Posted by Tony Colella on December 17, 2004 at 13:33:45:
Hey Jess, glad you liked the book.
I have not found that banks are backing away from Doublewides with land, so long as they meet the banks requirements…title retired and permanent foundation set up.
If you are finding the national banks are backing away, then I suggest you work the smaller, local banks. Most buy side deals are done through small, local (or more flexible) lenders in our business. We do refi with larger banks after seasoning the loan for 12 months or more.
Banking is an interesting game. It is a separate niche within our investment business. Learning to work with bankers can be frustrating at first until you get a good relationship established.
As the book discusses, establishing that relationship is a matter of finding out what it takes to present a deal that the bank cannot say “no” to.
Initially you will get frustrated and even angry at the bank’s refusals. But take the time to ask in depth questions as to why the bank is not interested in this deal.
Remember, financing does not hinge upon the property alone. How you present your financials, combined with the merits of the deal is how we get the loan. Keep tweaking your presentation after each “no” until you get a “yes.”
Once you get a “yes,” then you have a contact you can work with. Sometimes the hardest part in working with bankers is getting passed the lower level loan officers sitting in the front office. We need to work our way to the decision makers. Sometimes this means starting with a front office person, other times a mid level person. But if you do a few deals that they can work with, you can begin to work your way to the higher level bank officials. Life gets much easier at that level.
Try and locate their commercial lender and start there. Most times (but not always) these loan officers understand business loans vs. residential loans and can make acceptions that otherwise had you receiving rejections.
If you truly have a deal, the key is not to take “no” for an answer. Keep walking from bank to bank, lender to lender until you get the deal done. Trust me, I hated this too but it worked and the best contact I made was on a day that I though for sure I would go postal.
Hang in there.
Tony