counterparts - i.e. lending institutions in the US lending in US dollars.