California mortgage lender Opes Advisors is using proprietary software technology to help clients think more holistically about how buying a home fits into their financial plans; the company originates approximately $3 billion in mortgage loans per year and has built technology software that advises clients on comprehensive financial planning; also offering wealth management, the company provides comprehensive advisory services that are unique in the mortgage lending market. Source
Increased home prices combined with available capital are supporting renewed interest in house flipping; the number of investors buying and selling a house within a few months has increased to the highest level since 2007; current investors are reporting an average profit of approximately $61,000; big banks are now more interested in financing real estate lending for house flipping deals and more online lending platforms are facilitating these investments; real estate crowdfunding companies seeing increased activity from house flipping customers include 5 Arch Funding, LendingHome Corp., Asset Avenue, Groundfloor Finance and Anchor Loans. Source
Online mortgage lending has helped to revive the market for mortgage loan securitizations; new online mortgage lenders are providing a new wave of mortgage loan securitizations for the market specifically with fix and flips; these loans are attractive to investors because of the high yields and offer investors shorter duration investments because of the fix and flip focus; despite defaults and structuring inefficiencies created from the 2008 financial crisis, institutional investors are placing confidence in these investments; LendingHome has been leading the market with steady issuance of fix and flip loan securitizations and the products have been performing successfully for investors indicating the niche investments could begin to scale more broadly. Source
LandlordInvest has launched the UK's first secured property P2P lending innovative finance individual savings account (IFISA); the firm offers 5% to 12% returns on its loans and investors can now invest tax free with the IFISA; platform investments include bridge loans and term loans for buy-to-rent landlords; most of the firm's loans are for amounts ranging from 30,000 British pounds ($37,895) to 750,000 British pounds ($947,363) with a payoff term of five years; process for offering the IFISA took less than two months with approval obtained by HM Revenue and Customs shortly after the firm's Financial Conduct Authority approval in December. Source
Polly, a company seeking to transform the mortgage industry with a data-driven capital markets ecosystem that provides value at every point in the process.
In December 2016 real estate P2P lender Wellesley began a fundraising campaign on Seedrs and also received a First Gazette notice for late accounts; a recent report from the Financial Times says the company is dependent on raising new capital in order to stay in business; its Seedrs campaign is targeting 1.5 million British pounds ($1.85 million) and has raised 195,000 British pounds ($240,280). Source
Los Angeles-based Patch of Land has expanded its executive leadership team to help manage and continue business growth and market positioning for the online real estate platform; the firm has hired Robert Greenberg as its chief marketing officer and Min Lee as its chief financial officer; over the past year the firm has been building a strong leadership team with a number of new hires including CEO Paul Deitch; the firm's founders, Jason and Brian Fritton, have substantial growth prospects for the firm and expect to continue building on the firm's compound annual growth rate of 290%. Source
Money360-affiliate M360 Advisors has registered with the South Korea Financial Supervisory Service; the registration allows institutional investors from South Korea to invest in the firm's real estate fund; the fund invests in secured US commercial real estate properties through bridge loans and offers global investors a high yield fixed income alternative; the fund has already received $65 million from a South Korean institutional investor and is planning for investment of $250 million in the first half of 2017; the fund is managed to provide international tax efficient investing along with high yield fixed income returns and has a number of other foreign investors including investors in China, Singapore, South Africa, Europe, Canada, the Netherlands and Kuwait. Source
P2PGI will be increasing its allocation to asset-backed loans in its investment trust; the firm will primarily focus on secured real estate loans however it will also be increasing its allocation to invoice credit lending and other secured lending investments; the increased focus on secured loans follows a previous announcement on targeting UK originated loans. Source