Canadians have caught onto Chicago, Aries Capital VP Eric Jones tells us. He recently arranged $1.5M in permanent, 10-year non-recourse debt (65% of the purchase price and 5.6% interest) for Metro Property Group, a Chinese-Canadian company based out of British Columbia that picked up a 65-unit apartment building at 7733 S South Shore. Financing and underwriting can be arduous if you're looking to invest in the US, though: two sets of tax returns, additional financial references, and documents which the borrower might not be familiar with can cause delays. Eric says the key is managing expectations throughout the underwriting process for both borrower and seller.

After its first US commercial investment, Metro Property Group has its sights on larger multifamily deals in both Chicago and Phoenix. Eric tells us it's best to focus on just a few horses when you're new in town. (Just to be clear, Americans do have cars now? If you've watched Deadwood, that's not set in current day.) For Canadians and other foreign investors, financing's only a barrier to entry on smaller deals—anything over $5M is a safe bet for non-recourse CMBS. Eric's advice: use a local brokerage as your eyes and ears for off-market deals. This was a very significant step for Metro Property Group, he adds, as it demonstrated their ability to secure financing going forward with new acquisitions. First Western Properties' Paul Tsakiris was the referring broker.