Arbor Launches Online Multifamily Agency Lending Platform

Uniondale, N.Y.—Arbor Commercial Mortgage LLC has released ALEX, the multifamily industry’s first ever, all-agency, online loan origination platform developed for direct borrowers, brokers and correspondent lenders.

“Small multifamily loans are clearly a growing segment in the marketplace and one that is very important to both our business and to most multifamily investors,” Ivan Kaufman, Arbor Commercial Mortgage’s chairman and CEO, told MHN. “While many firms shy away from originating small loans quite frankly because they are not profitable to do, Arbor is highly experienced in this product type, which can be processed more simply and quickly under Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s market-leading small loan programs.”

ALEX is designed to streamline and organize a historically complex multifamily lending process, helping clients easily and efficiently obtain market-leading Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac financing.

Small multifamily loans totaling $1 million to $5 million are at the core of the multifamily industry. In fact, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, 54 percent of all multifamily loans closed in 2014 were in the even smaller $1-million to $3-million category.

“For Arbor itself, within the past year we have been named the top small loan lender for both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” Kaufman said. “Therefore, with our growing influence, coupled with the size of the market, we believe our innovation will pave the way for multifamily finance to become a larger part of the technology revolution, allowing investors to manage their business from their desktops and mobile phones instead of using scanned documents, antiquated fax machines and emails.”

Small balance loans by nature can often be time consuming, especially given that many of the borrowers that are going through the process are first time borrowers.

According to Kaufman, there are numerous benefits to the platform, including: Online and automated application creation and forms submission, three-hour or less loan evaluation and feedback from a loan officer with full information completion, live chat and interactive communication, Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-approved e-signature execution on key forms and 24/7 mobile and desktop access.

“ALEX will assist all of our current and future clients, as all agency loans large and small can be processed through the system,” he said. “As a top 10 Fannie Mae lender and the top Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae small loan lender, ALEX will help streamline and support the hundreds of loans and billions of dollars of volume we do annually. More importantly, it will allow us to serve all of clients better, especially the small loan investor, and help us to better support the growth of and our ongoing commitment to this important segment of the market.”