Kiavi announced it has increased its 16th securitization to $350 million, its largest transaction since November 2021 and bringing its total issuance since 2019 to $4 billion.
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Kiavi, a fix-and-flip bridge lender, said Monday it had completed the securitization of $350 million in residential transition loans, bringing the company's total securitizations since 2019 to $4 billion.
Most mortgages are ultimately funded by securitizing mortgages and selling them to institutional investors such as pension funds and insurance companies. But those mortgage-backed securities are typically rated by rating agencies and guaranteed by large financial institutions such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae.
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Kiavi said all three classes of the unrated securitization (A1, A2 and M) were oversubscribed and “received significant interest from both new and returning institutional investors.”The upsized transaction marks Kiavi's 16th securitization and its largest since November 2021, according to the company.
“Kiavi's platform and unique use of AI, data and machine learning models have contributed significantly to our consistent performance and helped build and grow trusted institutional demand for Kiavi's RTL assets over the past five years,” Kiavi CEO Arvind Mohan said in a statement. “As we continue to grow, we aim to further enhance our technology and AI capabilities to better serve our clients and improve our performance.”
Kiabi said the securitization includes a two-year revolving period, during which any principal repaid may be reinvested in purchasing new loans.
Kiavi was founded in 2013 as LendingHome and rebranded in 2021, and claims to be one of the nation's largest private lenders to residential real estate investors, having funded $17.5 billion in loans to date.
Kiavi offers short-term fix-and-resale bridge loans of up to $2.5 million to qualified investors in 32 states and Washington, D.C., allowing investors to finance up to 95 percent of a home's purchase price without verifying income, employment or assets.
“No need to dig through pay stubs or old W-2s – we won't verify your income or employment status,” Kiavi promises on its website. “Plus, our technology-driven platform eliminates time-consuming tasks and speeds up the process to close your transaction.”
Kiavi also offers long-term debt service ratio (DSCR) loans for investors who want to buy and hold one- to four-unit rental properties. Last year, Kiavi announced it was expanding its DSCR loan offerings to include apartment rentals in buildings with homeowners associations.
After laying off staff in 2022, Kiavi's board of directors revamped the company's senior management last year, promoting Mohan to CEO in February to “support the company's continued growth despite challenging market conditions.”
Mohan joined Kiavi in 2016 and served as chief operating officer before succeeding Michael Bork as CEO.
Mohan hired Homebridge and Bank of America veteran Alex Armersbach as chief financial officer in April, and in December Kiabi announced the appointment of Samuel Harrity as senior vice president of capital markets.
Harrity has almost 20 years’ experience in real estate finance and capital markets, including working as head of capital markets at CoreVest Finance and real estate investment platform Mynd.
“Capital execution combined with our advanced technology platform and data-driven lending approach is what sets Kiavi apart as a leader in the private lending market,” Mohan said in announcing Harrity's addition. “We look forward to leveraging Sam's unique background and proven experience to further strengthen Kiavi's advanced capital markets program and serve even more real estate investors across the country.”
Kiabi announced a $300 million unrated securitization of residential transfer (RTL) loans in January and said it had raised a record $4 billion in loans in 2023.
Mohan said at the time that the company's “consistent track record enables us to build and grow trusted institutional demand for Kiabi's RTL assets, supporting more clients than ever before with reliable, competitively priced capital, even through a challenging macroeconomic cycle.”
According to records kept by the National Mortgage Licensing System and Registration Office, Kiavi Funding Inc. is licensed in Arizona, California, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon and Utah and sponsors 27 mortgage lenders operating out of four branch offices.
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Email Matt Carter