Looks like nothing more than a canned press release written by Circle Bank, but they ran it in the SF Business Times, so I’ll pass it on…

Circle Bank of Novato has created a series of unique loan products to help finance residential and commercial real estate throughout the Bay Area.

The products include a deferred payment program, fractional tenant-in-common loans for both residential and commercial property and a real estate retirement program that extends loans for investment real estate in self-directed IRAs and 401(k) plans.

…

Fractional residential TIC loans are an increasingly popular way for a group of buyers to acquire a multi-family residential property. Circle Bank is financing all phases of TIC transactions, from acquisition financing to conversion to fractional TIC loans for the separate buyers.

“This unique lending program,” the bank said, “makes it easy for apartment building owners to convert their properties to tenant-owned residences without having to deal with the restrictive fees, permits and inspections often required for condominium conversions.”

The financing tool is also an effective means to skirt local laws, like those in San Francisco, that severely restrict the number of apartments that can be converted into condos.

Circle Bank is also extending fractional TIC loans to finance commercial real estate such as office condos. [more...]

And perhaps coincidentally, I had a reader comment on an old post about their bad experience with Circle Bank…

Circle Bank’s fractional-TIC loans should be avoided if at all possible. They refuse to provide a copy of their Note and Deed of Trust for review by your attorney saying that it is PROPRIETORY INFORMATION then slip it under your nose at the title company for signing. It took them 112 days to fund from initial application and the rate originally quoted went up when the rest of the market was going down. They also changed indexes and increased spreads without notice.

I have worked with clients who used Circle Bank, and have had good experiences with them, but I have not been involved in any fractional TIC financing.

Circle Bank offers new ways to finance real estate [SF Business Times]
Circle Bank starts controversial fractional-TIC loans [SFHomeBlog]
Bank of Marin to be first to offer individual TIC loans? [SFHomeBlog]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 27th, 2006 at 7:56 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.