Conventional loan programs are the most common in commercial lending, including commercial investment and business-use properties. Many banks around the country offer conventional loan programs, which can vary substantially in rates, fee terms, and, most importantly, requirements.
Fannie and Freddie (apartment buildings): the home finance agencies are also very active in apartment lending in addition to 1 to 4 residential units. The lowest down payments for apartment buildings paired with long-term fixed and hybrid arm/fixed is a big reason why Fannie and Freddie are popular in multifamily lending.
SBA Programs:great for business owners purchasing a business location and need low down payments to apply more of their existing capital towards business operations and property improvements. Funds for property improvements can also be included in SBA purchase loans.
Life Insurance Company loans offer a great alternative to conventional loans from traditional banks. They offer long-term fixed options at competitive interest rates. Life Insurance companies emphasize much of their loan approval on a borrower's total net worth, unlike traditional banks, which generally base their approvals on total cash flow analysis. This helps borrowers get better rates when banks can't meet eye-to-eye with borrowers on cash flow analysis or other attributes.
REIT loans category typically deals with portfolio REIT lenders for less traditional types of loans, including equity-based lending for borrowers who are light on liquid assets and lack overall financial strength. This loan type is often referred to as private.
Conduit loans are conventional loans from a mortgage bank instead of a traditional depository bank. Conduit loans offer more risk and flexibility than a conventional loan program through a traditional bank with competitive rates. This type of lender is accessible only through non-bank lenders such as mortgage bankers. Investment banks purchase conduit loans and then securitize them into tranches of different risk levels. The lower-risk tranches are purchased by lower-risk investors like pension funds, and higher-risk tranches are purchased by higher-risk investors like hedge funds.