Greetings friends, this is Erwin Szeto, and welcome to The Truth About Real Estate Investing for Canadians, the #9 ranked podcast for Canadian Investment and Personal Finance per FeedSpot! Thank you listeners and past guests of this show! As always it’s a honour to have this platform and ability to give back to the community that has been so much to my family and I where we all share a passion for the best investment class in the world: real estate. Here on this show, it’s my job to interview the top minds in real estate investing and business to uncover the strategies, mindsets, and habits that actually work—especially in today’s market.

This week’s guest is Scott Dillingham, founder of LendCity Mortgages, is returning to the show with a mortgage market update! He is a rare expert in both Canadian and U.S. real estate financing.

Scott built his career helping investors—starting as a high-volume mortgage broker at one of Canada’s Big Four banks for ten years, where he consistently ranked among the top 1% nationwide. In his peak year, he closed over 410 mortgage deals, most of them for investment properties.

He’s also a seasoned real estate investor himself, owning dozens of rental units, which gives him firsthand insight into the challenges his clients face.

What makes Scott especially unique is that, as a dual citizen, he’s able to own and operate mortgage brokerages in both Canada and the U.S.—something rare, I don’t know anyone else who can do that. That means Canadian investors working with Scott can access lending strategies, mortgage approvals, and support for properties on both sides of the border—all under one team.

Through LendCity, Scott works with over 60 lenders in Canada and 2,500+ lending sources in the U.S., helping investors scale smarter no matter where they’re buying.

📍Catch him live Saturday morning April 26th Half-Day iWIN Meeting. We have in person seats which are almost sold out and a bit of room online for those who live a bit further away. We survey our subscribers and you want to hear about landlord friendly strategies: student rentals, short term rentals and the US and that’s what you’ll get! My team and I will be sharing a local real estate market update including rentals, tips on selling tenanted properties and Scott will be live and in person where he’ll share best practices on financing and navigating both Canadian and U.S. lending markets.

🎟️ Register here: https://iwinmeeting.eventbrite.ca/?aff=ig

Please enjoy the show!

✅ Understand why investors are shifting to U.S. markets
✅ Learn how to raise capital and structure bigger deals
✅ Hear what it takes to put 5,000 investors in a room with A-listers

Ever wonder what it takes to build Canada’s biggest investing conference?

My old friend Seth Ferguson, returns to the show, after losing all his rental properties to a nasty divorce along with his golf clubs, he started the Multifamily Conference in Covid in 2022 which was excellent, 2023 was headlined by Grant Cardone & Alex Rodriguez, 2024 Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort and Robert Harjevic. Today, Seth takes us behind the scenes of how he scaled from a couple hundred person real estate event into a 5,000-attendee juggernaut, easily Canada’s largest Business & Investment event. With speakers like Kevin O’Leary, A-Rod, Dragons Dens: Michelle Romanow, and Manjit Minhas, and still another major speaker yet to be announced. Powerhouse is an apt name for the event. Same for the budget!

We dive into marketing, event growth, and how Seth landed some of the biggest names in business. For details and to register go to: https://powerhouseconference.com/

The event takes place May 23-25th in Toronto.

We also get into Seth’s own real estate portfolio and his shift away from Canadian rentals to focus exclusively on multifamily investments in landlord-friendly U.S. markets like Texas and Florida.

Seth and his team specialize in garden-style multifamily properties—low-rise, landscaped apartment communities that are common in the U.S. but virtually unheard of in Canada, where high-rise towers dominate. He shares what makes these assets so attractive, how they’re managed, and why he’s also drawn to build-to-rent communities and why he’s bullish in places like Florida and Texas. For details check out www.cpicapital.ca

From RCMP to Developing 66 and 20 Unit Apartment Buildings: Marc Amyot's Journey of Strategic Development

• Strategic Partnerships Matter: How mentorship from industry experts transformed Marc's real estate investing approach
• Location, Location, Innovation: Marc reveals how strategic site selection, zoning knowledge, and maximizing land use can turn a $640,000 property into a $7 million development project
• Breaking Down the Numbers: Inside two projects - a 66-unit and 20-unit apartment development, revealing the power of creative financing and value engineering

Dive into the fascinating world of real estate development with Marc Amyot, a former RCMP officer who's transforming Ottawa's landscape one project at a time. Learn how strategic partnerships, creative financing, and a keen eye for opportunity can turn modest investments into multi-million dollar developments. Discover the insider secrets of navigating complex real estate projects, from sourcing materials to maximizing land use, in this eye-opening conversation that proves success is about who you know and how you think.

If you have aspirations of being a real estate developer, pay particular attention to how Marc structures his deals to minimize cash outflows.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcandre.amyot

Website: https://assera.ca/

OREIO - Ottawa Real Estate Investors Organization: https://www.oreio.org/

Please enjoy the show

On to this week’s show! This week we have an amazing guest who’s been on a bumpy path. I’ve known Ryan Carr for quite some time but when I attended Truth Your Talent’s Awards Gala, the coach who had the most award winners and thank yous was Ryan hence I invited Ryan Carr onto the show which he gracefully accepted.

From household $400k income, Corporate Burnout to 200 door real estate portfolio and more importantly Financial Freedom: Ryan Carr's Remarkable Journey

What happens when a high-powered sales executive suffers a stress-induced heart attack at 38? For Ryan Carr, it was the wake-up call that transformed his life. In this raw and inspiring conversation, Ryan opens up about how he and his wife Shefali went from making nearly $400,000 a year to building a 200-door real estate portfolio, all while prioritizing health, family, and helping others achieve financial independence.

Hear how Ryan overcame personal health challenges, navigated massive investment setbacks including a $700,000 prom note write off, and became a sought-after mentor who's helped 32 people break free from the 9-to-5 grind. This episode is a masterclass in resilience, strategic investing, and creating a life by design.

Please enjoy the show!

On to this week’s guest! I’m thrilled to introduce Wei Ting, an unstoppable entrepreneur, speaker, and innovator reshaping the rental landscape in Ontario with plans to expand across Canada. After losing over $35K to non-paying tenants and spending countless hours navigating Ontario’s complex rental compliance laws, Wei Ting decided enough was enough. She co-founded Openroom, a bold step toward building a transparent and connected rental ecosystem for landlords and tenants alike.

And if that wasn’t enough, she’s also a 24/7 on-call mom to two little ones under two years old. Wei Ting describes parenthood as her most demanding role yet, with expertise in patience, roadmap planning, and improvisation. Did we mention the co-founder of Openroom is her husband? Mixing personal AND Business 😀

She’s been featured on major platforms like CBC, CTV, BlogTO, BNN, and Yahoo News, and her talks promise not just insights but also laughs and eyebrow-raising moments. If you’re looking for someone who’s obsessed with making life easier for landlords, while balancing humor and grit, you’re in the right place.

Let’s dive into Wei Ting’s incredible journey with Openroom and the lessons she’s learned along the way.

To connect with Weiting

email: weiting@openroom.ca

@openroomhq on Instagram and TikTok

Web: openroom.ca

On to this week’s guest, Kevin Costain is the poster boy for reform being needed in Ontario and he’s doing something about it as the new Chair of SOLO: Small Ownership Landlords of Ontario. He’s fighting for the small everyday investor like I do.

He is the author of the book “Rent To Ruin” where he documents his ordeal with his tormentor: the tenant living in Kevin’s house.

It is an all too common story where an everyday homeowner has a life change, makes what used to be a financially pragmatic decision to rent out his house to Barry instead of selling it. What proceeded to happen is easily among the worst I’ve ever heard and that is not hyperbole.

For a sneak peak, I fed the transcript of this interview to Chatgpt and asked what crimes the tenant could have been charged with. Here’s the list:

• Arson
• Vandalism/theft
• Fraud
• Criminal harassment
• Illegal drug cultivation

Kevin walking through his burnt out house with the CBC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UwYXLdfeD4

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sololandlord

Web: https://solo.ca/

Please enjoy the show, do your research, invest where it’s landlord friendly, make real estate investing profitable again.

On to this week’s show! We have my old friend Quentin D’Souza returning to the show at my request as I need a trustworthy real estate expert to share with you the listener about the multi family market who’s not going to sugar coat how tough the last few years have been and what and where the opportunity is going forward.

Quentin is going to share his journey, how he does hard things and involves his family to lead his best, most successful life possible.

Quentin is founder, Chief Education Officer of Durham Real Estate Investors, a private membership group of many excellent real estate investors and professionals. If you’re in the GTA area, make sure to check out a Durham REI event, they meet monthly in Whtiby and you can learn more about them at https://durhamrei.com/

Quentin has authored several books I highly recommend on the BRRRR strategy, finding deals, scaling up, filling vacancies, property management. You can search Quentin D’Souza on Amazon or go to his website quentindsouza.com

Needless to say, please have a pen and paper ready to take notes and enjoy the show.