Company Spotlight

Creating a Best-in-Class Experience

• by Ezra Dweck, David Jacob, NPLA
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Building a New Wholesale Broker Paradigm by Ezra Dweck and David Jacob IceCap Group is one of the largest private money lenders in the country providing business purpose loans for both short-term bridge and long-term fixed rate rental loans for 1-4 family, 5+ multifamily, and mixed-use real estate properties. IceCap Group is institutionally managed and backed by a family office with a 30+ year history of successfully investing in real estate. In March of 2023, IceCap Group launched the BluFin Group as its new wholesale origination channel to extend its capital resources to a nationwide broker network. In tandem with the BluFin Group, a streamlined, tech forward, and client-service-focused platform was developed to support this network of brokers by offering alternative debt origination and funding solutions through unapparelled expertise. The firm immediately began expanding wholesale lending operations and closed its first wholesale division loan on June 2, 2023. IceCap Group had developed a burgeoning broker business prior to the launch of BluFin, but after seeing the competition in the marketplace, they realized that there were inefficiencies that needed to be addressed. To cure this void, they went out and sought additional talent by identifying the right team in Thomas DeMartin, Dalton Harben, and Chad Saunders. With a long pedigree in the wholesale market and closing thousands of successful broker transactions prior to joining IceCap, they knew firsthand what was absent in the processes of other lenders. The new partnership was a seminal moment for Ice Cap arising from a vision of excellence born out of opportunity realized from vast combined industry experience. The firm is presently constructing a best-in-class, one-stop lending solution for investor financing by breaking down barriers and offering solutions to various challenges plaguing this industry and markets. This solution includes enhancing the broker and consequently, borrower experience, by providing full transparency, self-service technology, and common-sense underwriting guidance. Credit and underwriting departments often achieve a bad reputation and are viewed as a necessary evil by those in production; however, BluFin has flipped the script by combining the forces of production and credit to achieve a common goal: a clear path to closing. It is not just all about closing, though. How a broker and lender partnership arrive at closing is often neglected by industry competition, leading to nail biters, head scratchers and often times painful experiences. BluFin’s approach is to fill the gaps and refine the process. The firm focuses on the total experience by offering a streamlined and problem-solving approach to achieve a closing and impart a legacy experience that maintains broker retention well above the industry norm. A Unique Capital Base and Experienced Team While many competitors and brokers might say BluFin and all of its capabilities sound great, they might also feel they have heard this similar type of message from other lenders in the private lending space. Despite IceCap’s firm belief that it has created a new lending paradigm for the broker community which should be experienced by all brokers and borrowers, the firm also believes it offers the industry a unique capital base which enables BluFin and IceCap to be more than just a “sell everything” conduit. Aside from access to the traditional bridge and term note buyers, the firm offers a sophisticated departure from the norm in managing three different internal debt funds in addition to an insurance fund and extensive access to the securitized markets. By lending the firm’s own capital, IceCap can focus on both “conduit” type originations and discretionary deals that offer attractive risk-adjusted returns for the firm’s dedicated funds. This includes multifamily and mixed-use bridge loans, ground-up loans and five-year term loans, allowing the firm to serve a diverse range of client needs. The coupling of prudent lending standards and innovative technology ensures that the firm can remain agile and focused, while providing brokers with consistent and reliable lending solutions. The past four-plus years since COVID have been anything but stable and smooth sailing in the real estate lending space especially as interest rates and cap rates moved appreciably higher. The industry has seen many lenders disappear, capital standards tightening and now the GSEs are cracking down on bad actors, especially in the title industry. While all of the above has been occurring, IceCap continued to lend and has expanded its capital base without suffering any real credit stress on its discretionary or sold loan originations. The firm abstained from overly aggressive lending practices which had unintended consequences across the competitive landscape. Much of this success is grounded on a strong leadership team with real estate equity and lending backgrounds combing decades of Wall Street experience with entrepreneurial hustle. Empowering Brokers for Success BluFin’s mission is to expand on IceCap’s explosive growth in this space by leveraging the capital base developed by a trail blazing team of experienced finance executives. This is accomplished by extending Ice’s diverse suite of flexible funding solutions to a network of brokers that were ripe for something more refined and empowering for their client base. A critical component to this is market-based pricing through its wide array of counterparties, including alternative asset managers, private equity firms, and insurance companies keeping them nimble and consistently ahead of price moves. IceCap is not beholden to any one capital source which many other lending outfits are subject to as consolidation has increased in the private lending space. IceCap counterparties provide a clear vision of the overall market which is then extended to its clients daily using a self-service full-process platform. The firm offers no origination fee loans and provides raw par pricing with the ability to earn yield spread premium or buy down interest rates. Fees are vastly different across the competitive landscape and often overlooked by lending partners. BluFin observed various areas to reduce fees across product lines without sacrificing service and capabilities. It has lowered underwriting fees, cut the junk, and allowed brokers to earn more while saving their client’s money which is a crucial component to winning more business in the investor