In reflecting on Commercial Acceptances’ flexible, customer-centric approach to lending, Senior Lending Manager John King talks to us about one of his altruistic, community-oriented developers, Lorraine Thomas.
“Lorraine has been a client of CA for four years. She is the founder of View from my Window (VFMW), offering developer-focused mentorship and coaching programmes for people who want to start out in property investment but don’t know how. Lorraine also works in partnership with Delores Coombs supporting and housing young people previously looked after by the borough.
We have lent to Lorraine on six properties, enabling her to quickly purchase properties at auction, and refurbish them to a high standard. Once complete, the properties are often let to disadvantaged adults in need of housing. Her development schemes are under Help to Buy, making her properties accessible to first time buyers.
I recently lead on a unique deal with Lorraine which, true to her altruistic nature and business ethos, supported young people to get onto the property development ladder. CA provided a bridging facility for a co-ownership purchase of a house in Croydon. A group of three mentees pooled their finances to purchase the house with Lorraine as joint borrower and guarantor. However, when it came to the time to develop the property, they were faced with severe planning delays. After some discussions and reworking, we were able to amend our planned timetable and adjusted their loan terms until permission was granted. The rest of the loan came forward when they were ready.
Exciting, unique projects like this make every day different at CA. It’s rewarding to work with developers who aim to provide much-needed housing, support local trades people and pave the way for the next generation of property developers.
Lorraine adds “Not many lenders would extend the level of flexibility that Commercial Acceptances do. Working with John has been brilliant, he has been completely reliable throughout the pandemic and the ups and downs of the cycle.”
To learn more about Lorraine Thomas, please visit View From My Window
Martin O’Brien, John King and Lorraine Thomas
Photo by: Eva Slusarek https://www.evaslusarek.com/
At CA, we are passionate about supporting young people into the property development industry. Alongside our parent company, Close Brothers Property Finance, we recently launched a new initiative designed to support the next generation of housebuilders.
If you are interested in learning more about our Tomorrow’s Developer network, please visit Tomorrow’s Developer | Close Brothers Property Finance (closepropertyfinance.com)
