A few months ago, I was working with a Canadian investor buying a multifamily property in Florida. The purchase price was just over $1.2M USD. Like most, they planned to send the funds directly through their Canadian bank.
Here’s the problem — banks often add a hidden margin to the exchange rate, on top of transfer fees. In this case, the margin was around 2.5%. That’s over $30,000 CAD in hidden costs for this single transaction.
Instead, we explored using a specialized foreign exchange service that offered:
Live rate booking to lock in the exchange rate before market swings
Bank-beating rates that were 1–2% better than the bank’s quote
Secure, regulated transfers compliant with FINTRAC and bank-level encryption
The result? The investor saved $18,000 CAD - money that went straight back into renovations.
This isn’t just about real estate. If you’re paying tuition abroad, sending funds to family, or managing cross-border business transactions, the difference in rates can be huge.
If you want to see exactly how much you could save, I’ve put together a free rate comparison tool that works in real time - you can check it in 30 seconds here: MTFX Rate Comparison
Out of curiosity - how many of you factor currency exchange into your deal analysis?
