Private equity firms and other nonbank investment companies including Arixa Capital Advisors LLC, Oaktree Capital Group LLC and Auction.com LLC are fueling a revival in home flipping by offering small investors short-term financing to buy and renovate properties — deals that banks are still shy to fund, Bloomberg News reports.
Auction.com — which recently announced it had landed $50 million in funding from Google Capital — has $170 million in short-term loans (137 days on average) for flippers and other investors that can cover up to 70 percent of the cost of properties that trade hands on the site.
Genesis Capital LLC, a real estate lender and foreclosure auction house, provides loans of up to 12 months that cover as much as 90 percent of purchase costs and 80 percent of renovation expenses for properties in California, Florida and Texas. Oaktree invested $100 million in the company in January, and Genesis also has a $125 million line of credit from Wells Fargo & Co. Source: bloomberg.com.
