AFO · Commercial real estate
Buying the building you operate from.
Owner-occupied commercial real estate is a distinct underwriting conversation from pure investment-property lending. The lender is looking at two things at once: the property as collateral, and the operating business as the source of debt service. When both are strong, the structure is straightforward; when one is the weak link, the structure needs to compensate.
What makes this use case distinct
- CSBFP real-property stream first where it fits.
- Combined property + operating-business coverage modelled.
- CSBFP + conventional mortgage stacking structured cleanly.
How this is usually structured
Real estate, in practice.
The CSBFP real-property stream covers up to $1.15M total per business (against $500K equipment + $650K real property), at Prime + 3% on the variable side. For a single-property owner-operator purchase under $1.5M, this is usually the cheapest dollar and the first conversation to have. The government guarantee lets the lender stretch on the borrower's credit profile, which matters when the operating business doesn't yet have a five-year audited track record.
Above the CSBFP ceiling, conventional commercial mortgages from chartered banks and credit unions handle the rest of the owner-occupied market. 65–75% LTV on the property, debt-service coverage tested on the combined property + operating business cash flow, 5–10 year terms with 25-year amortization. The lender wants to see the operating business as the source of debt service, with the rental value of the property as a backstop if the operating business fails.
Stacking CSBFP underneath a conventional commercial mortgage is sometimes the right structure on properties between $1M and $3M, where the CSBFP covers the first slice and conventional covers the balance. The interaction between the two facilities — covenants, prepayment, security position — needs to be modelled so they don't trip each other later.
2 programs in the catalog · 2 live
Programs that fit real estate.
Each card links to the program profile. Coming-soon programs are surfaced honestly — the screener routes there with a consultation CTA instead of a self-serve apply link until the integration is wired through.
Government-backed term loan for equipment, leasehold, and real property. Up to $1.15M.
Cash-flow-underwritten facility from a chartered bank, credit union, or Schedule II lender.
Other use cases
Funding a different need?
Each use case has its own structuring conversation. Working capital and equipment look nothing like an MBO; an export ramp doesn’t look like a refinance.
- 10 programs
R&D / innovation
R&D and innovation projects are the single best fit for non-dilutive capital in the Canadian system. Federal refundable tax credits, advisory-plus-funding programs like IRAP, and project-scoped grants like SDTC and the Strategic Innovation Fund stack cleanly with debt or equity — and the CPA who scopes the eligible expenditure pool can dramatically change the project's effective cost.
Explore the use case
- 1 program
Export
Export financing addresses two distinct gaps at once: the up-front cost of entering a new market (research, travel, trade shows, translation, IP protection) and the working-capital cycle of fulfilling export orders (longer DSO, currency exposure, foreign-buyer credit risk). Different instruments cover each gap; the right structure usually layers two or three.
Explore the use case
- 3 programs
Working capital
Working capital is the gap between cash going out (payroll, suppliers, inventory) and cash coming in (collections, deposits). When the gap grows faster than the business can self-fund, the right answer is a facility that scales with the gap — not a fixed term loan paying out long after the cash crunch has passed.
Explore the use case
Match the instrument to the use, not the other way round.
Twenty-minute call. Bring the use of proceeds and a rough sense of where the business stands today; we’ll walk through which instrument or stack fits, what providers will want to see, and how long the engagement takes.