Top Exec Blog (Web Log)

People ask all the time about construction loans, known in the trade as A&D or Acquisition & Development Loans. Here are a few words of advice on the topic.

1) Land Acquisition Loans - these are becoming harder to do, as many investors (lenders) have a lot of land in their portfolios and their concern on new land acquisition loans is that "dirt doesn't pay rent." What does it take to qualify for this kind of loan? A very strong exit strategy: how are you going service (repay) the loan and how long will it be till you put the land to productive use (entitle, subdivide, build, lease or sell)?

2) Development Loans - even in this solid US economy, many investors are turning down residential and commercial construction project loans. It seems in this writer's opinion, an overreaction to the "softening" of the market, but the key is a solid plan for a) what your going to build, b) who's going to build it, c) how much time you'll need the funding, d) what your "draw schedule" is for the funding and e) what your exit plan is to repay the loan.

Often times, as you may know, making the loan request as one (Land Acquisition) or the other (Development/Construction) generates its own set of issues. For example: need construction funding, but you don't own the land? That creates an issue associated with getting the land AND the entitlements. On the other hand, if you or your client own the land, then lining up the construction funding depends on the skill and experience of the builder, as well as the proposed ROI for the investor, to justify the request for funds, with a quality plan to sell and market the project's resulting structure(s) to repay the lender in a timely fashion.

Short of cash for the A or the D in this transaction? There are multiple ways to get around this, including mezzanine funding, equity-based funding and other structures of the loan that make sense for builders and developers who have a sound idea, a good project, but need enough funds to make it happen. That's where a mortgage professional comes in, focused exclusively on commercial property loans and projects of all kinds, including here in the USA and off-shore. By working with you to structure the loan request the result is a successful funding that is win/win for all concerned.


Have a winning day!

© Daniel A. Cabrera/Top Exec Funding, LLC, 2007. All rights reserved.

Whether you think so, or not, everyone is involved in "selling" something. That can be the classic, "outside sales person" selling to the public (B2C) or to businesses (B2B) or the internal auditor, "selling" an opinion on financial reporting to the CFO. Everyone, in some way, is involved in selling, persuading, negotiating or otherwise moving products, services or information forward to success in today's economy.

In this regard, you may see the comments in this blog changing over the coming months, as I bring new thoughts and ideas to bear on what I call the "Career Path Express", a series of ideas and comments on how people connect in today's economy. It's not just websites and job board postings, it's blogs (like this one) and MySpace and YouTube and personal networking and so much more. Each represents one of the many facets of career search and business connections to match talent with opportunity, job opening with human resource, skill sets with professional possibilities.

Want to learn a bit more? Take a look at this:

And stay tuned to Top Exec Blog, for more on this challenging, yet exciting facet of today's economy.

© Daniel A. Cabrera/Top Exec Funding, LLC, 2007. All rights reserved.