Welcome To Your MONEY PATCH
By Tim Houghten
Money might not grow on trees, but funding portal Patch of Land may have invented the closest thing to it…
Whether looking to grow your real estate investments with access to attractive capital, or boost your yields with passive income investments, this is one patch of the web worth checking out. Named one of Entrepreneur magazine’s ‘100 brilliant companies of 2015’, Patch of Land brings a unique twist to real estate lending and crowdfunding, and the proof is in the performance.
PIONEERING WIN-WINS
While peer-to-peer lending, and crowdfunding has been catching plenty of media attention, it hasn’t always been a walk in the park for fundraisers and funders. Until now the two main challenges have been the amount of work required for project promoters, without any guarantee of funding. And then a lack of track record, and organization base investment decisions on for those looking to put their capital to work. Recently, Patch of Land co-founder and CEO Jason Fritton provided a new perspective on how Patch has created a new model of peer to real estate lending. There are two things which really separate this platform from everything else on the landscape:
1. Patch offers ‘Pre-funding’, gives you your loan, and then raises funds from the crowd
2. Patch works together with institutional lenders instead of trying to replace them
This creates a true hybrid where “real estate, finance, and technology, converge.”
The startup that Fritton describes as a “tech and efficiency company” shares some threads with other peer-to-peer, online mortgage lending, and crowdfunding sites. These are that real estate fundraisers bring their projects, which are ultimately financed by the crowd. It is the execution that stands out.
Fritton highlights that his company is the “first in market to directly secure fractional investors in real estate loans.” That means Patch of Land underwrites, and gives real estate investors and professionals the funding under the supervision of SVP of Underwriting & Acquisitions Douglas Cochrane. Then Patch of Land opens up the opportunity to a range of individual accredited investors and institutional lenders.
Now operating in 25 states, and with over $600M per month in funding requests the company is able to offer retail investors, hedge funds, regional and “community banks the yields they really want, along with efficiency in origination.” In fact, Jason explains that this enables these capital sources the freedom to participate in deals they could not do directly, while permitting more common sense underwriting of deals. Operating under SEC Rule 506(c) of Regulation D, this connector empowers those with projects to raise money cost-effectively without all the marketing and substantial filing expenses of going it alone. All while delivering the due diligence investors need and crave. As of September 25 th , 2015 Patch of Land had a solid track record of performance, with no principal or interest losses.
THE SECRET SAUCE
Fritton explains that a great deal of the success has come from “the privilege to hire experts in all areas,” to grow the California based Patch of Land team. The founding and executive team now spans a wealth of technology expertise, lending professionals with billions in transactions under their belt, along with an entrepreneurial marketing team with experience in organizations like Disney. Silicon Valley appears very bullish on investing in ‘The Patch’ too, with a successful, oversubscribed Series A round of funding topping $23M, achieved in early 2015.
So far Patch of Land has perhaps been most well-known for funding single family deals, but Jason tells us they have recently funded a Ramada flagged hotel, office, and retail buildings, and are testing moving into new construction financing.
Whether you’ve got deals that need funding, or capital that deserves higher yields, Fritton says “give us a try, and come grow with us!
More details, statistics on past performance, and online tools can be found at PatchofLand.com.
