Walker Commercial Funding - Brian Walker

The Money is Starting to Flow Again....finally...

Walker Commercial Funding — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 18:14:58 -0700

Last week was a great week for us. We are starting to see money flow again. Oddly enough, most of the investors are not US based. We are seeing positive activity from investors in Europe, Russia and China. We even got three casinos approved at 100% LTC. Of course, not all projects will be as profitable as casinos, but the great news is we are starting to see the cash flow again. If you are frustrated with not being funded for the last 2 years...please give use a call at 281-764-1605 or brian@walkercf.com. We look forward to sharing the prosperity with you!

Don't Believe the Mass Media Congomerate.....get real news from here....

Walker Commercial Funding — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:17:01 -0700

It disgusts me to hear what spews from the mass media conglomerate's news.....if you want to know what is really going on...try these news sources:

http://finance.yahoo.com

http://online.wsj.com/home-pagewww.cnbc.com

http://www.forbes.com

How to Save Money on Your Commercial Real Estate Appraisal

Walker Commercial Funding — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:14:59 -0700

In the recent past, nearly 70% of all commercial appraisals were ordered by the banks that were going to fund the project. Now that banks are absent from the performing funding space, many developers are left with the responsibility of ordering an appraisal. Unfortunately, many of the appraisals they order and submit are simply unacceptable to 90% of our funding sources.

As a rule of thumb, if you don't have an appraisal, don't order one. Let the funder that has an interest in your project suggest one that you use. Otherwise, if you want to order your own appraisal, there are few bits of advice to follow:

1) Ask your mortgage broker who they use and have had success with. Be prepared to spend more than what the local guy quoted you. Your mortgage broker is always going to choose an appraiser he or she has had success with and gotten deals funded with, which is your primary objective.

2) If you want to shop yourself, make sure the appraiser is MAI certified. The acronym stands for Member of the Appraisal Institute. It's no simple achievement to get this accreditation. According the the Apraisal Institute, MAI appraisers must meet the following criteria for accreditation:

Receive a passing grade on 11 examinations that reflect 380 hours of classroom instruction and that test the appraiser's knowledge of basic and advanced appraisal principles, procedures and applications; report writing; valuation analysis and standards of professional practice
Receive a passing grade on a four-module, two-day comprehensive examination
Hold an undergraduate degree from a four-year accredited educational institution
Experience: Receive credit for 4,500 hours of experience, all of which must meet strict criteria

3) Anyone that is not MAI certified will perform your appraisal at about half the cost, but...it's a fool's errand because your finder is going to require that you get an MAI certified appraisal. So, you end up paying for two appraisals.

4) Try to find someone that is familiar with your area and project type. This enables them to do them faster and at a lower price.

While this is not the appropriate place to give recommendations, feel free to contact me at my office and I'll gladly steer you in the right direction.

What makes a commercial real estate project "weak or strong"

Walker Commercial Funding — Mon, 31 May 2010 03:38:10 -0700

Weak projects, no matter how great they appear, can turn a funder off if any of the following conditions are present:

1. The project has a funding deadline - a funder would rather take a project that will work if they have to wait for funding. Funders frown on projects that have a deadline. For example, "If I'm not funded in 5 weeks, I'll lose the property." We as intermediaries would never accept a project like this when there are hundreds more that won't be calling us every day and giving us guilt trips for their project not being funded.

There are many reasons a project could be delayed and it's completely out of our funder's hand. We've even noticed a trend with a few of our funders, where they do not give a closing date. They'll say, "60-90 says, but there is no scheduled closing at this time" So what does the client think? If he isn't funded in 60 days, there are serious problems and he feels the need to call everyday and become a nuisance to the funder...which only hurts the developer.

2. The project will only work in a specific location. Your project must be strong enough that it can work where you want to buy the land or 2 or 3 other locations. These are typically JV clients that bring nothing but an idea to the table. Your project should not be dependent on the funder buying a particular piece of land that could be bought while waiting on funding. Short and sweet, we are not going to burn a bridge with our funders by having pushy and demanding clients that can't produce a dime of equity in their projects. We are the nice guys and enjoy working with people that don't pressure us or the funder. Naturally, we'll do the best we can, but there are enough projects out there that aren't under the gun to get funded. True, we can fund bridges and hard money deals in 5-10 days, but every funder is different. I suggest you read: http://nobscommercialmortgages.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-happens-to-pushy-demanding.html Thanks, Brian Walker- I can be reached at 281-764-1605

Let Us Fund Your Solar Projects!

Walker Commercial Funding — Wed, 19 May 2010 22:29:44 -0700

Fantastic Analogy Describing How Derivatives Work(ed) and Impact YOU

Walker Commercial Funding — Fri, 07 May 2010 02:53:00 -0700

A client sent this to me...something circulating around the internet. Please read...it is a perfect analogy......

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit. She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed in a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Word gets around about Heidi's "drink now, pay later" marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in Detroit.

By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Consequently, Heidi's gross sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic Vice President at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets, and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral.

At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then bundled and traded on international security markets. Naive investors don't really understand that the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds are really the debts of unemployed alcoholics.

Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi's bar. He so informs Heidi.

Heidi then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Since Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations, she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and the eleven employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS drop in price by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the banks liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.

The suppliers of Heidi's bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms' pension funds in the various BOND securities. They find they are now faced with not only having to write off her bad debt but also with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds. Her wine supplier claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, and her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers.

Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multi-billion dollar, no-strings attached cash infusion from their cronies in Government.

The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who have never been in Heidi's

Developers get dumped for being pushy, demanding and rude...No Funding!

Walker Commercial Funding — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:16:28 -0800

As many of you know, Walker Commercial Funding works exclusively within the private funding world. All of our projects are funded by private sources and have been since 2006. Unfortunately, some developers still believe they live in the financial world of 2006. To get results, they could put some heat on their funders and threaten to stop banking with them or any other sorts of threats. Obviously it was effective, otherwise they wouldn’t have developed that behavior

In present times, the private and evasive sleeping giant is meeting old school "this is how my bank did it for 30 years" developers.
I regret to inform our readers that several projects that had been approved by our private funders were kicked to the curb with no funding and a bad reputation to follw because they were pushy, demanding, insulting and rude. Worse yet, these developers had no "NBA" or "next best alternative”. We placed them with performing funders that, for their particular project, there were no other alternative to getting their projects funded. So, basically, they worked with the funder we have placed them with or they simply have no other doors to knock on to get funded.

First, in the old days, developers received their funding from banks who had the liquity to fund the loan. This is no longer true. Everyone from the Rothchilds to the average Joe have pulled their funds from banks, where they have a measley FDIC coverage of $250,0000. Anything above that amount is not insured. The result is that they gave and continue to give their funds to the private sector, asset manangers. These assset managers are the individuals or groups that are funding the loans. They take the assets in from investors and invest it in solid real estate projects. The investment can be debt or joint venture.....or even joint venture without any debt! That's how the capital enters the private funding universe and projects are eventually funded. Most of our funders are even comfortable with 100% financing.

What went wrong? The answer is simple: the developers committed some of the cardinal sins of dealing with private capital. Here they are:

•    Your funder doesn't have anything to prove to you because he's not asking for upfront money. He doesn't want to be interview or vetted....yet the developers insisted on a list of closed deals, which would violate the NCND the funder signed with the client. Witch hunts are simply not advisable, if someone asks for a fee they cannot justify, simply walk from the table.

•    The developer made a list of a "demands" that must be met to "win" his business (that no one else will fund). As the old adage says, "the tail will not wag the dog”.

•    The developer established his own funding date, when he was giving a range of 60-90 days. The clock doesn't start ticking until you have signed the contract with the funder. Don't blame the funder when your attorney took 2 two weeks to review and made significant changes that were ridiculous and unreasonable. On that note, the clock doesn't start the day you gave the deal to the broker. Your funder doesn't care when you submitted it to your broker or that you had to wait 2 months before your transaction was submitted. Presently, projects submitted today won't be submitted for two months. There is a lot of deal congestion and we don't see it letting up anytime soon.

•    They developers call and call and call. Maybe your deal funds late. Moving money is difficult internationally and there are delays. There's nothing your broker or funder can do about this.

•    When calling the developers start making demands and demanding a funding date with the funder truly doesn't know....and they aren't going to give you a date for the sake of giving you a date.
•    The calls continue....the developers wants to play 20 questions and discuss matters the funder and broker don't have firm answers on. Neither your broker nor your funder have time to spend 30 minutes on the phone with talking about "what if's" and matters of pure conjecture. No offense, it’s just business.

•    Finally, the developer gives a deadline or else he pull out. I have to be funded by XYZ or else........

•    This is the point (or sooner) where we decline the project based on (lack of) professional conduct.

Ultimately the funder will see the project as weak and not worth funding if two weeks is going to kill the deal. Or he’ll just dismiss you and your project on the grounds of poor planning. At Walker Commercial Funding, we keep it simple: always tell the truth; which includes good news, bad news or even no news. We also inform the client it is not necessary to “check in” everyday. We immedately call them with news concerning their project. To sum it up, I recommend patience, grace and repect to both your broker and funder.

Joint Venture Success and What to Expect

Walker Commercial Funding — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 14:13:10 -0800

Welcome to 2010, the defacto year of Joint Venture (JV) financing. Institutional financing is not available so developers are looking outside the box to fund their projects. The most common form of favorable financing is JV. This financing comes in more shapes, sizes, and terms than colors of the rainbow. There are, however, a few common things that all JV funders look for, regardless of the project, location or dollar amount. The purpose of this article is to share with you what these common denominators are and how you should present your project to get the most favorable terms.

Let's look at this from your potential funder's perspective. What does he want? The answer is simple, but arriving at achieving his goals involves a tremendous amount of scrutiny and due diligence on you, the developer. Quite simply, the JV funder wants a return on his investment. You must speak his language. What he wants is a pro forma that shows what his internal rate of return (IRR) is at two and five years. If you cannot prepare one of these, find someone who can. This document or spreadsheet shows vision and the common goal of making money.

Everything else is secondary, but also very important. You need to prepare a package that consists of the following items:

an executive summary of the project that is no more than 5 pages (no funder will read a 120 page business plan before reading an executive summary)
the proforma
bios and resumes of all of the key players, including your contractors
the entire business plan
an appraisal if you have one

Logically, the funder has the money. You have to prove that you have the brains, muscle and integrity to be a great and cooperative partner. Your opportunity is not the only one on his desk, but it will certainly be the most presentable. Sloppy presentations make for sloppy projects.

Finally, the worst thing you can do is put pressure on the funder to act or fund immediately. Desperation only indicates weakness and poor planning.

Immediate need for active/operational gold mines. Incredible opportunty!

Walker Commercial Funding — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:42:42 -0800

Walker Commercial Funding has recently established new alliances in project funding and the leveraging of operational/active gold mines. If you have one, please contact brian@walkercf.com or (281) 852-9422. And yes, we still have our other programs which can be found at http://walkercommercialfunding.com/mining.html

2010- Some excellent JV opportunities for developers

Walker Commercial Funding — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:00:04 -0800

Happy New Year!
I apologize for my absence, but just wanted to let all of you know we are still here and have weathered the horrendous financing storm of 2009.

We have developed strategic alliances with several JV partners. And, true to form, our JV partners bring a lot more than money to the table. If you have a dynamite project and need funding or a JV partner, please call us today at (281) 852-9422 or brian@walkercf.com ..... you can always go to our website at www.walkercommercialfunding.com and click on the "what's hot" page.

We still have other programs, but I'll save that for another blog.

Cheers to 2010! And let the good times roll!
Brian Walker

What your JV partner wants to see...

Walker Commercial Funding — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:01:32 -0800

I'm sure I'll be speaking with you soon enough if you have a Joint Venture candidate. As always, I'm going to tell you like it is. What is important to your/our JV partner is as follows:

1. Lots of muscle and experience in managament. If you don't have it, you need to be prepared to hire it.

2. Integrity, honesty, fairness. Show your greedly little sharkfin and they'l run from you. Becsudse you just met the opportunity of your life, be respectful and grateful. You will be given a tremendous amount of autonomy and they don't want to be taken advantage of.

3. Listen to their program. Put your hangup aside and listend to what they have to offer. Often they bring more to the table than just money.

Our funders are now accepting projects internationally. They prefer to fund projects 80M or more and like to see a clear humanitarian benefit to the community with opportunity for future projects. For more info, call Brian Walker at (281)-852-9422 or skype me at brian.walker7

www.walkercommercialfunding.com

www.walkercommeriafunding.org

Excellent Joint venture Opportunities for International Developers

Walker Commercial Funding — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:12:53 -0800

We are looking for developers with great international projects above the 100M USD range. All projectst will be considered but we prefer those with a humanitarian benefit and impact. Ask for Brian at 281-852-9422 or email me at brian@walkercf.com skype: brian.walker7

Merry Christmas....the grinch doesn't live all year long! Walker Commercial Funding wishes you a Merry Christmas

Walker Commercial Funding — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 01:00:42 -0800

Whoooooaaaa....everybody loves Christmas

....unless you are in a hurry.

My advice is to relax. Private money goes to sleep shortly before thanksgiving and comes back to life in the first working week of January. So....don't get all huffy and puffy...it's just that no one is*******just to tease you, we do work with several clients who have not met the "bankable loan" and got them financed. Please avoid the rookies and ask the right questions

Venture Capital Article - Everything You Need to Know

Walker Commercial Funding — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:51:51 -0700

Hey Folks,

I've recent been published the peer-reviewed Scotsman Guide on Venture Capital. Please click on this link for the full article: http://www.scotsmanguide.com/default.asp?ID=3702

We'll worth the read and probably shocking to most who are new to the business.

Thanks,

Brian

Danger! Do Not "Shop Your Deals"- It only hurts you...the developer and the broker

Walker Commercial Funding — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:37:02 -0700

Time are tough. Enough said. One of the worst things you can do is "shop your deal". What I mean by this is sending your transaction (currency exchange, project development) to a) multiple funders; or b) multiple brokers. The most dangerous is sending it to multiple brokers. Or worse yet, a broker(s) accepted your project but doesn't have a funding source.

First, this is unethical on the broker's behalf, secondly the obvious will happen: He will send your project to every funding source and broker on the planet in hopes that someone will fund your deal. The best way to prevent this is to qualify your broker by asking if he already has a funding source that would accept your project. If he doesn't, don't give him your file. If he does, he should be able to explain the relative terms of the financing immediately or within 24 hours after contacting is funding source.

Why shopping hurts you: it's a small world in the universe of performing funders and brokers. We all know each other. There are some files that I see submitted to our company by 5 or 6 different brokers...funders simply turn down files they see more than once because they assume there's something wrong with the file,they turned it down previously, or they'll pick up the phone and call their other colleagues and ask them why they turned it down.

Why? Probably because the original broker was a rookie and just sent in a bunch of files that made no sense. WCF has our own in-house underwriter and we MAKE FILES WORK. Yes, files that have been turned down. They were good files, just not submitted properly. So we have go back to the funder after hearing, "we saw this file and turned it down" and explain why the deal will work.

Currency exchange deals won't tolerate ANY shopping. If they see the same deal twice, it is immediately declined and the client is blacklisted.

Solution: qualify your broker and make sure he is direct to a performing source or a broker that is. Often, that is WCF.
To learn more about our company feel free to watch this one minute video: ABOUT WCF

Understanding the difference between PRIVATE funding and INSTITUTIONAL funding....

Walker Commercial Funding — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 13:35:00 -0700

Banking as we once knew it is gone for a very long time. In fact, very few institutional banks funded large commercial projects in 2008. I have substantial visibility into the market and the only institutional activity I saw was banks calling their notes due immediately. Banks were forced to do this because of their own liquidity issues and many developers were left with no funds and the project(s) came to a screeching halt.

"Joe Developer" then knocked on every bank's door only to find the same answer: "sorry, we are not lending right now."

Since the death of institutional banking, the developers have gone to the private equity world to get their projects funded. My company has always worked exclusively in the private equity side of funding and have had to introduce many of these seasoned developers to the private funding world. Fortunately, this world is actually more simple and efficient than the traditional, institutional banking model. There are, however, some differences that anyone seeking private financing for the first time needs to be made aware of.

1. Your private funder usually has his own idiosyncrasies. For example, a funder may only be interested in hospitality projects in Costa Rica, Mexico and Panama. That's just his funding footprint. He knows the area and is comfortable lending there.

2. There are no referrals in the private money world. Period. Your local bank advertises their closings. Private money never discloses their transactions or their clients. Your private funder will have you sign an NCND, which means you cannot even reveal who funded your project. This protects the funder. He does not want to be vetted, interviewed or interrogated. He usually has a "gate keeper" or "master broker" that will qualify you. Once you fit his funding footprint, he will want to meet you face to face. At this point, the funder will give you every comfort level you will need to assure you of his abilities to fund your project.

3. Private money moves fast. If you, as a developer, have all of your business in order, you can fund in as little as a week.

4. Private money has no rules. Every funder has their own terms and will structure a loan in the most "make sense" way for your project. It's best to hear what is offered than tell him what you will accept. As the old addage goes, "the tail will not wag the dog".

Walker Commercial Funding works exclusively with private funders. For more information, visit our website and find one our professionals nearest you....or call me, Brian Walker at 281-852-8298

The truth about appraisers and their role in your commercial transaction

Walker Commercial Funding — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:21:21 -0700

2) If you want to shop yourself, make sure the appraiser is MAI certified. The acronym stands for Member of the Appraisal Institute. It's no simple achievement to get this accreditation. MAI appraisers must meet the following criteria for accreditation:

Receive a passing grade on 11 examinations that reflect 380 hours of classroom instruction and that test the appraiser's knowledge of basic and advanced appraisal principles, procedures and applications; report writing; valuation analysis and standards of professional practice
Receive a passing grade on a four-module, two-day comprehensive examination
Hold an undergraduate degree from a four-year accredited educational institution
Experience: Receive credit for 4,500 hours of experience, all of which must meet strict criteria

4) Try to find someone that is familiar with your area and project type. This enables them to do them faster and at a lower price.

While this is not the appropriate place to give recommendations, feel free to contact me at my office and I'll gladly steer you in the right direction

Do You Have.....Solar, Wind or Low Income Housing Tax Credits?

Walker Commercial Funding — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:54:14 -0700

If you do, we need to talk. There's a very high probability of Walker Commercial Funding being able to fund your project if you do. Please call Brian Walker at 281-852-8298 or email me brian@walkercf.com.

What is a correspondent lender?

Walker Commercial Funding — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:36:45 -0700

Many people ask me, is Walker Commercial Funding a direct lender or a broker? That's a tricky question...in most situations, Walker Commercial Funding is a "correspondent lender." So, what does that mean? That means we don't actually lend the money, but we do a lot more than a broker. A broker merely submits the file.

A correspondent lender does all of the activity a lender would do with exception of a) providing the funds to close and b) issuing the final approval.

At Walker Commercial Funding, we completely underwrite the file to the funder's specifications and deliver what appears to be a closed loan. The only thing we are lacking is the final approval that the loan fits within their "funding footprint" and the funds wired....Essentially, we make the funder's job very easy. We deliver files that are in their strike zone that are completely underwritten and ready to close. We even do the site visits.

That is what a correspondent lender is and does.

Hope this helps you all out there in Active Rainland!

Thanks,

Brian Walker

Walker Commercial Funding

www.walkercommercialfunding.com

Great News for International Projects! Walker Commercial Funding is Funding in Mexico!

Walker Commercial Funding — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:27:34 -0700

Hey Folks, the ice has finally thawed for funding Mexican projects. I'm very pleased to announce that we will be closing 3 three mexican transactions (one land and two resort projects) on Monday and Tuesday of this week. No, these are not miracle closings. They are just "make sense" deals that should have been funded a year ago when the market just completely locked up.

The good news, however is that funding is happening again..at low LTVs. These projects all have 65% LTC or less, but we can now honestly say that the international funding windows are now open again!

Walker Commercial Funding can be reached at 281-852-9422. We consists of 20 seasoned commercial professionals, speak 8 languages, live on 4 continents and have our own in-house underwiting department.

REFI for properties worth 10M or more and 5M in equity. No Credit Check

Walker Commercial Funding — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:12:18 -0700

No Credit Check

No DSCR (it doesn't have to cash flow)

5% interest rate fixed for 3 years

3 Year balloon and no payments for three years.

Call Brian at 281-852-8298 for more info.

wwww.walkercf.com

Walker Commercial Funding funds projects world-wide. But this program is presently restricted to the US. Brian Walker with Walker Commercial Funding can be reached at brian@walkercf.com

New Commercial Refi Program for Properties over 10M with at least 5M in Equity

Walker Commercial Funding — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:28:39 -0700

COMMERICAL LOAN OFFER

WE ARE PRESENTING LOANS TO AVAIL AN ALTERNATIVE MEANS TO THE REFINANCE OF COMMERCIAL PROPERTY IN THE USA

The Commercial Lender / Operator that we introduce will refinance your Commercial Property in the United States (mainland) using the following formula;

50% of the Appraised Value

- any/all Debts against the Property

= Equity

X Multiple of up to 10

Wherein, if the Appraised Value of the Property is USD $ 20 Million and fifty percent (50%) of that Value is USD $ 10 Million and assuming there is an unpaid Mortgage on said Property of USD $ 4 Million, then the Equity balance via this formula would be

USD $ 6 Million.

The Lender / Operator will afford a loan of up to ten (10) times the Equity, so assuming upon evaluation, a 5 X multiple is requested and/or accepted then the loan of

USD $ 30 Million (20M x 50% - 4M = 6M x 5 = 30M).

The LOANS are presented as

»5% Interest – Fixed

»3 Year Balloon

»NO Payments for the 3 Years (optional)

»NO Personal guarantees

The MINIMUM Equity against which this type of Loan is offered is USD $ 5 Million.

TO APPLY –

One (1) Page Loan Application (Simple Form Letter. NO form 1003)

Copy of Title Policy

Copy of Current Appraisal

NO credit review, NO personal guarantee, NO lengthy mortgage application.

Please review and advise if you should have any questions or comments.

We look forward to assisting you.

Interest rate is 5% fixed.

· No Raw Land

· US Only

· Must be Brick and Sticks….

· NO DSCR

Walker Commercial Funding www.walkercf.com brian@walkercf.com 281-852-8298

The Truth About 100% Financing in Today's Market

Walker Commercial Funding — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:27:35 -0700

Here's the reality about getting 100% financing for commercial projects in 2009. At Walker Commercial Funding, we always tell the truth. The good truth or the bad truth, but it is the truth. So, with that being said, here is the truth about the 100% financing that is currently available:

1. You could get a joint venture partner, but you must have a very attractive project. Please read this article for a more clear definition of what is available in the JV world and what JV/Venture capital is requiring to take on your project. Read This Article

2. You can nearly gaurantee your success by going through a structured finance program. We are master brokers to a firm that specializes in this type of transaction. It is nothing new and the probablity of success is very high if your project is accepted. The firm we work with is both an international law firm and a licensed financial institution. They require a $100,000 retainer and the process takes 12 months to fund. Their competitors charge an excess of $500,000 and don't even provide the collateral to complete the transaction.

3. The other option involves working with our asset managers that will fund your project at 100% LTC, but they will require that you deposit a substantial amount of collateral with them. The benefit to this program is your collateral will generate handsome returns while you get your project financed at 100% LTC.

Rules of the Road for Land Financing in 2009

Walker Commercial Funding — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 22:41:29 -0700

For the last two years, I have seen flyers and rate sheets cross my desk that had a funder's matrix of loans and rates. At the bottom of the sheet in large, bold, red letters I would read, "No Raw Land Submissions." This simply meant that funders were not funding land transactions under any circumstances. No cash-out refinances, no purchases....they just had no appetite for land transactions. Fortunately, we have seen a change in the recent weeks and funders have opened their doors again to funding land transactions.

Funding them is good news. The terms, however, are very narrow and specific. In efforts to manage everyone's expectations, I will give you a broad view of what types of transactions are within our funder's proverbial "strike zone." For US and International properties, the maximum loan-to-value is 65%, which means you would need to put 35% down on a purchase. Additionally, the funder wants to see a business plan showing that you have intentions of improving the property and developing it immediately. The logic behind this is that raw land doesn't generate enough revenue to service the debt payment. Knowing this, the funder is going to allow deferred payments for up to two years.

By deferring payments, they simply bump the loan amount by 24 months of payments, put it into an escrow account and payments are made for you. Yes, you borrowed the money for the payments, but it would be impossible to make payments on land that isn't producing any revenue for you. What happens most often is the funder also lends you enough money to put the infrastructure of your development in, which will increase the value the property by a factor of 30-50%.

Once the developer has the infrastructure in place, he can the go get a construction loan and pay off the land. The good news is lenders are lending again on land. You just need to be prepared to have a strong business plan and begin your project immediately.

Project funding for projects in Algeria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia

Walker Commercial Funding — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:27:24 -0700

Hey folks! Traditionally, these geographic locations haven't exactly been funding hotspots, but we now have access to private investors that have interest in funding these locations exclusively...they prefer manufacturing type projects or something more toward the industrial side...if you have any of these projects, please feel free to contact me at brian@walkercf.com or 281-852-8298.

Thanks,

Brian