Transitioning from Personal Mortgages to Commercial

[Jerry C.]

Hi All, 

I am running up against the personal mortgage limit of (10) and have to go commercial if i want to continue .  My question(s) are:

If for example i pool 5 properties together into one loan, and decided to sell one unit, I would have to either (a) refi out of that loan and kick the property out or (b) sell all 5 properties in one deal?  

Additionally if i purchased more property i would like to do the reverse and add to the existing loan however from the feedback i have received from my local commercial lenders it seems that i would have to refi everything or apply for a new commercial loan. Any thoughts on this?

Is there a different approach that anyone is aware or has done? For example, the commercial loan would be against an entity. I was thinking can that entity for example be a Series LLC where each series is tied to 1 property and i would be able to add or subtract properties as needed? I am guessing that would mean separate loans for each or am i missing something in my thought process?

Any suggestions or examples of your personal experience  are greatly appreciated.

[Kerry Baird]

How about the big (or your local) portfolio or direct lenders?  I'm thinking Visio, LendingOne, FOAC, Ridge Lending Specialty products (I use Ridge) and similar. I like the longer terms that I see with these programs vs the shorter terms that many folks post here on BP.  There may be direct (non Fannie Mae) lenders in your local community.  Many people have posted that they have credit unions local to the properties with great terms.  I'd try these first, before doing an aggregated type of loan. 

When I was younger I met a man who had a portfolio with all of his properties encumbered.  His health was declining due to cancer and he'd called one of our "We buy houses" ads, wanting us to buy.  His lender wouldn't release one property from the bunch of them. We were young and couldn't figure out how to buy his property.  I have often thought that I don't want to get caught out like that, with a bunch of equity but no way to easily get to it.