Can real estate in a small rural town really hold the keys to generational wealth? According to returning guest Adam Lesperance, the answer is yes—and he’s back to share the surprising market shifts and what’s next.
Adam Lesperance is the team leader of the Terry Hastings Real Estate Group, based in the Wiarton area of Ontario, Canada. His team is among the top 20 in the country under Keller Williams and specializes in rural and recreational communities.
Today’s episode is a follow-up to Episode 113 where Adam talked about legacy building on the water. Now, Adam is back with updates on how the Canadian market has shifted since then—especially in light of recent interest rate cuts, a volatile luxury market, and what economic ripple effects from the U.S. mean for Canada.
He dives into the structure of Canadian mortgages, how shorter-term fixed rates influence real estate decisions, and what rising rates mean for homeowners who are nearing renewal. Adam also breaks down how low inventory and rural connectivity shape their market, while Corwyn draws parallels with the American experience.
Key Takeaways:
- 4:22 Adam’s team ranked Top 20 in Canada under Keller Williams
- 6:27 Canadian interest rates lowered to 2.75% with mortgage rates under 4%
- 7:26 Luxury and waterfront markets are cooling; essentials are still moving
- 8:13 Canadian mortgages work on 5-year fixed terms, requiring renewal
- 9:13 Homeowners facing renewals at higher rates often sell to preserve equity
Like what you hear? Subscribe to Exit Strategies Radio Show and share this episode with someone who’s ready to build wealth through real estate—no matter where they live. Catch us on your favorite podcast platform or live every Saturday at 10:30 AM on WJNI 106.3 FM and WJAY 98.3 FM.
Connect with Adam:
- Website: https://www.terrihastings.ca/
- Contact Number: 519-3787171
Connect with Corwyn:
- Contact Number: 843-619-3005
Shoutout to our Sponsor: ROBYN COLLINS
Do you want something more? More Meaningful Moments opportunities, deeper relationships and memorable experiences? Do you want to make a difference? If you say YES, a career and real estate could be the opportunity you’re looking for guiding people to one of the most important decisions they ever made, the purchase or sale of their home can be both rewarding and lucrative.
Exit Realty has a revolutionary compensation model training and technology that provides you with the tools you need to start and build your successful real estate career. Call me today ROBYN COLLINS with REDROBYN HOMES at 843-557-5003. Again that’s 843-557-5003 or visit RedRobynhomes.com/join.exit and make your Exit today.
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ROBYN:
Do you want something more? More meaningful moments, opportunities, deeper relationships, and memorable experiences? Do you want to make a difference? If you said yes, a career in real estate could be the opportunity you’re looking for. Guiding people through one of the most important decisions they ever made, the purchase or sale of their home can be both rewarding and lucrative. Exit Realty’s revolutionary compensation model, training, and technology that provides you with the tools you need to start and build your successful real estate career. Call me today, Robyn Collins, R – O – B – Y – N Collins with Red Robin Homes at 843-557-5003. Again, that’s 843-557-5003 or visit us at redrobinhomes.com/joinexit and make your exit today
CORWYN:
Good morning, good morning, guys. Welcome to another fabulous episode of Exit Strategies Radio Show. Hey, if this is your first time listening, yes, tuning in, however you’re catching this, AirPods, headphones, maybe you’ve got us in the car, maybe you’ve got us at the please turn us up because we want everybody to hear it. But guys, thank you so much for tuning in today to another fabulous episode. You know what our mission here, which is very simple, to empower our community through financial literacy and real estate education, guys. We’re legacy building. That’s what we do. So guys, for those who tune in faithfully from one end of our state to the other, I’m always humbled and just realize how significant it is that we are on radio, not only in the Charleston market, but also in the PD markets of South Carolina. We have a podcast that airs around the globe and listeners from all walks of life and all nations. It is so humbling to me. So guys, we always focus on having amazing guests, great content. And every now and again, guys, look, we have somebody who just came in here, just buttered the bread. And I mean, they put it down, they had it ready and right. And in turn, we had to say, hey, we need you to come back because we want to know some more about what you’re doing and about what you got going on. So today is one of those episodes, guys. We have with us a real estate team leader out of Canada, guys. And it’s impressive because markets around the globe, no matter how we may think that they differ so much, there’s also so much that is very similar and that kind of coincides with wherever you may be, wherever you are. So for those who listen, again, from one end of the state to the other, from Monkey’s Corner, y’all know my mama live out there. Hollywood, what you know no good and all the way up to the mud, Muddy Mullins, Marin County, guys, we love you. Thank y’all so much for tuning in. And our guest today is none other than Adam Lesperance. Now, Adam, again, is a team leader. He’s in real estate, just like I am. So I love these kinds of conversations. I always want to know what is the get down with the giddy up. So, Adam, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule and be on with us today. I appreciate you bringing the commentary and the comments to the show. So, Adam, how are you doing today?
ADAM:
I’m doing really good today. Yeah. Yeah. The sun’s shining out here. It’s melting away some snow. It’s been a long winter up in these parts.
CORWYN:
So, yeah, look here. So yeah, I’ll tell you what, you can keep that snow. I appreciate it if you keep that on that side with you. We don’t need all that right around here for sure. So, Adam, if you don’t mind, give our listeners again, high level overview of who you are, what it is you do, and let’s have a conversation.
ADAM:
Yeah. So I’m from the the Wierton area, which is close to Owen Sound, which is two and a half hours north of Toronto, which is in the province of Ontario. So to give you a perspective that, of course, borders Lake Huron and Michigan on the other side, fairly far north up here to give you a perspective on we’ve had our kids 25 snow days since Christmas break. So the school buses have been cancelled that many days. It’s been like a winter. I grew up in the area. I don’t remember winters as bad as this winter was. So that’s had a lot of influence, a lot of slowdown to our market up here. Yeah. And then I’m a team leader. We have the Terry Hastings Real Estate Group. We’re with Keller Williams and we were in 20th place as far as sales this year in all of Canada. So we have a fairly large team and do a lot of transactions in a very rural recreational based communities up here. So, yeah.
CORWYN:
So you say rural. I mean, obviously, country is country. So if you can kind of give us an idea, the market or section that you cover is roughly from end to end. How many miles?
ADAM:
Yeah. So if I give you a drive time perspective, we’re an hour to Tobermory. And once we’re up there, there’s thirty five hundred people that live in a large geographic region that would be probably twenty miles by ten miles wide. I’m in Wiarton. There’s thirty five hundred people in this town in our whole area, which honestly, it takes us two hours to get one end to the other. There’s maybe a hundred, hundred and twenty thousand people total. So it’s a low density, a lot of driving around. But in saying that, there’s this neat feeling of like everyone. So if you’re born and raised here, even if you’re newer to the community, you start to meet people and you see them again and it’s the only people here. And we go down Toronto, busy city centers. You just don’t feel those connections. Right.
CORWYN:
That is interesting, because when you said thirty five hundred, I’m thinking to myself, man, I think there’s that many people, I believe, in the subsection in my neighborhood. So that is definitely a contrast for those who may be in larger, more rural areas. Obviously, markets airflow, Adam, and I know we had you on. We talked about generational wealth, creating wealth, et cetera. Back in episode, I believe that was episode 113. And for those who look back for our podcast to catch items previous show with us, Legacy Building on the Water is what we really focused on because you guys service an area that, you know, essentially is on the other side of late from Michigan, from the US. So a question I have for you as we kind of begin taking care of this conversation forward, what shifts or what things have been happening in your market since our last conversation?
ADAM:
Yeah. So up here in Canada, like the Canadian bank interest rates are low. They did another cut there a couple of weeks ago. So they’re at two point seven five. So you can get a mortgage like a five year fixed at under four percent. I think three point six four is a posted rate right now. January pop for us. So we thought we were going to have the market conditions. Housing had slowed down. I had a listed in the middle of nowhere. It had five offers on that. We hadn’t seen that since the covid market. And then the Trump administration came into your political picture down there. And I always say if the elephant gets a cold, then there sneezes, then the mouse gets a cold. Right. And we’re always referred to as little Canada up here. So what’s happening right now with our market is it’s sort of all these tariff talks and everything. The tariffs don’t have a direct correlation to housing. I mean, yeah, there’s some sort of effects of lumber costs and different things could change. But what it’s put in the market is a big pessimism. So there’s a dampening of the market. There’s still things selling like farms are selling first time homebuyer homes and people always need to move or you have the estate sales. But what’s really slowed up for us is your luxury, like waterfront properties, your cottages. They’re always the first not to buy and always the first to sell because they’re not needed. They’re an extra. It’s the market has softened up greatly.
CORWYN:
So, yeah, that makes perfect sense. So I want to come back because I don’t want to miss this. Now, you say rates are five or whatever they’re about as far as percentage wise. Yeah. What’s the term? Did you say five years?
ADAM:
Yeah, like a five year fixed rate. We’re a little different. And I know in the states, just from what I’ve learned, associating with different realtors and stuff down there, the way that it’s sort of formulated is a little different the way you guys get into things there. But we’re like a five year fixed. And then after the five years, you have to renew and go into another five year term. Now that may be amortized over 25 or 20 or 30 years, but it’s not like you just sign up for that big, long term to begin with every five years or if it’s a three year term when you renew at whatever rates there are. Right. So.
CORWYN:
So for us in the States, that kind of works more like a commercial realm is similar. You have like a shorter window as far as amortization may be set on a longer scale, a longer period, but typically it’s going to take a few refinances or if you’re focused on paying off. But most times somewhere during that time period, values have increased on that refinance. You’re either depending upon this is me leading into a question here, but my assumption is that in your market, as people, as the market continues to cycle, prices of values increase, you may have some people that, you know, before they get to that place where they need to refinance, they may sell, take the equity and go to another property. Is that what they’re doing?
ADAM:
Oh, definitely. And you can always get out of those and you can sell it earlier, but there’s the fees or whatever you’re going to get hit with. The challenge we have is during the, we had interest rates that were under 2% for a while there during the COVID market, right? So some of these people bought into the market, they got the very low rates, but they’re coming up for renewal and maybe they bought a place that was a million dollars, but now it’s only going to appraise at seven and they have to approve, like get a higher interest rate. So then you’re seeing that they’re having to put them up for sale in desperation or the amount of powers for sales that we have right now is much greater, like a bank sale, right? So they’re forced because they can’t afford those payments anymore. So it’s not a good market. I never liked that market, but it’s something that happens, right? So you just try to work with those people to get them through that.
CORWYN:
So I’m definitely going to frame this as a question as well, but not to kind of harp on that because every market is different. So for our listeners, guys, every market is different. Real estate is so local, all right? Whether your locality is two hours from end to end, or if it’s 20 minutes end to end, whatever that may look like. But Adam, where do you see your market going and where are the opportunities for not only buyers, but also for sellers in where you see the market heading?
ADAM:
Yeah. So at this moment in time, I always think back to the history, but when sort of buyers are sitting on the fence and things aren’t happening and some sellers need to sell, like those are often the best times historically to actually buy. It was when everybody else is sort of saying, no, no, I’m not going to right now. I want to see where the bottom is. You’re probably near at the bottom. And then those people sit back. They’re like, I wish we bought in that year, right? So I think we’re going to have a year like that where people go back and reflect on the spring market or however long this goes on for. And I wish I bought then, right? So we’re going to see a lot of that. So I do feel like our market conditions will improve. Whatever’s going to happen is going to happen. There’s always big things happening in the world with the tariffs and everything, but I mean, we’ll work through it. In our area, just because we’re north of city centers, I do feel like as a long-term pitcher, I do feel strongly that people are going to want to get out of city centers. And then with the demographics of baby boomers and different things, a lot of people don’t want to stay in a city center when they retire. They want to go back up to where they’re from or back to a spot where there’s fresh air and sunshine and everything. So I think we’re going to be protected in that.
CORWYN:
Okay. So for a seller, what does this potentially look like? I mean, are they able to, hearing what you just said, some people in city centers, there’s maybe an opportunity or season they may be able to, okay, I’m out of here and I’m going back out to a smaller or more rural location, a little bit more land, a little bit more distance. And that’s probably a good question to ask you there about what size you’re typically someone’s purchasing. Are they purchasing large parcels of land with a home or what does that tend to look like in your market?
ADAM:
Yeah. So as far as properties, what we have listed right now, we have 137 acre property listed with a house in the shop for $1.3 million. So we have bigger acreages up here. And then a lot of people from city centers, though, one or two acres is big for them. And we definitely have lots of that product as well. Yeah. We were just down at Toronto at a cottage life show put on by Cottage Life magazine. I remember this couple and I’m showing them, well, this one’s 137 acres and this is 50 and they’re just like blown away by it. And they’re like, what would you do with all that land? And they’re thinking these are unbelievable prices, but it’s just where we are geographic because we’re fairly rural, right?
CORWYN:
Yeah. That’s interesting. Yeah. I can imagine coming from a city center, my imagination says that we have what you would deem or consider to be a more traditional size lot. So maybe it’s a quarter, I would imagine, correct me, definitely tell us, I’m assuming like a quarter acre lot or something, give or take.
ADAM:
Yeah, that’s pretty standard. It’d be very similar to like traveling around the states, very similar to what you’d find in your suburbs or blocks and different things. So very similar in our town centers, definitely.
CORWYN:
And then you end up out in the country and you’ve got this massive piece of property. That’s right. That’s right.
ADAM:
You’ve got to buy time. That’s people that have done well. And it’s the same where you live, likely, but they buy a hundred acre farm on the outskirts of town in that window of 20 years. And then all of a sudden the town wants to expand and some developer is knocking on their door. Those are the big prices, right? So when you’re talking to buyers, you’re always thinking, what’s it going to look like in 20 years? Like fast forward and just think to yourself, and what did that town look like that had 3,500 people 20 years ago? What does it look like now? Well, now it has 30,000 people. Well, how much more land space did they take up, right? It’s a bad investment. If you can sit on this, it’s a waiting game with real estate is right.
CORWYN:
Exactly. So essentially you position yourself, if you will, in the path of development of the path of growth. And like you said, eventually somebody comes knocking on your door and said, Hey, I like to, and some of it, all of it. I always laugh. I have a friend and shout out if he’s listening, Ronnie, the dude got a tractor. We from the country. When you bought a piece of property out in the country a little bit, you got a doggone tractor. It’s the funniest thing to me. Call them from a brown. Sometimes it’s hilarious. So Adam, is your market right for investment? Obviously you got the traditional mom and pop. Somebody owns property has been in the area for all their life. And I’m a reference. This not for the politics, but merely for the opinions, right? Yeah. So the opinions of a lot of people is whoever’s in office. And we’ve heard it. It’s funny. Some years ago when all this stuff started, became common sense or normal for people. I said not common sense. It became normal for people in their opinion. Well, I’m gonna leave the country. I’ll move out. I’m going to go.
ADAM:
Yeah.
CORWYN:
You know what I’m saying? And again, no matter who, like for life, a better way to put it, that’s something that’s so real. If you’re local and you don’t like, who’s in office, you can always move away. Yeah. I mean, it’s up to you, right? I ain’t going nowhere, but y’all can go. All right. But my question is your area, your market and option. Are you seeing people pursue opportunities in your region because they wanted to be out of somewhere else?
ADAM:
Oh, definitely. Like there’s a couple guys around and they’re just buying chunks of land that are closer to these smaller towns. And it’s like their vision. I mean, they’re looking at the next 20 years, right? And then the other thing, we went down to Las Vegas for a Keller Williams event there last month. That’s not a cheap town. I get that to buy things. But our dollar right now compared to yours is not good, right? If you think about if you’re down in the US, like you have a lot of buying power if you bought a candidate right now to look at investments, right? And then you always get that. I don’t want to manage it and do different things. Just buy some vacant land and sit on it. Right. Even if it’s way up north and you throw 20 or 40,000 at a lot in some town that, you know, has mining potential and just sit there and see if they ever open that mine back up or if they expand or whatever. Someday you might be sitting on a nice little investment, right?
CORWYN:
So that is interesting. So, Adam, what I just heard you say, and for my listeners, I’m going to repeat this. What I just heard you say is, look, you want some investment property. You need to come see me in Canada. That’s what I just heard.
ADAM:
That’s right. And I learned that by buying a $7 Starbucks coffee, which cost me about $12 Canadian, right? I sit there with that coffee and I’m like, if I was in the reverse right now, I’d be buying land in Canada. That’s all I was thinking while I was drinking that coffee.
CORWYN:
Oh, that’s so true. Oh, gosh. Yeah. So look, we may have to become one of my new things now when we are speaking and have been speaking to real estate agents around the world. One of the things that I said jokingly to someone fairly recent is like, man, look here, we need to posse up and go. You know what I’m saying? So it sounds like we might need to do the same thing. We might need to come to Canada, take some American dollars there and buy up. That’s so cool and so interesting to me. So Adam, you run a successful team. So first and foremost, as a broker, I want to quote unquote, give you the slow clap because I know how challenging and difficult it is, quote unquote, to do what you’re doing. So kudos to you and your team for the success not only you have found, but the success that you’re maintaining and serving the people within your region. So the opportunities that I’ve heard you speak about so far have been really focused on basically being in the path of development and growth, securing a land position. Well, I say basically, but simply waiting for the opportunity when growth reaches your goal.
ADAM:
I always feel like if the further you are away from something in time, you want to make it less management. So get something that has nothing on it. You might drive up there to see it because you’re excited once, but you don’t ever have to go there again. And then just wait and wait and wait. When it doesn’t have to be a huge investment, because you’re buying land so far north, it’s probably a lot cheaper than a lot of other areas where you’re like, I just can’t get into that market. And it’s diversified. You want to have your stocks and your other properties and your gold and silver, whatever else you’re going to buy your Bitcoin share, whatever. Why not throw a few bucks at something and do a bit of research and figure out the town and the demographics and where could this be in a few years.
CORWYN:
One of the things that I always say, Adam, God ain’t making no more dirt. So whatever is here is here. And that’s all we got. That’s all that we can quote unquote trade or turn into a commodity, if you will.
ADAM:
The other thing about further north is global warming. I mean, believe it or not, whatever your opinion is, but in Canada, where we are geographically, we’re actually a net benefit as the world warms up. So our agriculture gets longer growing seasons. We’ve seen the price of our dirt go way up because of that. Whereas you get closer to the equator. And I mean, it’s not good there. It’s not good condition, but that’s why a lot of people are getting buying further north, right? Even if it looks like a bush right now, someday, you never know.
CORWYN:
Well, that gives us trees. So Adam, let’s cast this vision a little bit. But then also, as we cast a vision, what is it that consumers are looking to, again, get into the market, the consumers that should be connecting with you? What should they be mindful of? What should they be aware of? Where are the pitfalls? Because we’ve touched on the opportunities, but where are the pitfalls as they seek to pursue an opportunity in your region?
ADAM:
Yeah. So I think one thing to know is there’s no guarantees in it, right? And I’ve sold lots up here and there was some weird spike in the market in the 80s. And these lots sold for like 60,000 and then we resold them a couple of years ago and got them 65,000. It was just some weird new development. People clearly overpaid for it at the time. But that many years, 25 years, whatever it was removed, they really didn’t see any value growth there, right? You got to research, but you always got to know that there’s nothing guaranteed with it and that diversify. And if you have the capital to get something that churns numbers, because vacant land is a cost, you got to pay the property taxes, right? But if you have something that you can afford that’s going to churn a rent or make some kind of money from it, then ultimately that’s a better investment, but that’s also a bigger investment to get into, right? And more management and time.
CORWYN:
And what strategies for someone, again, entering, touching on or having touched on the things to watch out for, where’s the opportunity and how do they create leverage? Let’s put it that way. Let’s frame it in that sense. We talked about financing, what that looks like as far as in your realm, do you see more creative structures on transactions or merely mostly the cash or conventional, traditional finance?
ADAM:
Yeah. I think last year, I think we did quite a few deals and personally, I did 12 that had VTVs in them. So vendor take-backs, right? So you have people that maybe they don’t have quite enough down or they’re over leveraged because they own other things. But then you have these people that sit there and they have no mortgage or anything. Talking to the sellers and you’re like, well, what were you going to do with the money since you’re moving to a rental? So you’re getting 500,000 for your house, what are you gonna do with that? Well, we were gonna put it in a safe investment, a guaranteed GIC. Maybe at the time, they’re paying four and a half percent. What if you took 100 grand down, you took that 400,000 and I could get you six and a half percent, what do you mean? And then you explain it all to them, right? And the security is in the house. I mean, worst case, they don’t pay it. Well, you get the house back, you keep their 100 grand and whatever interest they paid you. It’s like a win-win, right? But you got to give them that picture and you got to make them feel safe and secure. And you want to make sure the buyers can actually pull it off and have an exit plan. Because they need in three years to have some kind of reason why they need the VTB, they can get out of it. Maybe they’re new to the area, they picked up jobs, the bank wants to see two years of income. Maybe they’re selling in the city, but they want to feel like they got a place and they just want a year, year and a half to sell to feel nice about it.
CORWYN:
That is cool. So what I just heard you say is that you guys do, and that’s one of the things I love about real estate. Technically, if you can think of it, you can do it. I mean, granted, you stay within the legalities, but if you can think of it, you can do it as a way to structure it. You guys do what we refer to them as the seller financing versus the VTB, but it’s the same premise. The seller is holding back a note, getting better than market interest rate on it. It’s a win for them if they just want to put the cash somewhere to make some cash, they’re probably going to get far better in that term than what they would in their bank here. We’re seeing mortgage rates at six and six and change as far as interest rates, but you put your money in the bank and you’re lucky if you get just over a percent as far as interest on your money in the bank. So to be able to do a seller financing, get eight, nine or whatever percent as far as a return, that’s a no brainer.
ADAM:
And it’s all about the angle. Like I did one at two percent, but they wanted to keep their price, sale price. They’re like, no, we want this money. We can wait it out, but we want the 799 or whatever the math was. We did a two percent VTB, right? We’ve done a couple rent to owns this year and they get convoluted and complicated when you’re writing them all up. Just throw in a lawyer review, put it on the buyer and seller’s lawyer, let them read it over and they’ll talk to their clients about the risk. The last thing you want to do is put the whole deal together. It goes firm and then it comes back on you. So just grab a third party, their lawyer and say, here, look this all over and make sure this is legal and legit and see holes in it. But you look for them, right?
CORWYN:
Yep, exactly. And that’s interesting to know. I don’t think I ever, I know previously we didn’t talk about those types of creative financing options and things that you may be able to accomplish. You kind of couple that for a foreign investor that may have an exchange rate that may be a little bit higher than what the Canadian dollar is. That’s a huge win-win from that perspective. So Adam, we’re getting closer right at the end of today’s show. How can people find you? Let’s talk website, let’s talk phone numbers, let’s talk however you want people to find you and connect with you. Where can people get in touch?
ADAM:
Yeah. So the best website is Terry with an I Hastings.ca. And then my phone number is 519-378-7171. And I have Facebook and Instagram, all that stuff. Apparently, I don’t know how to use it. People do that for me, but I put them on there. So yeah.
CORWYN:
All right. Awesome. And look, I just hit the website, guys. So look, y’all need to hit the website, TerryHastings.ca. There’s some pretty pictures on there, isn’t there? Oh my God. I love the marina, the view over the lake. That is awesome on the website. So guys, you need to take a look, see when, what is going on in Canada and get you some of this real estate because I’m loving some of these prices.
ADAM:
Yeah, no, that’s right. And that’s without the exchange factored in yet. So you just do the math with your little calculator there. Yeah, for sure.
CORWYN:
I love it. Well, Adam, thank you so much, my man, for taking time to be on our show with us today. We appreciate it. Most importantly, we know, trust that you guys are doing well up there in Canada. So for our listeners, guys, y’all make sure y’all get in touch. But Adam, again, thank you for being on the show with us today. For our listeners, y’all know what it is. Y’all know what I say. Y’all know how I feel. Always going to keep it a hundred. I’m always going to make it real. And I’m going to tell you that I love you. I love you. I love you. And we’re going to see you guys out there in those streets.
