Sharing our financing knowledge (and much more)
By Steve Mariani
If you’ve had the opportunity to attend any of my broker workshops over the last few years or even had the chance to speak with us over the phone then you should know that we are always looking for ways to help more transactions happen. Whether we are included in the financing aspect or not, our goal is always to facilitate the deal. These days it seems more and more lender issues are popping up and we would like to explore a few reasons for this and how you can address any lender concerns along the way.
Since the financial crash of 2009 / 2010 our financing world has changed. The lenders have all changed, the faces have all changed, and so has much of the lending criteria. Is the list of lenders you had before the crash still valid, probably not. Have you done everything you can to update your lender list, again, probably not. We are here to help. If you are submitting loans to direct lenders than you probably operate under the hit and miss scenario with the 3 or 4 lenders you speak to on a regular basis. You’ve also probably crossed off a few that said they could perform and promised approvals but could not. If you’re like most broker offices than you submit your loans to the local lenders stopping by your office or blast it out to a few waiting for a positive response from one of them. We, at Diamond Financial want to help you locate the right lender for your transaction and save you and your seller a lot of time and frustration.
Why would we share our lenders?
It’s simple really. By assisting you with your transaction (no matter what lender you have it with) we help everyone. That’s why we do almost everything we do. We are happy to share, it’s important to us and if the industry as a whole does well, so do we. It’s really that easy to understand. We receive at least 2 calls month that begin with “This lender is now asking for something we told them was not available, what do we do now”? and we happily assist by providing the best advice we can. Our goal is ALWAYS to allow that loan to close where it is and never change lenders that far down the line unless it’s imperative to the closing.
We only work for brokers
By financing acquisition transactions for over 20 years and all around the country we’ve learned a thing or two about the true value of lenders, our survival depends on it. We know the underwriting guidelines, territories they operate in, goodwill levels and everything needed to secure approvals and get to the closing table. Every lender is different and their rules change all the time.
Why this is important to you?
To be perfectly honest, we know it’s about the small fees that some lenders offer (otherwise why would anyone consider a direct lender?) and if that is important to you, then it’s important us. We’ll help you. We want and need your loans to close and support the lenders and industry so we all win. Since we’re being honest here we will also let you know what we’ve experienced ourselves by assisting brokers over the years. If we help with enough of your transactions with our expertise you will better understand exactly how much time, frustration and energy you waste on this piece of your deal and eventually realize that we can always secure more approvals than you can. Broker fees increase and so does your overall production but do not trust me on this, please use us as many times as possible to see. With over 20 years of directly SBA loan production we have become the SBA SOP experts and only work with the absolute most aggressive lenders in the country.
So who were our top 5 lenders in 2015?
Here they are in order of loan volume. Just a few things to keep in mind when dealing with any direct SBA lender. First is the level of expertise of your DBO or lender contact and know that this does greatly affect your loan request and approval chances. Second, anything you say or provide to a directly lender is now written in stone and cannot be un said or removed from your request. Third, if that lender does request a SBA loan number then your loan request cannot be considered by any other lender for 6 months should you find the need to move the request.
#5 Capital Springs
#4 Civis Capital
#3 Colorado National Bank
#2 Bank United
And our number #1 of 2015 was Yadkin Bank
We hope you can understand that we cannot provide our contact at each of these lenders as they are very high volume producers and would not be open to direct contact. Our account typically produces between 20 and 30 million dollars to each of our top performing lending institutions which provides us the luxury of having specific underwriters and closing teams.
We hope this helps and please don’t hesitate to call or email us with any questions you might have at any time on any transactions, whether we are included or not. Your transaction matters to us.
Tech support for all your SBA and structuring questions.
(Whether it’s our loan or not)