Like so many other loan programs real estate finance professionals relied on in the recent past (notably sub-prime and alt-a), “stated” income commercial real estate loans were a casualty of the 2008 mortgage meltdown. Soon afterward, mortgage brokers who had previously embraced them for their fast-and-easy closings wouldn’t even utter the term “stated,” it had become so taboo.

Brokers and lenders often look ahead at the beginning of the year and set new objectives. With spring just around the corner, it is the perfect time to review those objectives and perform some serious housecleaning. Before your New Years’ ambitions can succeed, you may need to sweep away some old habits that are holding you back.

SECC provided a $48,750 private business loan to a medical practice located in New York. The borrower needed funds fast to take advantage of a business opportunity and bank financing was out of the question. SECC had the funds in the borrower’s account in 6 days, and our referral partner earned a nice $2,000 referral fee for passing us the lead.

SECC provided a $50,000 private business loan to a healthcare company located in Illinois. The borrower needed funds quickly to consolidate debt and some higher interest rate daily ACH loans. SECC provided a quick monthly payment option loan priced at 18.49% and fixed for 3 years.

SECC funded an $81,000 rate and term refinance on a mobile home park located in North Carolina. The small loan size, property type and low town population were just a few of the reasons every lender other than SECC had passed on this loan request. For SECC it was just another opportunity to provide a good borrower a good loan.

A Washington State based healthcare company was in immediate need of capital to meet payroll obligations and couldn’t find a lender able to move quick enough to meets its needs. SECC was about to provide $115,000 in less than a week, on a fixed term loan and with zero out-of-pocket or closing costs to the borrower.

The borrowers were stuck in a high interest rate private money loan with regular demands coming from their current note holder for payoff when they came to SECC. Comfortable lending in the small loan space, SECC funded a 15 year fixed permanent loan at 11.5%, despite the borrowers 629 credit score and the property being in a town of only 4,700 people.

A seasoned property investor was finding it difficult to secure bridge financing to acquire a distressed single family residence in Cook County Illinois. Despite the borrower’s track record of rehab success, private lenders back away from this opportunity scared of the County’s declining property values. SECC provided a 70% non-recourse bridge loan at 9% interest only, and with no prepayment penalty.

Noah Grayson, managing director and founder of South End Capital Corp., wrote an excellent article for the Scotsman Guide about how the commercial real estate market is experiencing a rise in loan fraud as loan demand has started growing.

A successful Chicago based construction company hit a brick wall when looking for a revolving line of credit to finance one of its projects. SECC, not fearful of the construction industry and demonstrating its flexibility, provided a 12 month prime based revolving line of credit, with no advance cap.

With the economy improving and capital beginning to flow back into the commercial loan marketplace, unfortunately, incidences of  mortgage fraud are also rising — and at an alarming rate. Because there is no oversight organization designated to report such cases of fraud, it’s difficult to assign quantifiable statistics to the rate of occurrence in commercial lending.

Fear of the unknown is an entirely rational response. The conservative policy of “look before you leap” has always been one of the central tenets of financially responsible and stable lenders.