Eastern Union's Strongest August Ever: Nearly Half a Billion Dollars of Debt and Equity Transactions Closed

HOWELL, N.J., Sept. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Wrapping up a robust month, Eastern Union Funding reports its best August ever, with a record of 87 deals closed, comprising over $490,000,000 of debt and equity transaction volume. The renowned mortgage brokerage company is experiencing a strong run of success, closing aggressively despite reported slow-downs in the market.

Ira Zlotowitz, President of Eastern Union, was personally involved in more than $150 million of financing transactions. "Here at Eastern Union Funding, and our sister company Eastern Equity Advisors, we are working hard to earn our clients' trust every day, and to ensure that they receive a complete array of debt and equity solutions," says Zlotowitz. "We are grateful to G-d and our talented team for our success in closing over $490,000,000 in just a month."

Trend Commentary 

• The QTS (Quotes and Term Sheets) banking division of Eastern Union Funding, the firm's unique internal banking department, reports finding an emerging market trend across the board in lowering of rates by many banks. "We feel this reflects an upsurge of interest stemming from bankers looking to fill the pipelines at the end of a slow summer," says Moshe Maybloom, Managing Director of QTS. Devoted to banking relationships and finding new lenders, the QTS department executes the preliminary tasks, as well, including banking, set-ups and write-ups, sourcing, sending out to banks and negotiating, until great term sheets are secured. A valuable internal resource, the QTS department allows Eastern Union brokers to focus their time on originating more deals and pursuing relations with existing clients.
  
  
• Another recent trend is the increased ease in closing bridge construction loans. Bridge construction loans are infamous in the mortgage world for the high rates they command. Recently though, Eastern Union Funding has been receiving swelling interest from bankers and has subsequently been closing bridge construction loans aggressively.

Deal Commentary – Debt 

Among the deals contributing to Eastern Union's record month was a large portfolio transaction to refinance 11 multifamily properties located across Southern New Jersey. Ira Zlotowitz, President of Eastern Union, along with Meir Kessner, Senior Managing Director, secured interest rates in the 3.7% range for this transaction.

In another deal Ira Zlotowitz has run this month, the president and veteran mortgage broker tracked down an amazingly low rate for a bridge construction loan for a 7-story multi-use property in Brooklyn, NY. Due to the general difficulty of receiving high leverage for construction loans in Brooklyn, this deal was especially tough. However, working along with Kessner, he succeeded in closing the deal in less than 30 days at 74% LTC.

Jake Handlesman, Managing Director at Eastern Union Funding, contributed to the monthly record volume by closing an $20MM acquisition deal. To finance a five story, mixed-use building with over 150 units, Jake succeeded in securing 80% LTV (with 30-year amortization) for this Maryland property.

Deal Commentary – Equity 

Much of recent success has been fueled through the relationship with EUF's sister company, Eastern Equity Advisors. The equity sourcing team has been flowing many of their equity clients toward the mortgage brokering firm to assist with debt. In a recent instance of the debt and equity teams working hand in hand to achieve the client's goals, Jake Handlesman, assisted in funding debt for the above $20MM Maryland deal, while Yitzy Halon, Vice President of Eastern Equity Advisors, together with Marc Belsky, Principal of Eastern Equity Advisors, sourced $3.4MM in equity for the investment. The client and investor struck up a very positive relationship and hope to continue to work on future deals together.

"Working with Eastern Union, we are able to help their debt clients with equity while we can refer our clients to Eastern Union for debt funding," says Yitzy Halon. "It's a relationship that enables us to help clients in all aspects of their capital stack together, giving us a distinct advantage in the market."

Eastern Union App Contributes to Recent Success

Eastern Union's unique and free app has been aiding close to ten thousand real estate professionals in daily real estate transactions. Eastern Union clients gain an added benefit with an exclusive client portal, enjoying the ease of tracking the status of every aspect of their deals from anywhere, anytime. An essential toolbox for real estate professionals, the app combines advanced technology and artificial intelligence to include features such as a complete underwriting calculator, a complete directory of Commercial Real Estate related businesses (including direct numbers for bankers!) and a valuable comps tool, allowing users to see area activity. A one-of-a-kind technological edge, the app has been a strong contributor to recent success at Eastern Union Funding. 

Pushing Toward a Strong Year End

Ending the typically slow summer season with this record month of success, Eastern Union Funding has high hopes to end the year at unprecedented heights. With a top-tier, motivated team receiving some of the highest salaries in the industry (commissions of up to 75%!) and personalized, advanced tech solutions, as well as in-house support staff and an exclusive banking department, Eastern Union has an edge in the market which has been reaping results.

About Eastern Union Funding: Founded in 2001, Eastern Union Funding is one of the nation's strongest and most active commercial mortgage brokerage firms and was named by Crain's New York Business in 2014 and 2015 as one of the top 50 fastest growing companies in NYC. Its award-winning team closes over $3.5 billion in deals annually, specializing in sophisticated debt and equity solutions for small and mid-sized loans across all property types. Celebrating its 15th year in business, the firm launched its groundbreaking Eastern Union commercial real estate app that serves as a digital toolbox for investors to identify and close deals quickly. It is available in the Apple App Store and via Google Play for Android. Eastern Union is co-headquartered in New York and Howell, New Jersey, with offices in Maryland. For more information, visit www.easternuf.com.

SOURCE Eastern Union Funding