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A lot of former Lehman RE guys CMBS Balance Sheet floating Rate origination and UW analyst are seperarte groups rather than team based
Publicly traded so I would read some of their reports or listen to earnings calls. Mostly smaller deal size so they are churning through a lot of volume.
They're aggressive in terms of structuring deals and the amount of risk they're willing to take. If you want to be on the debt side, I would bet it's a good place to work.
If you've got real estate experience already, and are reasonably outgoing, you will probably prefer origination (better upside and control in most shops where the origination/underwriting functions are separate). If your experience is limited, underwriting would probably be better for building a fundamental RE skill set.
Do you need a NMLS license for underwriting?
Typical mid sized conduit lender. Not particularly a fan based on the team that we deal with. But you're mileage may vary.
dinoRE WSO won't let me PM anyone. Can you PM your email?
I can't speak highly enough of Mazzei and Harris.
Melting ice cube, they are going to lose their FHLB membership, which will dramatically increase their cost of funds. The have a highly levered investment grade CMBS platform that will soon go by the wayside. Their balance sheet and cmbs lending platforms are nothing special. Also own some of the Veer condo's in Las Vegas that they can't sell. Hired Citi to field an inbound M&A call this summer. Have had a good amount of employee attrition. They used to look at a lot of creative transaction structure in what I would term the real estate PE space, but have been a tad constrained since they converted to a REIT.
I don't agree that their BS lending program is nothing special. For a public company, they are very creative and aggressive on structures and rates. We've closed a lot of deals with them.
Guys I knew were ex-Lehman or Bear Stearns, though the contacts I had have left. At my previous gig (debt broker) we came close to closing a few deals with them, seemed like a sharp enough crew but usually couldn't compete on rate.
bumping this thread as Ladder has been in the news as of late (they rejected an offer to be absorbed by Related's Fund Management group). This thread also is from 2015 when they were under different management. Any one have an opinion on their current status?
Thank god. Related would have ruined the ladder program. They are one of the smartest and most aggressive lenders on the street.
What makes a smart lender? Just curious. What do they do differently than other shops? How much differentiation is there between lenders?
Agree that they do good work, but I hear the culture is absolutely terrible.
From my understanding, the originator you work for directly impacts your culture experience there. Analysts typically support 1 originator there, so if you work for one of the difficult folks then this applies.
Echo what brosephstalin said. CMBS and creative balance sheet. Smaller size deals, high volume. Fair amount of attrition but also know people who have been there for a few years.
They do large deals as well. We just closed a $110mm floater with them.
We have had a good experience with them and have a good relationship with the originator who covers us. Echoing above, they wont probably win on rate but the will definitely think outside the box on structure for hairy deals. Done a few deals with them, even some ugly stuff where there likely was no second place. They have always executed as promised. Good experiences with both CMBS and bridge programs.
Thread was dated, any updated info on these guys?
Ladder got railed on a lot of their NYC loans during the pandemic
Anecdotally, their analysts seem to work like crazy
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