From: Adam Rifkin (adam@KnowNow.com)
Date: Thu Nov 23 2000 - 23:39:24 PST
Man it's a tough market environment in which to be raising money.
Beth, do you know what happened to these guys? We should give Rob
Ryan a call...
> Creditland.com closed its doors effective November 15, 2000.
>
> Please read below for procedures relating to our closing:
>
> If your application was submitted on or before November 15, 2000
> (whether you applied at the website or via one of Creditland's business
> channel partners), you will need to follow up with the lender that you
> applied with to find out the status of your loan and for any other
> inquiries pertaining to your application. Refer to your confirmation
> e-mail with the lender's information contained.
>
> If you filled out a pre-qualification form on or before November 15,
> 2000 but did NOT finish the process, e.g. you chose the "SAVE FOR LATER"
> option, then this application has not been submitted and we recommend
> you seek financing from an alternative source.
>
> Popular online lending sites include:
> www.eloan.com
> www.giggo.com
> www.autocreditfinders.com
>
> We hope you enjoyed your experience with us and apologize that we are
> unable to help you further. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank
> you for your business and hope you continue to use the Internet for your
> financial needs.
>
> -- The staff at Creditland Inc.
>
> Business Inquiries:
> For asset purchase inquiries or questions regarding financial matters,
> please contact: creditlandmail@yahoo.com
Interesting, no mention of Charles Ferguson's, Heather Shively's, and
Dan Woods' company CapitalThinking, but that's probably because it's in
a slightly different space...
http://www.multi-housingnews.com/archive/2000/june/inside/story1.html
(Beth, did you know Dan at TheStreet.com?)
> Shively Aims to Make Loan Process Easier
> Projects CapitalThinking Web Site to See $1B by Next Year
>
> By Keat Foong, Executive Editor
>
> New York- CapitalThinking, Inc.'s CEO Heather Shively is very clear
> about the role of her company. The sole mission of CapitalThinking, she
> says, is to use tech.capitalthinking.com.
>
> Having launched the site in March with $70 million of loan requests
> already in the pipeline, CapitalThinking says it now has $350 million in
> transactions that have passed the broker agreement stage. And Shively
> says the company is on track to process an annual commercial real estate
> financing volume of $1 billion in 2001.
>
> In particular, the company believes its fully staffed commercial real
> estate financing der $1 billion in real estate financings. An active
> private investor, Ferguson was the founder of web page development
> software creator sVermeer Technologies, Inc., which he had later sold to
> Microsoft in 1996.
>
> "We looked at the commercial real estate fin
> Dan Woods, formerly Chief Technology Officer of TheStreet.com, who had
> also helped launch Time Inc.'s on-line magazines, was recruited as Chief
> Technology Officer and came on board in September. Just three months
> later, the company launched the alpha verCapitalThinking describes
> itself as "an Internet-based mortgage marketplace that connects
> borrowers, brokers and lenders of commercial real estate capital."
> Borrowers can shop for fixed-rate permanent financing, as well as
> short-term loans, on the Web site participating lenders, and multiple
> quotes, including an indicative interest rate and fees, are
> instantaneously generated.
>
> If the borrower decides to go further in the loan process after
> obtaining the automated quotes, he signs the Brokerage Agreement
> The borrower subsequently submits to CapitalThinking, via traditional
> mail or electronically, more detailed information such as the property
> description, rent roll, operating statements, photographs of the
> property, his resume and market information. CapitalThinking then
> assembles a loan request based on the information provided and forwards
> it in a digital format to the lenders the borrower selects.
>
> Within 48 hours, the lenders return via the Internet a term sheet,
> providing terms such as the loan amount, interest rate, and lenders'
> fee. With a side-by-side comparison of various lenders' term sheets at
> his fingertips, the borrower can then decide to he lender in the format
> they desire, linking directly to the lender's back office.
>
> CapitalThinking claims that its Web-based system can help reduce the
> amount of time required to originate and close a loan by up to 60
> percent. "Our goal is to close the L.P. for a 96-unit Class B
> multifamily property in Mason, Ohio. The streamlined Internet process,
> claims CapitalThinking, is faster than traditional methods and enabled
> the financing to close in just 40 days after the loan application.
>
> If anything, the coing basis update its site-and streamline the loan
> process for borrowers. "Anyone can place something on the web very
> quickly. However, there is a difference between building something and
> constantly improving it," says CTO Woods. "The speed with which we can
> develop new versions would be difficult to achieve with an external
> consulting relationship."
>
> Indeed, the company is on to its third version of the Web site, which it
> launched in May, and Woods says CapitalThinking expects to place a
> In addition to its in-house technology team, CapitalThinking says what
> differentiates the company from other commercial real estate financing
> e-commerce sites is its fully staffed in-house real estate department
> consisting of 14 financing and underwriting professionals who help
> package loans for borrowers, as well as "scrub" loans for lenders. "We
> present lenders with a scrubbed package to ensure they get qualifhis
> regard, CapitalThinking is more than a Web site, says
> Shively. "Borrowers can use CapitalThinking and never go to our Web
> site," she notes.
>
> Of all the transactions the company receives currently, about 70 percent
> are sourced from brokers, while 20 percent are sourced directly from
> borrowers, estimates Anderman. Multifamily represents about 15 percent
> of transactions in the pipeline in terms of combining real estate
> finance professionals with technology to re-engineer the commercial
> mortgage process makes them a very attractive investment."
>
> Says Shively, "It's desirable when it is tough to raise capital because
> companies have to justify theaid for that, and we'll have a strong
> customer base."
---- Adam@KnowNow.ComSoftware products are designed and written by programmers, who often impose their own highly technical preferences and mind-set on the products they develop for mere mortals. -- Charles Ferguson, _High Stakes, No Prisoners_
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