Dallas Hartness
Sunset Equity Intern
Tackling the Challenges of a Competitive Lending Environment
With a stock of over $32 trillion, America’s housing stock is the largest asset class in the world, which inevitably creates quite a lot of competition in the industry. As investing in real estate becomes more competitive, investors are having to look for alternative solutions. Using private lending or hard money lending is now one of the best options of funding for investors, especially when investors are looking to purchase property that does not qualify as a conventional loan.
Hard money lending can also be beneficial for investors when they need quick funding for a project that they can quickly resell for a profitable margin. As hard money lending becomes more common, lenders are becoming much more competitive in their lending strategies. These changes in the lending industry are coming in the forms of technology, interest rates, and what lenders are doing to their underwriting standards to attract borrowers and investors.
Technology
Almost every industry is changed by technological innovation, and the lending industry is no different. Technology in the private lending market is a must if you wish to stay competitive in the lending industry. Technology allows lenders to create a much more seamless experience throughout the entire lending process, from origination to servicing. Marketing is also without doubt a huge aspect in staying competitive and technology gives lending firms the ability to market through social media platforms and prove that they have a customer service mindset.
Automated valuation models allow borrowers to quickly input all the necessary data that is needed to analyze whether the lender can lend to them or not. And of course, you can’t mention technology in real estate without mentioning big data and analytics. Data sources provide lenders with necessary information when determining their loan analysis; and websites like Zillow and Redfin can give accurate property valuations used to determine underwriting guidelines and adjustments, based on location of the property.
Interest Rate Skepticism
Unlike a conventional loan, hard money lenders take on more risk. Due to the higher amount of risk, interest rates will be much higher than a conventional loan. The interest rates will also differ depending on the lender and the location of the property. Hard money competition in California is very high, which reduces interest rates. Competitiveness in the lending industry can also influence the amount of points a firm may charge on their loan. Some lenders may decrease the points they charge on their loans in order to stay competitive within the market.
Interest rates impact the real estate markets because as interest rates increase, the cost of borrowing money increases. Rising interest rates combined with a shortage of inventory in the housing market both contribute to the difficulty for anyone looking to buy a home. As an investor, it’s not necessarily a bad thing because families still need a place to live, so they will turn to renting instead. As renting becomes the new trend due to higher interest rates, there is an incentive for developers to invest into multifamily and rental problems. This is another reason why hard money loans are advantageous for investors, to develop projects for this kind of living.
Easing of Underwriting Standards
Asset-based lending allows firms to be more flexible with their underwriting guidelines. For example, private lenders can give a more favorable loan-to-value (LTV) ratio if the borrow is experienced in renovation projects or how much rehab is involved in relation to the “as is” value of the property. When determining underwriting guidelines, hard money lenders put more emphasis on the asset itself when evaluating the risk assessment.
Lending involves risk, but if there are sound underwriting insulates, those risks are decreased. However, as real estate competitive pressures continue to grow, lenders are loosening their underwriting standards. They are doing so by requiring less of a down payment or giving a greater LTV amount, allowing funding with lower credit scores, and requiring less documentation to support a sound exit strategy; all of course at a much greater risk that a competitive lending industry has created.
Sources
Gudell, Svenja. “Total Value of All U.S. Homes: $31.8 Trillion.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 3 Jan. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/zillow/2018/01/03/total-value-of-all-u-s-homes-31-8-trillion/#1a5517833ca8.
Jones, Weston A. “What You Should Know About ‘Hard Money’ Lending.” Scotsman Guide, Scotsman Guide, www.scotsmanguide.com/Commercial/Articles/2004/05/What-You-Should-Know-About–Hard-Money–Lending/.
Montagne, Bobby. “How The Rise Of Private Lending Is Reshaping The Mortgage Market.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 5 Dec. 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/forbesrealestatecouncil/2017/12/05/how-the-rise-of-private-lending-is-reshaping-the-mortgage-market/#9a19cb952ae4
Benjamin Donel, CEO