Mortgages, like many other aspects of the real estate industry, are something often talked about, but rarely fully understood. Misunderstandings of mortgages have led to difficult financial situations to those who take them out. Because of this, many companies are looking to redefine the process to help both consumers and lenders.
RealFi Financial LLC is one of these companies. RealFi is a technology-driven, alternative investment management firm with expertise in real estate credit strategies. Through its subsidiaries, RealFi is an originator of qualified and non-qualified residential home mortgages. And through the RealFi REIT, a leading real estate finance company, the firm is a direct lender focused on originating commercial real estate bridge loans in major markets throughout the United States.
RealFi Financial owns and operates several related businesses and services including RealFi Home Funding Corp. which offers residential mortgages; RealFi REIT which offers commercial, bridge lending and RealFi Private Lending which offers financing for real estate investors through a diverse product offering including fix-and-flip and new construction loans, single and portfolio rental property loans, and stabilized and value-add multifamily property loans.
Providing a more transparent way to look at real estate and mortgages, RealFi’s goal is to make sure that people fully understand every detail of whatever service they are participating in. To them, it was clear that the world of mortgages and real estate needed an update and greater visibility.
In terms of their technological goals, RealFi came to an understanding that the business needed an update. Technology had moved ahead, yet real estate and mortgages had remained in the past, which made it more difficult for users to engage in the ways they wanted to. To combat this, the team at RealFi made big moves to bring their business up to date.
The founder and creator of RealFi, John Lettera, is a Desert Storm Marine Veteran and a veteran in the real estate business. Having built himself up first in that world, he realized that he could make a big difference using his experience in real estate to make waves in the mortgage industry.
“I began investing in real estate in 1990, during the nadir of the real estate market. Access to capital was severely restricted, and investors were genuinely panicked. Space in the capital stack was opening up as institutional lenders were sticking with safe loans. I capitalized on the opportunity as a lot of real estate sat below that top tier, falling either into the value-add category or in secondary or tertiary markets, currently off the radar screen of the most risk-averse lenders. I quickly realized that this is a legal intensive industry and decided to attend law school. Fast forward 30 years, and RealFi is now recognized as one of the nation’s leading mortgage companies, employing hundreds of professionals and continuing to grow exponentially,” John explains.
With the real estate industry and mortgage industry booming right now, the company has big plans for the future. They not only plan to exponentially grow their company but are poised to take RealFi public. To that end, RealFi is one of the first and only mortgage companies to offer all employees, including loan officers, stock options.
“I want to give our loan officers a way to create enterprise value so we developed a proprietary stock option plan which allows all loan officers and staff employees to share in a liquidity event or public offering”. John explains.
They are also constantly upgrading their technology to ensure they continue to employ the latest financial technologies to streamline the traditional and less-transparent lending process and flow with the cacophony of invention, new technologies and methodologies of working.
To find out more about RealFi Funding, check out their website here.