Traditional banks’ slow approval periods and the tight lending market can hold up projects when time is of the essence. That’s why Sandhill Real Estate Investments, L.L.C. turned to Kennedy Funding to secure the financing they needed for Vines of Sandhill, a single-family residential development project in southern Delaware.
The Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey-based direct private lender provided a $1 million short-term bridge loan for the borrower. The loan proceeds will be used for working capital for roadwork that will move the development project into its final phases.
Kevin Wolfer, CEO/president of Kennedy Funding, said that obtaining real estate financing when the market is competitive and needs are urgent can be highly challenging, but Kennedy Funding specializes in and maintains the robust network necessary for rapidly and successfully closing loans.
“To successfully secure funding, you need to understand the obstacles to funding and how to work through them to secure the deal you need, and more importantly, you need a partner who can navigate those challenges,” said Wolfer. “At Kennedy Funding, we have the knowledge and experience to evaluate deals on their merits for the community, not on painstaking criteria that traditional lenders impose on
borrowers that cause unnecessary delays.”
To date, Sandhill Real Estate Investments, L.L.C. has completed three phases of the six-phase Vines of Sandhill development, and those three phases have since been sold off. Each single-family home built in the development averages 9,727 square feet. The remaining land in the development spans 42.87 acres. The option to purchase completed lots is exclusive to Capstone Homes and NVR Inc. (Ryan Homes).
The added challenge of raw land can make it difficult for borrowers like Sandhill to obtain traditional loans, Wolfer said.
“Banks know that buying land can be risky under the wrong circumstances, but they also wrongly assume that all unimproved land purchases are bad,” Wolfer said. “Direct private lenders like us know to look at the details of the deal that spell out how the land will be used.”
Milton is a town of 3,291 people and 4,356 households, as of the 2020 U.S. Census. Located in Sussex County, Delaware, the town lies 80 miles south of Wilmington, Delaware’s financial and commercial center, and is 11 miles northwest of the tourist hotspot Rehoboth Beach. The town originated as a ship-building hub at the head of the Broadkill River, and it is the center of the Broadkill Hundred, founded in 1696 as one of the original Delaware Hundreds.
“Between the Milton area’s historical significance and present-day proximity to key economic and tourist hubs, we immediately saw the merits of the Vines of Sandhill deal,” Wolfer said. “We are proud to have closed this loan, as we regularly receive similar real estate funding requests and remain among the few lenders willing to close these loans. We’re committed to serving this market as it continues to grow.”
