Ares Commercial Expands Multifamily Offerings with Freddie Mac

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, ACRE Capital LLC, has been approved as a Seller/Servicer with the Freddie Mac Program Plus network for multifamily lenders. With the approval, ACRE Capital can provide attractive financing to multifamily borrowers.

Specialty finance company Ares Commercial is primarily engaged in principal lending and mortgage banking of commercial real estate investments. Through its national direct origination platform, the firm provides a broad offering of flexible financing solutions for commercial real estate owners and operators.

 “The Freddie Mac program has been a valuable resource for multifamily borrowers for nearly a generation, and it has significantly contributed to the strength of the sector,” said Ed Hurley, President of ACRE Capital LLC. “As a member of the Program Plus platform, we look forward to bringing attractive financing products in a fast and flexible manner to our customers.”

Freddie Mac’s Program Plus provides a full range of competitively priced, reliable mortgage products for the acquisition, refinancing or moderate rehabilitation of multifamily communities. For more than 20 years, Freddie Mac Multifamily has been among the largest providers of credit to owners of multifamily properties.

Todd Schuster, President and Chief Executive Officer of ACRE, commented, “The addition of ACRE Capital as a select Seller/Servicer for Freddie Mac is a very important milestone as we broaden our lending solutions to multifamily operators and sponsors. This broadening of our product capabilities further expands our ability to leverage the sourcing and credit advantages that come from our national direct origination infrastructure. We are very appreciative for the opportunity to work with Freddie Mac and look forward to a strong future partnership.”

Schuster explained that through its mortgage banking business, it originates and services multifamily residential mortgage loans, senior housing and healthcare facilities by utilizing the platforms of Fannie Mae and governmental agencies.

“We are pleased to approve ACRE Capital as a Program Plus lender,” added John Cannon, Senior Vice President of Production and Sales for Freddie Mac. “We have a longstanding relationship with Ares and believe the addition of ACRE Capital into our family of lenders enhances our ability to provide capital to this critical segment of the real estate sector.”

Freddie Mac was established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation's residential mortgage markets. Freddie Mac supports communities across the nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders. Today Freddie Mac is making home possible for one in four homebuyers and is one of the largest sources of financing for multifamily housing.

Multifamily borrowers who are looking for a new home or buying a new property can take advantage of the innovative imaging and video solutions offered by real estate technology RealBiz Media, Inc. RBIZwith its patented video processing technology that enables the fast and efficient delivery of video marketing across multiple platforms.

The nation’s top 5% of real estate agents (roughly 75,000) represent $2 billion per year in online advertising. A 2013 survey commissioned by ReachFactor found that these agents spend on average $36,000 per year marketing. Their most common marketing tactics include owning multiple websites and blogs, search engine (pay-per-click) marketing, and advertising on real estate portals and social media. 70% of the 1,910 agents polled admitted they didn’t know how to gauge the effectiveness of their marketing spend and 88% felt they should be getting better results.

“The most active agents in real estate, the top 5%, are attracted to this kind of service because they experience firsthand how hard it is to be a smart online marketer,” stated Suresh Srinivasan, Chief Operating Officer at RealBiz. “Our opportunity is to become their strategic partner and help them quickly win new listings and sell active ones through clever use of our technology and marketing skills.”