Turning a 22-Foot Lot Into 5 Units | Victoria Suen

<p>Victoria Suen bought her first investment property at 19 years old. She couldn&#39;t qualify for a mortgage on her own, so her sisters signed for it. Sixteen years later, she&#39;s a licensed architect and the founder of BuildEx Design, helping investors turn some of Toronto&#39;s tightest lots into 4 and 6 unit buildings. </p><p>This episode is a crossover. Erwin&#39;s wife and business partner, Cherry Chan, CPA, sat down with Victoria for her Real Estate Tax Tips channel, and the conversation covered ground worth sharing with the full TAFI audience. </p><p>Victoria walks through the missing middle: the duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and mid-rise buildings that used to be illegal to build on most Canadian lots, and why that&#39;s changing fast. She and Cherry get into the real numbers: lots as narrow as 22 feet fitting 5 units, development charges waived under CMHC&#39;s MLI Select program (worth $50,000 to $80,000 per unit), and why most investors are getting 80 to 85% loan-to-value rather than the 95% sometimes advertised. </p><p>In this conversation, we cover:  </p><ul><li>What the missing middle actually is, and why cities stopped allowing it for decades </li></ul><ul><li>Why Toronto now allows up to 6 units on lots as narrow as 22 feet, with no parking requirement </li></ul><ul><li>Why Ottawa is eliminating parking requirements entirely starting September 2026 </li></ul><ul><li>The 3 moving parts investors need to line up: design, cost, and financing </li></ul><ul><li>How CMHC&#39;s MLI Select program waives development charges and improves financing terms </li></ul><ul><li>Why most investors leave around $100,000 in a project after refinancing, and pull the rest of their capital back out </li></ul><ul><li>The most common mistake investors make when projecting rent </li></ul><ul><li>What happens when a century-old Toronto home hides a crumbling foundation behind the walls </li></ul><ul><li>Why Victoria started her own firm instead of staying inside a traditional architecture practice </li><p><br></p><p>🚨 Free live webinar: &quot;The Strategy That Beat the Market by 28%&quot; — Sat Sept 12 (Oakville + Zoom): <a href="https://wealthhacker.krtra.com/t/YK2LuadbSUdT" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">iWIN Integrated Wealth Planning</a></p><p>or Tue Sept 15 (Zoom only): <a href="https://wealthhacker.krtra.com/t/GMQUYzeK1JdT" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">iWIN Integrated Wealth Planning</a></p><p>👉Reserve your spot free </p