Americap: Land Capital and Financial Services

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Capital & Financial Services

Overview
Debt & Equity Structuring
Development Financing
Bridge Loan
Mezzanine Loan
Hard Money Loan
Joint Venture
Equity
Subdivision Financing
Land Acquisition Financing
Lender Workouts and Negotiations

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Overview:

The "Critical Path" to successful land development capitalization is a complex blend of due diligence and structured finance that few firms have accomplished to the degree Americap has. To truly determine a potential client's needs we fully immerse ourselves in each project to analyze if, and where we can add value. Potential clients and their projects go through a rigorous and effective screening process, which affords us the luxury of selectively working with committed firms, who fully understand our value in the process.
Americap's depth of knowledge in the capital markets combined with our development experience is paramount to successful funding. By implementing a consulting approach, solving complex issues, and leveraging our own development expertise we prepare your projects to be received well by potential equity and / or debt providers (See: Attracting Capital). Our primary task for capital providers is to underwrite each transaction to standards as if we are putting our own investment in each project.

We have collectively provided over $300,000,000 in structured financing including equity, mezzanine, hard money, primary debt, and joint ventures over the past several years on a wide range of real estate development projects throughout the United States, including the following:

Debt and Equity For:

Residential Land Development
Master-Planned Communities
Subdivision Projects
Condo Development and Condo Conversions
Luxury Home Communities
Land, Raw or Entitled
Lender Workout Projects

If you're a developer or land owner seeking capital, and ready to hire one of the best capital markets consulting firms in the country, contact us by calling (888) 588-5677 or post your project here.

Debt and Equity Structuring

With 75 years experience in the capital markets we've seen just about every conceivable structure. That being said we look at each project with fresh eyes to see how best to structure the deal for maximum project profits while insuring investors the returns they require. We underwrite for private and institutional investors who rely on us to put our name on the line and to conduct the due diligence and site review prior to submitting deals to them.

Development Financing

Finance and lending are competitive industries - we differentiate ourselves from the masses with our understanding of how capital providers will look at a specific project. We determine the best approach to attracting the right capital, but more importantly we realize how the deal needs to be financially engineered and packaged to ensure a high success rate. (See: Sample Transactions)

Bridge Loan

Bridge financing involves a short-term interim loan period designed to bridge two points in time. Bridge loans, when used in land development often are the catalyst that allows a project to get off the ground. Bridge financing is used when conventional banks can't act fast enough or underwrite the transaction to meet the required funding need (hence you need to bridge the gap).

Mezzanine Loan

In this capital environment many land development projects require a mezzanine loan in addition to traditional equity to complete the funding need. Many of our mezzanine loan clients have equity in the transaction but not sufficient to satisfy debt underwriting requirements. Mezzanine loans for land development are becoming a common solution to enhance the capital structure, without putting an equity drain on the return for the principals of the project.

Hard Money Loans

Hard money loans can be the leverage you need to start or complete your land development project. Hard money loans are unique in structure and require different underwriting criteria than traditional real estate funding. While backed by real estate, they are riskier for the funding institution but let's face it sometimes hard money for your land development project is your best funding solution. Hard money loans can be more expensive through higher interest rates and/or fees. Hard money loans for land development can fund projects where capital is needed quickly or if the project is hard to fund through more traditional sources. So if a hard money loan can keep your project alive contact us and get your hard money loan request in for review.

Joint Venture

Our definition of a joint venture is bringing two or more entities together for the common goal of executing a land development project. The biggest challenge is understanding and matching expectations and skill sets in order for potential partners to form a successful venture. We find that setting and managing expectations early in the process is critical to the formation of a successful venture. Our expertise and interests range from constructing joint venture between parties to becoming a joint venture partner ourselves. This includes becoming partners with land owners to maximize the value of their land holdings when transitioning from agricultural land to land ready to build on. (See: Value Creation - Simplified)

Equity

Debt markets are increasingly inaccessible without appropriate equity in today’s capital markets environment. Significant equity is going to be required in transactions going forward, as we are certainly experiencing financing institutions pulling back or out of land and development lending altogether. “Cash Is Still King” in structuring land deals, and will be required to shore up balance sheets to attract the appropriate capital to close transactions with debt providers. In some situations we’ve found clients have leveraged a project to the point where more debt is not feasible and equity is the appropriate solution for providing the necessary capital to complete and project. Whatever your situation is, our team can help you create and execute the strategy and solution for capitalizing your project.

Subdivision Financing

Subdivision financing, while more obtainable than raw land financing, is also becoming more challenging as the overall credit markets have suffered from liquidity issues and more restrictive lending guidelines. Our development team works hand-in-hand with our capital group to offer your project the most practical and effective solution possible to capitalize your subdivision properly.

Land Acquisition Financing

Land acquisition financing is often combined with development financing, but there are situations where separating the two requirements can lead to a more profitable project. In today's real estate market, land acquisition financing is one of the more challenging aspects of the entire capital stack; the requirements for equity and a strong balance sheet have never been more prevalent. While depressed land values and distressed sellers have created fantastic buying opportunities, lenders have tightened the available pool of funds for acquisition. Expertise, underwriting, presentation and packaging are among the tools necessary to access capital for acquisition, these tools help give us (and your project) more accessibility to acquisition capital.

Lender Workouts and Negotiations

Whichever side of the loan you are on, we have the team and the tools to minimize damages and often rescue a deal gone bad. It doesn't matter if you have an N.O.D. or a non-performing asset; we can act as a risk management consultant or third-party negotiator or perhaps even a buyer. We've seen a lot of projects enter foreclosure due to miscommunication. We are seeking transactions from developers, land owners, and asset managers at lending institutions with distressed development or building projects.