News Updates

Terrakan Debuts Real Estate Portal

Terrakan has launched an all-inclusive portal that brings real estate together in one place. Homeowners using the portal can speak with professionals, ask for advice, take advantage of concierge services, read detailed property development research, post listings, conduct group projects and access educational tools and resources. Terrakan also offers information-gathering, elementary analysis and forums that help property owners connect and understand the industry. Homeowners can input specific data about single-family listings and gain access to a variety of databases and quicklygenerate personalized feasibility reports.

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Planet Home Lending Partners With the Farmlink Project

National mortgage lender and servicer Planet Home Lending, LLC, has partnered with The Farmlink Project, a nonprofit grassroots movement rescuing millions of pounds of fresh produce that would otherwise go to waste. The Farmlink Project was started in mid-April by college students and recent graduates who saw a need to connect farmers with surplus crops to food banks in need.  Since its start, The Farmlink Project has delivered meals to more than 10 million people. Planet Home Lending’s $15,000 contribution will fund The Farmlink Response Team: Impact Tour, a five-week, cross-country journey to identify U.S. communities most in need, deliver food, tell stories that inspire donations and raise awareness of this critical problem. The Farmlink Response Team will stop in more than a dozen cities, delivering another 1.2 million pounds of food to more than 1 million U.S families. During the Impact Tour, the Farmlink Project will film a six-episode documentary series highlighting everyday community heroes fighting food insecurity, and the episodes will be available via its social media accounts.

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Sesa Properties Pledges to Donate Meals for Houses Sold

Sesa Properties LLP, a Brunswick, Ohio-based real estate investment company that buys houses for cash in Greater Cleveland has pledged to donate 200 meals to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank for every property they sell.         “One of the major goals of Sesa Properties from the start has been to improve the communities of Greater Cleveland,” said Daniel Sarao, co-owner and managing partner. “Individuals in the local community are struggling and need some help.” “We would love to see other local Cleveland businesses join in. Even if it’s a small contribution. Anything will help,” said Vince Senauskas, co-owner of Sesa Properties, who is a Brunswick native and graduate of Cleveland State University.

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Waste Metering Debuts in Multifamily Housing Market

RealPage has partnered with Compology to develop the RealPage Waste Management Solution, which includes rugged dumpster cameras and artificial intelligence. It is a first for the multifamily real estate market. “Compology’s integration offering enables industry leaders, like RealPage, to flexibly and seamlessly integrate automated waste metering into their existing platforms,” said Ben Chehebar, chief product officer of Compology. “We’re excited for the positive results RealPage will deliver to the multifamily market, and we look forward to expanding waste metering’s impact in the commercial space too.” Waste metering can help property owners or managers monitor and analyze exactly how much waste each building is producing and then match collection frequency to their actual needs, mitigate overage and contamination fines and reduce annual collection costs to improve the net operating income and overall value of the property. Remote dumpster visibility also helps identify and reduce contamination in waste and recycling streams, improve diversion rates from landfills and satisfy resident demand for transparency and sustainability, which lead to higher rents and better resident retention. The RealPage and Compology collaboration helps buildings meet the requirements of GRESB reporting and government mandates while importing new waste metrics into EnergyStar’s Portfolio Manager.

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Civic Financial Services Surpasses $4 Billion in Loan Originations

Private money lender Civic Financial Services has surpassed $4 billion in loan originations since the company was founded six years ago. This is the third major milestone the company has reached in the last three years. It surpassed $3 billion in lifetime funding in October 2019. In June 2018, the company announced it had securitized $190 million in investor property loans. At the time of the announcement, it was the largest securitization pool of non-aggregated bridge-only loans from a single lender in the history of private money lending. “We’re thrilled to reach this important milestone, especially today, as we help our clients and partners to navigate COVID-related capital contraction and maintain liquidity, while continuing to achieve their real estate investing goals,” CIVIC President William Tessar said. CIVIC was founded in 2014 by parent companies Wedgewood Inc. and HMC Assets to meet the needs of investors who do not fit within traditional real estate lending criteria. Since being founded, CIVIC has provided financing for nearly 10,000 real estate investment loans. CIVIC provides real estate investors with short- and long-term financing solutions, including bridge and rental loans for residential properties, rehab financing and non-recourse multifamily bridge loans. The company’s products are also available through retail, wholesale and correspondent channels.

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Limestone Asset Management Purchases Marquee Sarasota Retail

Miami-based Limestone Asset Management, via a joint venture with Orion Real Estate Group, has closed on two high-end retail properties in Florida for $15.5 million at St. Armands Circle, one of Florida’s most iconic shopping and dining destinations. It is also Sarasota’s No. 1 tourist destination. Limestone Asset Management invests in and acquires real estate properties across all asset classes throughout North America. Ocean Bank, the largest independent state chartered commercial bank headquartered in Florida, provided the financing.    Limestone Asset Management is an affiliate of Orion Real Estate Group, their joint venture partner in the deal.  The seller was represented by Mark Drazek and Ray Romano of CBRE’s Net Lease Property Group.  The property at 362 St. Armands Circle now encompasses three long-term tenants: Le Macaron, an authentic French pastry shop and sidewalk café; Breezin’ Up, offering embroidered and silkscreened clothing for the entire family; and Sahara, featuring women’s clothing, jewelry and accessories. Tommy Bahama is located 371 St. Armands Circle. Sarasota is experiencing what City Manager Tom Barwin calls “probably the biggest growth spurt in the city’s history.” The influx of new residents is dominated by wealthy baby boomer retirees, young families and entrepreneurial millennials. Overall, the county’s population has grown by 16% since 2010. Limestone currently holds $200 million in commercial and mixed-use real estate located across the U.S.

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