Six short lessons on the machine behind CMHC MLI Select: what the program is (and is not), who does what in an application, the three gates every file passes, the numbers that actually size a loan, the point commitments — and then two real Toronto properties, budgeted end to end from public records and closed leases.
Maximum program flexibilities are not promised loan proceeds. The difference is the whole game.
The borrower, the intermediary, the approved lender, and CMHC — the real division of labour in an application.
Property & program. Financing. Borrower. A file clears all three or it does not proceed — a useful preliminary screen you can run yourself.
Value, coverage, and the leverage ceiling — and why the coverage test, not the headline maximum, usually decides.
Affordability, energy, accessibility: what each category earns, and the commitments behind every point.
Existing acquisition versus new development, the readiness screen, and the route that matches the property actually in front of you.
Lesson 6's assignment: score your own readiness, build the open-item list, and pick the route that matches your property. Enter your email and the workbook downloads instantly — we'll also send occasional closed-rent data and course updates (unsubscribe anytime).
Two Toronto multiplexes from public records — one the market rewarded and the screen fails, one the market ignored and the screen clears.
A side-street lot with an 80-unit approval, reverse-solved as new construction — what the build must cost for maximum financing, and what the price demands in equity when it does not.
This primer teaches the map. The full program carries the method — 20 lessons across five tracks, two governed sample files carried end to end (a value-add five-plex acquisition and a ground-up sixplex build), the Deal Lab underwriting workbench, and every worksheet.
See the program