Dear Valued Investors and Colleagues,
I wanted to personally take the time to clarify our most recent partnership and reiterate Patch of Land’s continued dedication to our customers and our investors.
Last week’s release of our $250 million engagement with a large institutional credit fund is a pivotal moment for our company. On one hand, we could appear to be heading in a similar direction as so many of our fellow marketplace lenders have gone. Instead, we are maintaining our position of making strategic decisions that are in the best interest of all our clients. As the release states, “The crowd -- our individual accredited investors who have thus far provided over 95 percent of our loan funding -- remains a priority to the company.”
But how?
We look at this milestone in the same light as the introduction of commercial loans to our product mix in late 2015. Patch of Land was (and still is to a large extent), known within the real estate crowdfunding space as a residential origination powerhouse - not commercial. But, driven by the notion of building long term relationships, we realized our growing customer base needed a product that grew with them. Single-family “rehabbers” turn into multi-family developers, then turn into full blown commercial real estate entrepreneurs. And Patch can be there every step of the way.
How does this parallel to working with institutions? Our engagement with larger partners affords us the flexibility - both financially and operationally - to develop products that are best suited for real estate entrepreneurs, as well as for our growing investor base. Overall, institutional capital will increase our origination volume rapidly while we continue to expand into other product types. This means not only a higher volume of loans posted to the website for our accredited investors, but also a greater variety of offerings to achieve a diversified and balanced portfolio for our clients and partners.
As proof of the continuing commitment to our retail investors, you will find many new features and informational assets designed to make both investing in, and managing your portfolio easier. Those features include new opportunity filters and search tools, portfolio accounting export functionality, a 100% mobile-accessible experience, a comprehensive offering status update section, and same or next business day automated clearing house (ACH) settlement. In the coming months, we will be launching a number of new enhancements to the platform to keep all of our clients at the cutting edge of online real estate investment.
In closing, I want to reiterate that Patch of Land was established to provide our clients the best-in-class, most-transparent, lending and investing experience -- bar none. We approach each day with the utmost confidence and believe that those who truly understand what Patch of Land exists to do will stand beside us in our endeavors. Ultimately, we have remained true to our mission since launching in October of 2013, and will continue to stand firm as our future growth unfolds. We look forward to continuing to grow our crowd of accredited investors and are extremely excited as we venture into new horizons in the ever-evolving marketplace lending industry.
Best Regards,
Jason Fritton
CEO and Co-Founder
Patch of Land
Bill Muenzberg commented February 17, 2016
As an enthusiastic investor through your (and other's) platform, I was initially disappointed in the announcement of the institutional investment. I have worked for over 25 years for this type of investor and am aware of how "money talks".
If there is truly an expansion of available investments and property types, then this could actually be for the better. I will immediately stop evaluating your deals if there is a sense that the institutional investor is taking all of the "good" deals and the rejects are getting pawned off on the "crowd". EVERY deal should have a "crowd" investment opportunity. The big investor will allow a commitment to bigger deals, which is good, but please do not let them cherry pick.
Thank you,
Bill.
Robert French commented February 17, 2016
I find both the press release and this letter fairly vague about what's actually going to happen. For example, what is a "forward flow" arrangement and how does it directly affect the individual investor? One of the things I like best about PoL compared to its many competitors is that it pre-funds all investments, and thus has incentive to do very good due diligence. Is that still going to be true?
Carla Carvalho commented February 18, 2016
I second Mr. Muenzberg's comment. In contrast to Mr. M, whom you describe as a "loyal investor", I am a new investor who has thus far tested the water with a single investment. One of the many reasons I have chosen your platform is the perceived transparency that it offers.
I believe that relationships with large institutional investors can benefit us all - if executed correctly. However, it is impossible for us, as "the crowd," to have confidence that we will have access to the same quality deals without PoL's commitment to transparency. While not every deal may be offered to the crowd, I strongly encourage PoL to take a leadership role in the RE crowdfunding space by publishing EVERY deal in its portfolio. Such institutional deals can be denoted as such, and will provide assurance to loyal investors that indeed "cherry picking" is not occurring.
derek nguyen commented March 19, 2016
Will this institutional money help to "cover" for defaulted loans? POL needs to do everything possible to minimize defaulted loans/foreclosures to protect investors. POL needs to use this infusion of funds to cover defaults, make investors whole first and foremost. I currently have 2 loans in default status with POL. I can't inject more funds into your platform w/out investor trust in the platform