Creating a profitable commercial lender in this market
This is a conceptual idea on how to create a profitable commercial lender while protecting all parties involved. There are four separate groups that would need to be aligned to make this work but if you were able to put all four together it would create large revenues for each one. The four parties that need to be aligned are:
Commercial Lender- Take in the transactions from a retail perspective, validate transaction through due diligence, writes the loan and table fund it. Generates fee revenue at closing & YSP from the sale of the loan.
LC Provider- Would provide the credit lines to the Commercial Lender, generates profits from loaning out funds on short term basis
Insurance Company- Insure the loans AA or higher rated, generates profits from the premium collected
Loan Servicer- Services the loans and generates profits from YSP and interest collected
Here is a more detailed description of the process:
The objective to both the LC lender, and the mortgage company is to create a profitable business relationship. The LC lender can make secured credit (or lines) available to the mortgage lender thereby enabling the funding of approved high return mortgages that have been underwritten according to stringent guidelines including "double-value-collateral." The mortgage company will be able to generate substantial origination and resale income plus profitable spread on each mortgage enabled by the LC line and pass along the agreed upon share of those profits to the LC Lender.
Servicing the Note: All loans made against the LOC will be structured as a 12-24 month balloon note. The first 12 months of interest are withheld from the loan at rates between 15%-18% and are held in the mortgage company's account to service the loan until it is sold. The monthly interest that the mortgage company escrows will be equivalent to the entire term of the note at the cost of carry.
To make the LC lender secure, it must have four items pledged and/or managed for it:
1. A marketable first lien mortgage in which it can obtain unrestricted title.
2. The mortgage to be either
A) Pre-sold to a permanent mortgage investor limiting the time exposure and transferring any risk from the Mortgage Lender (and by function, the LC Lender.)
B) Portfolio positioned during a brief period of CONTRACTED and BONDED collateral enhancement and/or loan pre-refunding. Collateral enhancement means improvements to the property that significantly increases the market value of the first lien mortgage. Loan pre-refunding which means cash moving into escrow securing the first lien mortgage due to Bond or Bond Anticipation Note issuance thereby DRAMATICALLY increasing the market value of the first lien mortgage.
3. Complete control of the funds via Title Escrow on the sale to the permanent investor on pre-sale transactions (A above;) or strict Loan To Value funding adherence on land collateral and bonded developmental improvements on portfolio positioned transactions (B above.)
4. Escrows of Interest due the Mortgage Lender on each loan made enabling sure funds for the servicing of the LC/Monthly Note.
Please Note: The loans are approved prior to funding and specific closing instructions are given to the title companies instructing them to close the loan only when the mortgage is a first lien with a good and marketable title.
Pre-sold loans- Loans that the mortgage company has identified and secured a buyer for prior to funding.
1. The key is to identify current issues in commercial paper market
a. Shortage of buyers of loans
b. Most lenders do not portfolio
The mortgage company's solution is to insure commercial paper to create high yield guaranteed paper. AA or higher insurance rating opens up an entire new group of buyers eliminating liquidity issues that exist in current commercial market. The mortgage company will now be selling insured paper with added value feature of first lien position and the mortgage company should yield a higher premium for the additional benefit.
2. Due to the buyer being identified prior to funding the loan and due to the price being set, the mortgage company maximizes revenue on the transaction and draw down time would be kept to a maximum of 72 hours.
3. Insured paper brings stronger buyers to the table that are very liquid and have infrastructure in place to service the loans-therefore providing a quick close. Current commercial buyers utilize short term notes where insured paper buyers purchase longer term debt thus creating a better range of products to offer borrowers and structure higher IRR for the mortgage company.
4. Insurance policy covers investors' loss in the event that the loan defaults and redeeming the foreclosure does not satisfy payoff. Insurance policy is leveraged to cover difference to provide full payment to investor. Premium cost is passed through to borrower as a closing cost, thereby not diluting the mortgage company's profit margins.
Portfolio Loans- Loans for development purposes that are Municipalities or Municipal Issuers and can issue tax-exempt debt. The mortgage company is only putting loans in our portfolio where the Borrower controls both sides of transaction such as an improvement district: Borrower owns the collateral and controls municipal debt. This occurs when municipal issuer benefits greatly by the development of its infrastructure within its boundaries. A Development loan backed by a large amount of cash subsequently place in escrow from a follow-up municipal financing trades at a high premium due to cash.
1. This unique scenario creates an opportunity to mimic a bond pre-refunding type of transaction. A development project that has amassed a large amount of cash and has municipal debt outstanding trades at a high premium due to cash reserves backing the bonds. The mortgage company will structure the development loan so as to benefit as the bond re-imbursement proceeds flow in; this enhances the creditworthiness of the loan increasing market value.
a. The mortgage company Portfolio Loans are cherry picked and only the best of the best will be put in the portfolio limiting these transactions to between one & two loans per annum.
2. The loan is saleable at any time. We are purposely holding the loan to allow the Note value to continue to increase from development of project and to escrow bond proceeds. At which time, the Note can be a sold at a premium, much higher than the cost associated with holding the loan in portfolio.
3. MAC Clause (Material Adverse Change) Clause. This feature will be included in the loan design and documentation. It assures that if the LOC is revoked, the security instrument is subject to call and the mortgage company will have the ability to escalate nominal interest rate in order to get loan sold. This will also shorten the term because the new rate will deplete interest rate reserve quickly. The MAC clause can be removed at time loan is sold at buyers' option but it is an enhanced safety feature for end investor & LOC provider.
For more information log onto http://londonfi.com for more information
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