REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT, MORTGAGE AND LENDING
Gantry | January 23, 2023
Gantry, the largest independent commercial mortgage banking firm in the United States, recently informed that it produced $4.93 billion in commercial mortgages in 2022.
Meanwhile, even in 2021, Gantry had produced about $5.15 billion despite economic instability. It has broken records in the last three decades, completing the second-best production of commercial mortgage banking operations.
Jeff Wilcox, Principal of Gantry, said, "Last year was a tale of two halves, where after record setting Q1 and Q2 production totals, the market slowed for price discovery during the second half of the year. Despite the challenges, we have an experienced team that has successfully navigated cycle shifts in the past and operates proactively from that perspective."
(Source - Business Wire)
With $17.5 billion in national-level business in 2022, Gantry has no failed or missed transactions in asset types. This performance led to active interactions with clients as the originator and service provider, an actual rating at the time of placement, and a consultative role in choosing the best financial plan for the client's unique investment objectives. In addition, it examines every investment keenly for variations in performance, maturities, and tenant rollover at the annual assessments.
In 2022, Gantry provided 476 loans, including every type of commercial asset class. Around 85% of Gantry's 2022 production was financed by life insurers, regional banks, and credit unions, with each type of lender performing better for various borrowers. In terms of asset classes, Gantry continues to secure office, retail, and lender-preferred industrial and multifamily loan deals. In addition, Gantry successfully funded specialty assets, such as healthcare and self-storage, through various correspondent or associate lenders.
About Gantry
Gantry, a San Francisco-based private mortgage bank, has many correspondent lenders that use its production, closing, and servicing services. The company, founded in 1991, has approximately 100 employees in regional offices in the western US and New York and over 45 production teams that generated nearly $5 billion in the past year. The $17.5 billion nationwide servicing platform covers over 2,000 loans in 43 states. It is one of the few non-banking, non-insurance chartered companies with a Primary Servicer rating from Standard & Poor's.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY
Blueground and Tabas | November 18, 2022
Blueground, a PropTech scaleup offering a turnkey, flexible housing solution for renters globally, announces today it entered into agreement to acquire Brazilian PropTech startup, Tabas. Marking the first acquisition in Blueground’s nearly 10-year history, the company will soon acquire Tabas after leading Tabas’ $14 million Series A funding round earlier this year. Tabas is the largest operator of designer-quality furnished apartments for 30 days or more in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Brazilia. The acquisition, which is expected to close in early Q1 2023, enables Blueground to enter the Latin American market, and fuel the increased demand for furnished, flexible rentals in the region. Together Blueground and Tabas will launch Mexico City in early 2023.
During the period between now and close, the two companies will continue to operate independently and will gradually integrate over the next year. The combined organization will have a presence in 29 cities across 16 countries, employing over 1,000 people. Based on current financial projections, the joint entity is projected to generate ~650M in 2023.
Blueground is the largest turnkey property rental company in the 30+ day sector. It has a network of 9,500 move-in-ready, expertly-designed homes enabling people to flexibly live wherever they choose. The company was co-founded by CEO Alex Chatzieleftheriou in 2013, who, after many years as a business consultant, had experienced first-hand the pain points of living out of hotels for work for months at a time. He aspired to create a seamless way for people to freely move between neighborhoods, cities, and countries around the world.
Blueground currently works with over 4,700 landlords globally, guaranteeing them rental income while providing expert property management and maintenance services at scale. The acquisition of Tabas will allow Blueground to grow its network faster, supporting its goals of 40,000 apartments across 50 cities by 2025, and add more location options for its client base.
“We’ve had our sights set on Latin America for quite some time, as we see huge market potential for furnished and flexible rentals, Since our first investment in Tabas last year, we’ve developed immense respect for the Tabas team and what they’ve built in Brazil. With our best-in-class technology and our expertise in scaling the business, we'll continue to expand and offer the option for a flexible lifestyle in more markets globally.”
-Alex Chatzieleftheriou, CEO and Co-founder, Blueground
Founded in May 2020, Tabas was born out of the founders’ frustration with the lack of flexible, fully furnished rentals for mid- to long-term stays. Tabas now has over 1,000 apartments in three cities in Brazil - São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Brazilia, raising over $20 million in funding prior to the acquisition. As the first project post-acquisition, Tabas will offer its knowledge and understanding of the market to support the launch of Blueground in Mexico City in early 2023, marking Blueground’s 30th city, and 11th in the last 12 months.
Tabas and Blueground’s visions are fully aligned and together we can create even more value for our guests, our landlords and the Tabas team, This acquisition is yet another success story for Brazilian proptech companies. We're proud of the work we’ve done to get us this far; now it’s time to take it to the next level and continue bringing the turn-key, flexible rental living concept across Latin America,said Leonardo Morgatto, Co-founder and CEO, Tabas.
The pandemic gave rise to new work environments, enabling people to explore the world and forgo traditional long-term leases for flexible rentals. To keep up with the growing demand, Blueground has doubled its supply of apartments in the last year.
The acquisition is subject to standard closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
About Blueground
Blueground is a global PropTech company that operates a curated network of thousands of quality, turnkey homes in sought-after neighborhoods around the globe, making them available for stays of a month or longer. Blueground’s tech-enabled platform provides a fully digitized experience; from viewing and booking available apartments within minutes to managing the entire stay through the Blueground Guest App. Blueground is headquartered in New York City, with a portfolio of thousands of apartments in 26 cities worldwide including in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C., Denver, Seattle, Austin, Miami, Dubai, Istanbul, Paris, London, Vienna, Zurich, Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Basel, Luxembourg, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Athens. Blueground plans to expand to 50 cities by 2025.
About Tabas
Tabas is a Brazilian real estate technology startup providing beautifully-designed fully-furnished apartments for flexible stay. Founded in early 2020, it already has more than 1,000 apartments in its portfolio, in the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasília, all located in upscale neighborhoods, equipped and decorated with sophistication. With unprecedented flexibility for the Brazilian market regarding rental contracts, the company works with terms starting from 30 days of rent, guaranteeing the property maintenance to the owners and uncomplicated and well assisted reservations to the tenants.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, HOME AND DESIGN
FirstClose | February 02, 2023
To help home equity lenders select and integrate their preferred settlement service vendors into FirstCloseTM Equity more efficiently, the company has launched its next-generation Vendor Gateway.
FirstClose Equity is a one-of-a-kind home equity origination solution that streamlines operational touchpoints while improving borrowers' overall customer experience. The platform's end-to-end solution comprises a borrower-facing point-of-sale solution that provides consumers with fast online feedback on their home valuation, accessible home equity, loan possibilities, and credit decisions in minutes. Also, lenders may be able to finish the process from application to closing in 7–10 days, while the average in the industry is 45–60 days. This is possible because of automated workflows that include the ordering of settlement services.
Lenders and their vendor partners can both significantly benefit from using FirstClose Gateway. One of the many benefits is that it will reduce vendors' time to get their products on the market. It will also make things better for borrowers by giving them consistent data and making sure their orders are filled. Also, it will make contracting and managing vendors easier by letting FirstClose equity lenders connect with their preferred providers under a single agreement, with a single bill and a single point of contact.
Ramiro Castro, Chief Product Officer for FirstClose, stated, "We designed the Gateway to give lenders greater control over the home equity process: everything from the customer experience they deliver to their operational and risk management choices."
"While our latest release includes a core set of vendors that are accelerating the origination process, our platform is vendor agnostic," Ramiro Castro concluded.
(Source – Cision PR Newswire)
About FirstClose
FirstClose, Inc., based in Austin (Texas), is a national provider of fintech solutions for a home equity line of credit (HELOC) and mortgage lenders. The company aims to help mortgage lenders improve profits while decreasing expenses. This is made possible by FirstClose's technology and relationships, which allow lenders to help their borrowers better, minimize closing costs, and shorten closing timeframes.
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