Banks will gladly loan you money if you can prove you don't need it. If you need $500K all you have to do is sign over a $1 Million RRSP and you get what you need at a decent rate. If you miss a few payments they cash in the RRSP, half goes to the government and the bank gets their money back.
I was under the impression that banks wouldn't loan money to individuals to buy land. To get a deal going the seller would offer builders terms, a small down payment and the rest due a year later after the house is built and a bank will loan the money. The house basically needs an occupancy permit and you join the cheque a month club.
A friend had a dream of building his own house with his bare hands. He bought a lot, bulldozer heavy equipment and got a permit. Then he found out the bank wouldn't loan him money for construction. They would have loaned him money for the bulldozer and heavy equipment.
