Kent

Why We’re Not Lending in Kent

Kent is one of those towns that really tests our model. On the surface, it’s the kind of place we love to see: a small farming community in the Fraser Valley, a world away from the Vancouver hustle. It has a real identity centered on agriculture and a slower, family-oriented lifestyle. You can see it in the housing—over 70% are single-detached homes. That tells you people move here to put down roots, not to flip properties, which usually points to a stable market.

Brokers tell us their clients who look at Kent want that specific lifestyle. With a median age of 48 and plenty of retirees, it’s a stable community. People are drawn to the natural beauty and the quick drive to places like Harrison Hot Springs. That consistent lifestyle appeal is what supports resale values, not some crazy market speculation. For a client looking to settle down in a rural spot for the long haul, Kent checks a lot of boxes.

The problem for us is the money. From a lender’s perspective, the local economy is thin. The top industries are exactly what you’d expect—farming, construction, and healthcare—but there’s no major engine driving wages up. A median household income of $78,000 combined with a 7.1% unemployment rate doesn’t leave much of a safety net. If the economy stumbles, a lot of homeowners will be in a tight spot very quickly, and that’s a risk we can’t ignore.

Ultimately, our biggest concern is the exit strategy. In a foreclosure, we have to ask: who is going to buy this property, and how fast? With a population of only 6,300 people spread out over a large area, the pool of potential buyers is small. Liquidity is a real issue here. A property could easily sit on the market for months, racking up interest, property taxes, and other costs that eat directly into our investors’ capital. Every loan we make has to work in a worst-case scenario, and the numbers in Kent just don’t give us the margin of safety we need.

So, while we get the appeal of Kent’s quality of life, it falls outside our risk tolerance. That, combined with its location in the Fraser Valley—an area we generally don’t service anyway—leads us to a clear decision. For any potential deals in the District of Kent, our maximum loan-to-value is 0.0%. It’s just not a fit for our core job: protecting our investors’ money above all else.