LOS ANGELES—In today's competitive market, speed is the key to winning deals, according to Alexa Mizrahi, a senior loan officer at Lone Oak Fund and a speaker on the What's New in the Capital Stack panel at the upcoming RealShare Investment & Finance conference in Downtown Los Angeles. Mizrahi says that her firm stays competitive by using speed as an advantage, sometimes closing deals in days.

“Our niche is definitely speed,” Mizrahi tells GlobeSt.com. “We are able to close loans in days because we are only lending in California. Additionally, our loans are non-recourse and never have a prepayment penalty. We are closing more commercial transactions than last year. There's more competition in the commercial space, so borrowers are using us for speed and certainty of execution.”

Because the market is so competitive, investors are looking to close on loans quickly to win their own bidding wars for properties. As a result, Mizrahi has seen investors turning to private capital to buy properties and then securing bank loans after closing. “Investors are utilizing private money as a tool in today's competitive market,” she says. “We've seen an increase in loan volume for well-capitalized investors who can easily qualify for traditional financing. They are using our funds to close Escrow in a matter of days and beat out purchase competition. Once the property is secured, they then take the time to obtain bank loans, which typically take 45-60 days to close.”

It isn't only speed, though. Borrowers in today's market are also looking for higher leverage and there are a lot of lenders willing to go as high as 80% or 90% loan-to-value. Lone Oak Fund tends to be more conservative. “We are very conservative with leverage, lending up to 60% loan-to-value in first position,” says Mizrahi. “Borrowers often need more proceeds. We are overcoming this challenge by cross collateralizing additional properties or sourcing junior debt. We always provide an Intercreditor Agreement to junior lenders.”

Hear more about capital market trends when Mizrahi speaks on the What's New in the Capital Stack panel at RealShare Investment & Finance on June 25.