Sized on the operating business, not just the real estate. Rate is a live overlay from Capital Intelligence, quoted deal-by-deal, never printed here.
The cheapest capital in commercial real estate, and the least shopped.
Underwritten on MADS coverage and days cash on hand, with a gross-revenue pledge rather than pure mortgage security.
CDFI underwriting typically runs 60-90 days. Plan against a purchase contract accordingly.
A subsidy, not cheap debt. Works best on commercial or mixed-use projects with $3M+ in qualified costs, below that, transaction costs outweigh the credit.
The credit is 39% of the QEI, claimed 5% in each of years one through three and 6% in years four through seven. Transaction costs run roughly 50% of the NMTC purchase price, which is why the vast majority are structured as forgivable QLICI loans. The B loan being forgiven at unwind is the entire point, sponsors who model this as a low-rate loan get the economics wrong in both directions.
Every product on this page is underwritten on the operating business or the entity, not the real estate. That single distinction is why most capital markets desks decline these deals, and why ours doesn't. It also explains the higher leverage, 85% and 90% against 65% on commercial income, which looks aggressive until you understand what's actually securing it: a business, a guarantor, an entity's revenue stream, not just a cap rate on a building.
Sponsors who come to us from an income-property background bring the wrong questions. The right ones are: what's the global DSCR across the operating entity and any affiliated real estate, what's the guarantor's outside net worth and liquidity, and what does the SBA or bank credit box actually require this year.
90% financing at 10% down, with a 25-year fixed second behind the bank's first, is a program most business owners assume doesn't exist. They default to a 25-30% conventional down payment because that's the number they've heard, and they never ask whether they occupy enough of the building to qualify for SBA 504 instead. If a business occupies 51% or more of a property, this is very likely the cheapest way to buy it.
Build-to-own follows the same logic through construction: 85% financing at 15% down, structured through the same program, for an owner who wants to build rather than buy.
A charter school or community health center doesn't generate market-rate NOI, and lenders who understand mission-driven borrowers don't ask it to. The tests are MADS coverage and days cash on hand, sometimes backed by a gross-revenue pledge rather than pure mortgage security, because the institution's ability to keep operating is the real credit question, not the building's cap rate.
This is the CDFI background rendered as a service, and there is essentially no competing content for it. Most capital markets sites don't run this underwrite at all.
Underwriting and real options at no cost. A senior originator, not a queue.
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