About this Event
Thinking about purchasing property for your non-profit? Join us for this two-part series designed to help organizations understand what it takes to become acquisition-ready and make informed decisions before making an offer, hosted by Brigitte Teleu and Craig Snow with Snow and Teleu Commercial.
Session 1 (Oct. 27, 2-4 PM) will explore whether property ownership is the right fit for your organization, help you define what you need in a property, and cover how to search for and evaluate potential properties, assess costs and risks, and identify realistic funding and financing options.
Session 2 (Nov. 5, 2-4 PM) will focus on what happens once you find the right property—from developing a purchase strategy and structuring an offer to navigating conditions, inspections, financing, closing, renovations, and occupancy.
More information about each workshop session can be found below. We hope you’ll join us for one or both sessions to build your organization’s confidence, knowledge, and readiness to pursue a property acquisition.
Workshop Session 1: Getting Acquisition Ready
Preparing your organization to buy
Explore board governance and decision-making, mission fit, organizational readiness, and how to build the right acquisition team—including when to involve a broker, lender, lawyer, accountant, consultant, or development partner.
Creating your property acquisition brief
Turn your organization's needs into a clear, practical property brief. We'll look at location, accessibility, size, zoning, parking, transit, program requirements, and the difference between must-haves and nice-to-haves.
Understanding the property search
Learn how commercial property searches work, including on- and off-market opportunities, broker networks, direct outreach, public-sector opportunities, and partnerships. We'll also discuss how to read commercial listings and why the asking price is only one part of the total cost of ownership.
Analyzing a potential property
Build a foundation for assessing whether a property is financially and operationally viable. We'll cover purchase and closing costs, renovations, carrying costs, debt, taxes, insurance, utilities, reserves, potential income opportunities, and common red flags.
Funding and financing pathways
Explore traditional commercial mortgages, credit unions, community and mission-aligned lenders, grants, government programs, capital campaigns, donations, and other creative financing routes. We'll also discuss what lenders and funders need to see when assessing a non-profit's proposal.
Using real estate to support growth
Consider how property ownership can support both current operations and future growth, including phased development, partnerships, shared-use models, multiple sites, and mixed-use approaches. We'll also look at when it may make more sense to lease, buy, co-own, develop, or reposition an existing asset.
By the end of this session, participants should be able to:
- Define whether ownership is the right solution for their organization.
- Create a clear property-acquisition brief.
- Understand how commercial property searching and evaluation works.
- Identify realistic funding pathways and financing gaps before they begin making offers.
- Recognize when to bring in a broker, lender, lawyer, consultant, or development partner.
Session 2: Navigating a Property Purchase
From property search to offer
Learn how to evaluate an opportunity with your acquisition team and develop a negotiation strategy. We'll look beyond purchase price to other important terms, including conditions, deposit, closing date, inclusions, access for inspections, and seller representations.
Understanding an offer to purchase
Break down the key components of an offer, including price, deposit, conditions, closing dates, fixtures, chattels, and adjustments. We'll focus on conditions that are particularly important for non-profits, including financing, board approval, inspections, environmental and zoning reviews, legal review, appraisal, and satisfactory due diligence.
Due diligence: confirming what you're buying
Explore the different types of due diligence needed to protect your organization, including property-condition, environmental, legal, zoning and financial reviews. We'll discuss common red flags, what to investigate, and when additional professional expertise is needed.
Managing risk and negotiating challenges
Learn how to distinguish between a deal-breaker and a manageable issue. We'll discuss what to do when inspection findings, appraisals, or funding gaps change the economics of a deal—including renegotiating, extending timelines, revising the scope, exploring alternative financing, or walking away.
From financing approval to closing
Understand the path from pre-qualification to formal financing approval and closing. We'll cover appraisals, lender conditions, insurance, required equity, grants and donations, closing costs, and the role of your lawyer in completing the transaction.
Preparing for possession and ownership
Closing isn't the end of the process. We'll explore the immediate priorities after possession, including insurance, utilities, security, maintenance, tenant communication, documentation, renovations, permits, accessibility upgrades, and operational transition.
By the end of this session, participants should be able to:
- Understand the components of an offer to purchase.
- Build a due-diligence plan that protects their organization.Define whether ownership is the right solution for their organization.
- Identify common deal risks, deal-breakers, and negotiation opportunities.
- Understand the path from accepted offer through closing and possession.
- Plan for ownership after closing, including reserves, governance, renovations, and asset management.
Participants will also learn about potential next steps and supports, including readiness consultations, property-search representation, acquisition analysis, funding strategy support, and referrals to appropriate specialists.
Event venue & nearby stays
32 Akerley Blvd, 32 Akerley Boulevard, Dartmouth, Canada
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