Crebrid’s Tim Jordan Shares Plans To Scale Business In Rtl Space

At the start of June, global asset management firm Barings announced a partnership with Crebrid, a fintech-driven lending platform specializing in residential transition loans (RTLs). The deal includes a $500 million purchase facility and a minority equity investment from Barings investors.

The deal will help Crebrid expand its technology-driven RTL business nationwide, building on its current presence in Texas, Ohio and Tennessee. Barings’ investment comes through its $70 billion asset-based finance strategy.

Dallas-based Crebrid, formerly known as Wildcat Lending, originated nearly $2 billion in residential transition loans (aka fix-and-flip loans) over the past decade. Aside from the Barings partnership, the company has secured a $10 million-plus equity round led by MTE Capital, a Dallas family office.

“Barings’ capital and support will better position us to build from a $1 billion deployment target in the first year to our goal of reaching $3 billion to $5 billion in annual originations by 2030,” Crebrid President Tim Jordan said.

“We will do this by expanding into additional markets, further enhancing our technology capabilities, and continuously improving our industry-leading, high-touch customer service that makes us a lender of choice in the markets where we operate.”

HousingWire caught up with Jordan to dive deeper into the terms of the partnership and Crebrid’s strategy moving forward in the RTL space. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sarah Wolak: There’s been a lot of movement in the RTL space over the past few weeks. What’s the history with Crebrid?

Tim Jordan: Crebrid is a myriad of two different things. It’s a technology platform that was developed specifically for Crebrid and specifically for our housing transactions, and the technology is fairly robust behind the scenes.

Wildcat Lending had been in existence for 10 years. They had a very good track record and reputation in the business. And this, partnering them with Barings, gives us the capacity to do something on a much larger scale than they could previously.

SW: Can you share more about the steps leading up to the investment with Barings? Was there any preexisting relationship there?

TJ: Wildcat Lending had been in existence for 10 years, so it’s their track record in the RTL space that was key to Barings. They had a very good track record, a very low default rate and had a good experience over time, good profitability in the business.

Barings buys a lot of RTL paper, so they were familiar with Wildcat. And when we started the discussion, we were looking for a strategic partner that could grow with us at scale. And that’s Barings’ desire as well.

SW: What is your role in this, given that you’re not from Wildcat Lending?

TJ: I was previously at JLL, so I had a 32-year career with JLL and its predecessors in the capital market space. And when I got talking to the founders, plus the investors that were coming in — and with my background on the commercial side of the business, helping to grow JLL’s business tenfold over seven years — they thought I would be helpful at institutionalizing part of the business and setting us on a path for growth.

SW: I see that the growth strategy you allude to is to reach $3 billion to $5 billion in annual originations by 2030. Can you elaborate on how the partnership and credit facility are going to help scale up to that number?

TJ: [Wildcat] did about $300 million a year in the RTL space, and they were constrained by their lines of credit. They were really serving two major markets, the Texas market and the Ohio market — primarily North Texas — and that’s really where they got most of their volume.

This allows us, with Barings’ desire to grow and get to scale, to not be restricted by geography. So we want those high job-growth markets where there’s continued growing housing demand. And in a lot of markets, you’ve got a shortage of housing and a shortage of affordable housing. And that’s really where we want to fit.

Affordability around housing is one of the key factors in a lot of markets, and most of the product we do is affordable for those markets.

SW: You mentioned having a focus in Texas, Ohio and Tennessee, but you also mentioned scaling nationwide. What does that expansion look like?

TJ: We went through a process where we expanded and are licensed in all 50 states.

SW: Crebrid is nearly two months into the partnership. Can you tell me a little bit about how the partnership has looked so far?

TJ: We’ve sold our first grouping of loans to Barings. You know, it’s like any new relationship. It takes some time to make sure we’re giving them the information they want in the format they want, but so far, it’s gone great.

They’ve been a great partner alongside us, and it was some of the existing Wildcat loans that we sold them originally. And then we’ve been closing on our book under Crebrid, a new batch of loans, so we’ll move over to Barings.

SW: Is there anything else that you wanted to share about Crebrid’s nationwide footprint expansion and rollout of new technology?

TJ: Part of the technology allows our customers to interface with us in a self-serve manner. They can go use our technology to look at rates, and they can look at specific houses. They’ll get our opinion on that house and in that market and what we think.

And it’s very quick for them to do that. They can explore rates, they can put in their FICO score, they can put in their experience and we can give them an indication of pricing in minutes. We’re building a lot of tools around making it easier for customers to access us, because our goal is really about the customer experience.

If you close when you say you’re going to close, that’s key in this business. And then on the servicing side, get them their draws in a very timely fashion. And that’s where our focus is — building the things that enhance the customer experience.