Bare Land Strata in North Vancouver

[RobMacdonald]

I have some clients that are looking to purchase a house in North Vancouver. They will be qualifying through CMHC and Genworth as they have about 5% to 10% down. They managed to find a duplex they are interested in buying. The property would be a great investment as the cash flow from the other side and an illegal suite would almost cover the mortgage payment.

The challenge is that the property was registered as a Strata. So the title is Strata Lot 1 and Strata Lot 2. The properties are listed separately, but they want to buy as one dwelling. The insurers won`t allow an interalia mortgage, so their only option would be to buy one side as a residence high ratio, and the other side as a rental. The don`t have the downpayment for that route.

They`ve asked what the process would be to eliminate the strata title and have the property registered as a duplex on one lot. I have no idea what this process would be, or what the likelihood of approval would be. Could someone provide any insight into the process and the potential costs? Also, what would be the advantages and disadvantages?

 

[bizaro86]

I can`t help you with the process for consolidating two strata lots in Vancouver, but the obvious downside is they wouldn`t be able to sell them separately in the future, which is probably why someone made them strata in the first place.

Which brings me to a possible solution. Why not try to find an investor to buy the other half of the duplex, maybe someone from REIN? If this duplex is a good deal for them buying both halves at full price, surely buying half of it at half the price would work, and they`d still have the income from the basement suite. They`d have a larger downpayment as well, pushing them into a lower-fee bracket for mortgage insurance, an additional savings.

Michael