MIC advantages are stability, arsenal of lending tools

Mortgage investment corporations remain the go-to lender for brokers that they can depend on, instead of mercurial private lenders

Private lenders do have value, but mortgage investment corporations remain the go-to lender for brokers that they can depend on, says one industry insider.

“It allows a broker to know where they can take a deal easily without having to shop it all over the place,” says Gay Andrews, executive vice president, COO, Caplink Financial Corporation, Camrock Capital. “A MIC offers constancy of market area, LTV'S, terms, rates‎. In addition, more than your typical private investor, professional MIC managers are skilled a structuring mortgage financings and, as such, can and do assist mortgage brokers with putting together ‎comped mortgage financings.”

The rise of MICs in the lending space has happened in part due to the ability to make deals happen, Andrews told MBN, making life easier for brokers who previously had to shop deals to several private lenders.

“Private investors are cyclical and while yesterday you had one who would lend $200,000 on the property, today they may not,” says Andrews. “A MIC offers constancy of market area, LTVs, terms, and rates‎. In addition, more than your typical private investor, professional MIC managers are skilled a structuring mortgage financings and, as such, can and do assist mortgage brokers with putting together ‎comped mortgage financings.”

The lending tools MIC managers have available to them are more than what is available to a typical private investor, says Andrews, tools that include complex deal structuring, mortgage syndication with other private investors and/or other MICs, more flexible mortgage advance schedules, and the ability to meet the growing needs of repeat commercial borrowers.

“The scale and dexterity of the average MIC allows managers to be much more creative in solving lending problems,” she says. “That creativity can be a real asset to any mortgage broker trying to facilitate their client's lending needs.”