I’m thrilled to have Tony Irwin on the show today. Tony is the President and CEO of both the Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations (CFAA) and the Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO)—two of the largest organizations advocating for landlords and rental housing providers at the provincial and national levels.

With years of experience in policy, government relations, and housing advocacy, Tony is at the forefront of the fight to protect landlords, encourage rental supply, and push back against policies that make it harder to provide housing.

If you own rental properties or are thinking about investing, this is a must-listen episode. The policies being decided today will impact your bottom line for years to come!

Are you a Canadian investor struggling with low cash flow, rent control, or expensive renovations? In this episode, we sit down with Ben Barry, a U.S. real estate expert who's deployed over $2 billion in capital and helped transform how investors like you succeed south of the border.
What You’ll Learn:

• How Canadian investors can tap into high-yield U.S. rental markets

• Why technology and data are changing the game in real estate
  

• The real story behind turnkey rentals and institutional landlords
  

• Tips on navigating taxes, financing, and management across borders
  

Whether you're fed up with Ontario's eviction delays or you're just curious about basement conversions vs. single-family rentals, this is your roadmap to smarter investing.

Hey friends, this is Erwin Szeto, and welcome to The Truth About Real Estate Investing for Canadians, where it’s my job to interview the top minds in real estate and business to uncover the strategies, mindsets, and habits that actually work—especially in today’s market.

My guest today is Michael Ponte—a full-time real estate investor, educator, and co-founder of Savvy Investor. He’s been investing for more than 20 years and owns a multi-provincial portfolio that spans Alberta, BC, and Atlantic Canada. He’s raised capital, survived multiple recessions, and built a strategy around what he calls “lazy investing”—focused on cash flow, simplicity, and long-term success.

In this episode, we get into:

• Why he avoids over-leveraged strategies like promissory notes and MLI Select
• What it’s like to refinance and pull nearly $1 million out of a property
• And how he built a business around student rentals, multi-family units, and zero tolerance for rent control

Also—Michael is hosting a free virtual boot camp on May 3rd, and I’ll be one of the speakers. It’s called The Savvy Investor Boot Camp, and it covers everything from BRRRRs to private lending to U.S. investing. You can register at thesavvyinvestor.ca -- again, it’s completely free.

Now, please enjoy my conversation with Michael Ponte.