Real Estate
Covid EIDLs With Real Estate as Collateral Have Much Lower Default Rate
September 29, 2025369,588 Covid-era EIDL loans valued at $47 billion had been charged off by December 2024, according to a recent report issued by the Office of Inspector General (OIG).
It turns out that collateralizing real estate may have made all the difference in the outcome. For loans over $25,000, for example, the SBA relied on simple blanket liens as collateral. This allowed the agency the right to take possession of the borrower’s assets upon default, such as inventory, equipment, and any other tangible or intangible property owned by a business. If that was supposed to be a deterrent to default, it hasn’t shown considering the raw number of defaults so far.
On loans over $500,000, however, business borrowers were supposedly required to put up real estate as collateral but according to the OIG, they approved the loans regardless. Consequently, of the 58,024 COVID-19 EIDLs exceeding $500,000, only 4,718 were secured with real estate. Only five of those real-estate-backed loans had defaulted as of July 2024. Compare that with the 4,605 loans over $500,000 without real estate as collateral that have already defaulted and been charged off. The difference is clear.
As of July 2024, none of the five defaults with real estate had been foreclosed on yet.
Full OIG Report here.
Why Lexington Capital Holdings is Expanding Into the Real Estate Business
September 24, 2025Lexington Capital Holdings is expanding beyond small business lending and into real estate, the company recently revealed. Lexington, a Long Island-based financial marketplace and brokerage led by CEO Frankie DiAntonio, is launching Lexington Estates to buy, sell, rehab, and hold properties long term.
According to DiAntonio, deals involving real estate have already been a part of their regular broker product mix for a long time, but when deciding whether or not they wanted to lend against real estate on their own or become the actual buyers and builders, they felt the latter would be more impactful. A syndication fund for these real estate deals, for example, will be open to employees of the firm to participate in. Lexington’s existing operation already has about 50 sales reps. Two from that group will move over to the real estate side to join a number of new hires they’re bringing on board to carry this plan out.
“Business is a team sport and I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without the amazing Lexington team behind me,” DiAntonio said of the company’s success to-date.
Lexington Estates is already closing on its first property on Long Island. While they will make their focus local right out of the gate, they plan to work on deals both residential and commercial throughout the United States within 12 months. DiAntonio cut his teeth on real estate deals by participating in them personally outside of his business and now he’s making it a corporate endeavor. Whether it’s residential, retail, office space, industrial space, or anything else, they plan to evaluate it on the merits of the potential profits.
“I’m looking for deals,” DiAntonio said. “I’m looking for what’s the best bang for our buck.”
DiAntonio views this ambitious plan as one of absolute necessity given the challenges that the younger generation faces with the cost of living going up.
“I strive so hard to put my people in a position where they can make more money than the average American because you can’t even live the average American life and be average anymore,” DiAntonio said. “You actually have to be great just to live an average American life.”
Lexington Estates plans to officially launch on October 12th.
Private Lender Expo Shows The State of Real Estate Investing Industry
November 19, 2021
“We’re here because we’re looking to see if we can branch into real estate lending,” said Porsche Brooks, CEO of Brooks Partners Finance, a company that provides a suite of funding services that include both MCAs and SBA loans.
Brooks was one of many that attended the Private Lender Expo in Atlantic City on Thursday, where financiers, developers and more talked heavily about apartment complex and suburb-centric commercial real estate development.
“There are opportunities here,” said Brooks. “We’re really looking to expand.”
While there was evidence of fintech making its way through the space, companies providing document-digitizing software were hesitant to label themselves as fintech companies.
A representative from CoStar, a technology-centric real estate information company, called themselves “fintechy” but made it clear that they are only looking to function within the current space, not revolutionize it.
Those who hosted booths at the event showed little interest in expanding business operations into small business financing as a way to grow their lending options. As real estate investments continue to pay hefty dividends, lenders who focus on that area aren’t looking to dilute their effort into other ventures.
“Small business lending can be such a headache,” said one real estate investment company representative when asked if they would ever venture outside of their investment property exclusivity into funding merchants. “The amount of money in real estate right now is evident all around us. There’s always a lot of people at stuff like this that will give you a million dollars, but now this stuff is becoming all real estate.”
NYC is Back, So is it Time to Buy Here?
July 12, 2021Now that New York City is back, opportunity abounds to move in or make money off the dynamic real estate market. You might be able to get in on it even if you’re a first time investor. To size up the market and the common questions to consider, we spoke one on one with Erin Sykes, the Chief Economist of Nest Seekers International.
You can also watch it here on deBanked TV.
Watch More from deBanked’s Real Estate Investing Docuseries Here.
Real Estate Investing For Beginners and More
July 6, 2021deBanked met with Kurtavious Ball, a physician assistant and savvy real estate estate investor in Philadelphia. Ball started small, risking about $30,000 he had set aside for a startup venture. If it didn’t work out, Ball said he was still young enough and capitalized enough to weather the loss. After doing a lot of reading and listening to gurus, Ball said the best course of action was to just plow forward and give it a try. He’s happy he did.
deBanked’s interview with Ball is part of a nationwide docuseries with business finance and real estate professionals.
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Midtown Dead? No, It’s A Good Time to Buy
March 25, 2021
When it comes to working from home and the flight from midtown Manhattan offices the past year, one expert on commercial real estate said it isn’t the end of the metro area way of life: it’s a great time to buy.
“There’s some great deals. I mean, on both rents, leases, and purchases in many of these markets. So tremendous opportunities, and there’s a lot of power on the sidelines, who is well aware of it,” CEO Anthony Romano of the Commercial Real Estate analytics firm CREtelligent. “In San Francisco, Manhattan, in Dallas in the Miami marketplace, there’s some incredible opportunities that I think people will seize.”
At CREtelligent, Romano helped launch the Radius platform, an all-in-one automated appraisal platform that draws site data for identifying commercial properties. When he joined the firm, he aimed at making the commercial real estate world as seamless as some residential loans.
“Before, during, and after the commercial real estate transaction, it’s super inefficient,” Smith said. “We wanted to say, how do we fix it? A client of ours, an investor, a broker, a bank, or anybody who’s involved in the transaction, can come to the Radius platform and put in an address and APN, and identify their property.”
Instead of ordering 10 or 12 assessments from a handful of sources, a processor must only visit the CREtelligent site. Based on the know-how it took to create the platform, Romano said the trends like the 10 year Treasury return are directing the CRE market on the up and up in the coming months.
Romano said that most commercial properties have a Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio of about 70% in his experience. If a large office building or retail store has a $10 million mortgage keeping it open, it would have to drop by $3 million before the bank starts getting uneasy- a point the market is nowhere near.
Super Bowl Sunday: Battle of the Mortgage Brokers
February 2, 2021
This Sunday in Tampa Bay, the Chiefs, and the Buccaneers will duke it out, while a second mortgage-based rivalry plays out in the ads between plays.
A year ago, millions watched as Rocket Mortgage and United Wholesale Mortage (UWM) went head-to-head with competing multi-million-dollar ads. This year, they will both return, but it looks like they might play nice after a grueling pandemic.
Last year, Rocket appeared for their third consecutive Super Bowl, but then in an upset came the #BrokersAreBetter ad campaign. UMW called out their biggest competitor: “Playing with rockets is great when you’re a kid, but when it’s time to get a mortgage, you quickly realize a rocket is complicated and expensive,” and promoted FindAMortgageBroker.com.
It was a jab that earned millions of tweets, but this year Rocket has a chance to reply, and “double down” with two ads, this time highlighting local brokers as well. Rocket Companies today launched a national mortgage broker directory on its website.
“The directory not only includes the 43,000 individual loan officers who work with us but every mortgage broker in the country,” said Austin Niemiec, the executive vice president of Rocket Pro TP, in a statement. “This new resource is not about us; it’s about giving consumers more choice and assuring they know how an independent loan officer in their community can help them.”
UWM is also running an ad showing an imaginary tinder-swiping house hunting app, again featuring the FindAMortgageBroker.com directory.
“We believe we’re the one genuine partner of mortgage brokers nationwide,” said Sarah DeCiantis, chief marketing officer of UWM, in a statement. “We thought this ad would not only be relatable and entertaining given the pandemic’s acceleration of online dating but also educate consumers that brokers are their number one resource for finding a mortgage that fits their financial situation.”
Both firms are deciding to buy ads while other major brands are pulling out; For example, Budweiser’s decision to put ad money toward covid vaccine distribution. These brands will be saving money, as a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl runs for an estimated $5.5 million, the AP reports.
Next year’s Super Bowl 56, will be played in SoFi Stadium.
Doorvest Raises $2.5M in VC Funding
January 27, 2021
San-Francisco based online real estate investment firm Doorvest announced today it received $2.5 million in VC funding with Mucker Capital leading the round.
Doorvest used the opportunity to announce a “Home Renovation Guarantee,” a pledge to cover all renovation-related repairs and maintenance on a new investment property for the first year.
Doorvest offers users an online platform to invest a range of $20,000 to $100,000 in rental properties. The firm handles everything from purchasing the properties to renovating, and leasing; paying the dividends back to investors.
“The true cost of hidden repairs and maintenance during the first year of homeownership often comes as a surprise as it’s difficult to predict,” CEO and Co-Founder of Doorvest Andrew Luong said. “We’ve found that the biggest mental hurdle to purchasing an investment home is the uncertainty of maintenance costs and repairs.”
The new funding adds to the total $3.6 million the firm has raised to date, aimed toward bringing retail-investor liquidity to the estimated $3 trillion real estate market. William Hsu, the co-founder of Mucker Capital, will be joining Doorvest’s board of directors. According to the Federal Reserve, Americans who invest in real estate are on average worth 40x more than Americans with no skin in the game, Hsu said.
“While real estate is the #1 most favored investment asset class for Americans, only 5% of Americans own investment real estate,” Hsu said. “Doorvest’s platform has hit a nerve since launch. It has seen a 32% month-over-month increase in customers since the pandemic hit. This entirely online model naturally gains more appeal, and customers seek out safe yet easily accessible investment vehicles away from other volatile and inflationary markets.”
