Smith dares to go where other lenders fear to tread.Richard Smith Richard Smith is the name of:
Given the sheer amount of capital providers these days and the ferocity with which they bid to supply loans for the acquisition or development of any halfway viable property, it's a wonder how any of them manage to turn a profit from the minuscule minuscule Lowercase letters in calligraphy, in contrast to majuscule, or uppercase letters. Unlike majuscules, minuscules are not fully contained between two real or hypothetical lines; their stems can go above or below the line. spreads that result from their intense competition. Fremont has focused instead on providing higher yielding bridge and construction loans, more complex deals that oftentimes carry a higher risk profile, but also allow the firm to separate itself from the pack and close loans where others can't using its creativity and extensive real estate know how. For the past three years, Richard Smith has been one of the lightning rods in the firm's success. Having closed more than $600 million in loans during 2005 and more than $1 billion since joining Fremont in 2003, Smith was just named the company's top producer for the second year in a row. Working out of the Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, based company's New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. office, Which just completed a record $1 billion in financing last year, Smith has been a model of how to arrange deals with that-hard-to-find balance the firm seeks between risk and reward. One such deal that Smith executed at the end of 2005, was a $105 million construction loan to real estate owner and developer, Metrovest Equities, to acquire the former Jersey city Medical Center and convert it into a residential condominium condominium In modern property law, individual ownership of one dwelling unit within a multidwelling building. Unit owners have undivided ownership interest in the land and those portions of the building shared in common. to be called The Beacon. Located in an area other lenders considered too far from transportation and too gritty to command pricing per condo unit sufficient enough to rein in to check the speed of, or cause to stop, by drawing the reins. to cause (a person) to slow down or cease some activity; - to rein in is used commonly of superiors in a chain of command, ordering a subordinate to moderate or cease some activity deemed excessive. See also: Rein Rein the deal's risk, Smith stepped in because he believed deeply in its viability. It was an instance in which Smith Seemed to transcend the sometimes black and white, number crunching Refers to computers running mathematical, scientific or CAD applications, which perform large amounts of calculations. See number cruncher. (application, jargon) number crunching confines of loan origination The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. to become in spirit something of an equity partner. "We have a lot of confidence in this developer, and I really believe this project is going to be a great development." Smith said. "Eventually it's going to have as many: as 1000-units and its own retail with things like supermarkets and amenities, it's going to be a self sufficient neighborhood unto its own." The $105 million loan for The Beacon finances only its opening phase of construction. All told it will be a 12-building compound to be built in staggered succession--meaning that it will continue to feed Smith's and Fremont's pipeline of deals for years to come. But always eager to grow his business even more, Smith said that he is aiming to diversify the types of loans he is involved with. Currently about 90% of the loans he handles are for construction projects, but Smith sees ample room to underwrite other bridge loans, Such as those required by real estate investors A real estate investor is someone who actively or passively invests in real estate. An active investor may buy a property, make repairs and/or improvements to the property, and sell it later for a profit. when they purchase a property in need of repositioning repositioning Laparoscopic surgery The changing of a Pt's position during a procedure to improve access or visualization of the operative field, which may be linked to complications, as it changes anatomic planes of operation. Cf Laparoscopic surgery. . "They buy a building that has tenants whose leases are going to roll over and they want to do some leasing and improve the cash flow," Smith said. "It's a loan to get them from point A to point B, when they have better cash flow they can refinance. Right now we're doing a $50 million loan like that for a building on Wall Street. These are the kinds of loans that I think we're going to be doing more of." |
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