As a real estate developer looking to deliver social impact, the process of finding and engaging with a lender can be hard. Once your mind is set on starting a community development real estate project, who do you turn to? Where do you find them? What is the process like?
As part of the Momentus Capital family of mission-driven lenders, Capital Impact Partners – a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) – provides flexible and affordable loans of $650,000+ ($350,000 under special circumstances) to finance key community pillars, including health centers, education facilities, food retailers, affordable housing, small businesses, and cooperatives.
We are a national lender, capable of providing loans across the country, but we also have a place-based focus in specific regions, including California, Michigan and northwest Ohio, the New York Tri-State Area, the Southeast, Texas, and the Washington metropolitan area.
We know you have got questions about the community development real estate process. To help get your process started, we offer some answers here about working with a CDFI lender.
1. When in the development process should I start working with a CDFI lender?
It is never too early to start gathering information from lenders, but you’d ideally want to get started when you are about six months from starting construction.
By then, you would have a good estimate for the timing of obtaining permits and starting construction.
CDFIs such as Capital Impact Partners will work hand in hand with real estate developers looking to deliver social impact
2. What types of reserves will a CDFI lender require?
Lenders will have contingencies on your project that may go above and beyond what you have budgeted; usually 7.5-15% of hard costs expenses and 5% of soft cost expenses.
If you are capitalizing interest during construction, which is recommended when there are no operations ongoing during construction, that will need to be included in the overall project budget.
Once construction is completed, there may be lease up reserves, debt service reserves, and/or facility maintenance reserves.
3. Where does the capital that CDFIs lend come from?
CDFIs serve as capital aggregators that attract capital from the market, banks, government sources, and foundations.
4. Will a CDFI lender hold the loans or will they sell them?
CDFIs do both. At Capital Impact, if they are sold, we ensure that there is no impact on the Borrower’s experience or relationship.
5. What influences CDFI lenders’ rates?
Primarily it is the Treasury rates, unless the CDFI has a sector/geographic fund that is independent of Treasuries.
6. Who approves the loan and how does the loan committee work?
CDFIs have groups that review deals. Capital Impact has an internal credit committee that reviews deals on a weekly basis.
Some CDFIs or specific loan products require external review and approval. Underwriting packages must be submitted at least a week in advance to receive approval the following week.
The committee cares about the financial strength of the transaction, the deal fitting into our established credit guidelines, and the impact of the transaction on the community.
8. Who will be my main contact for loan closing and will it change afterwards?
You may first interact with a business development officer or someone with a similar position, who will be the initial point of contact until a term sheet is signed.
Then you’ll speak with a loan officer who will underwrite your transaction until it is approved.
Once approved, a legal and closing team will drive the process, but the loan officer will remain involved to ensure the loan is closed according to what was agreed to with the borrower and as outlined in their underwriting.
9. As a non-legal person, how do I review a loan agreement?
Consider seeking legal counsel to review a loan document. But generally, check that the interest rate, fees, and dates match your understanding. Check the reporting and financial covenants to ensure you can meet them.
10. What should I do if I think I am going to default on my loan?
Tell your lender as quickly as possible. CDFIs are lenders with a mission to provide fair, responsible financing, and they will work closely with you when things are tough. Another very important element to take into consideration when looking to establish a relationship with a community development real estate lender is that lender’s value system. You have the right and responsibility to vet the lender to make sure that their values, goals, and philosophies align with yours. It is a two way street and any conversation about funding should be as much about the entrepreneur evaluating the funder as the funder evaluating the entrepreneur.
Momentus Capital’s Chief of External Affairs, Robert Villarreal, recently testified in front of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship about improving access to capital in disinvested communities through the Small Business Administration (SBA) Community Advantage (CA) loan program.
The Community Advantage pilot program was launched in 2011 to expand the points of access that small business owners had for getting loans from mission-driven financial institutions. These lenders intentionally support underestimated community members, businesses, and organizations – with an emphasis on assisting people of color, women-owned businesses, and startups.
This blog also appears on the Engage R + D blog. You can find it here.
How can foundation dollars be more powerful in a time of crisis? As COVID-19 continues to disproportionately impact communities that have long experienced economic disinvestment, many are asking how to leverage philanthropic funding differently for more immediate impact and greater social good. One solution comes in the form of impact investing, which includes a range of financial tools for both individuals and institutions seeking to do greater good with their dollars. While impact investing is not new, it is a powerful tool that many foundations seek to better understand and that remains relatively underused in philanthropy. [1],[2]
Grants vs. PRIs: What’s the Difference?
Grants are most foundations’ bread and butter. They support a foundation’s charitable mission and are limited to 501(c)3 tax-exempt organizations. Grants do not require repayment.
PRIs are an IRS designation that allow private foundations to make charitable, mission-aligned investments. These investments typically take the form of low-cost financing and loans, which require repayment within a specified time. While many require a return or accrue interest, they are not expected to produce market-rate returns.
Boyle Heights is a bustling Latino neighborhood just east of downtown Los Angeles with a history dating back before the Mexican-American War. However, it’s the pressures of the present day that weigh heavily here. Approximately 66 percent of the population lives below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, 22 percent are uninsured, and few primary care doctors remain. The systemic poverty the residents grapple with creates ripple effects throughout their lives.
By Virginie Arnaud LePape, Senior Director, Lending
In 1982, Capital Impact was created with a single focus – support the development of cooperatives in underserved communities.
Charter schools create opportunities for innovation that drive academic success for students in underserved communities.
Along the way, we gradually expanded our scope to meet the growing needs of the communities we served by working to increase access to health care, education, housing, and healthy food.
A handful of loans slowly grew into a truly diversified portfolio of offerings as we took the risk to partner with those organizations that traditional financial institutions shied away from. Twenty-five years after we began lending in 1984, we hit an incredible milestone of deploying $1 billion into low- and medium-income communities across the country.
I am humbled that just eight years after that initial milestone, we more than doubled that achievement by deploying more than $2.5 billion through the end of our record-breaking efforts in 2017.
It is a true testament to our mission-driven team for living our mission statement by delivering both the capital AND commitment that enables those most in need to build communities of opportunity that break barriers to success.
While we pause to celebrate, we also know that we must increase our resolve. Too many of us continue to struggle, with a disproportionate impact on people of color.
To help solve the key social and racial justice issues facing our society, we must continue to make inroads in achieving our strategic pillars to address systemic poverty, create equity, build healthy communities, and promote inclusive growth.
Innovative health care models support older adults to age with dignity in their communities.
This requires supporting our lending work by deploying new and innovative programs backed by cutting-edge research; making the case for support from lawmakers at the federal, state, and local levels; amplifying our impact investing efforts with both individuals and large institutions; and forming partnerships that ensure that our solutions are grounded in what communities both need and can act on.
We did not get to this point alone, and for that I want to thank all of those who have supported us, as well as those organizations who are working directly with often-neglected communities every day to deliver the services they need to thrive.
By working together, I know that we can empower communities to achieve transformative progress in 2018 and beyond.
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