We are in a booming age of technological innovation, yet certain aspects of commercial construction lending are still lagging. Advancements that can streamline business operations across the board for lenders will go a long way toward reshaping the industry.
Commercial construction lending operates within a framework of multiple moving parts, with each of these moving parts potentially slowing things down. These include lender identification, financing, loan processing, loan closing, progress reporting, draw disbursements, on-demand payment to contractors and system integrations. Digital automation can streamline these commercial lending operations and speed up construction lending.
Digital technology is imperative for commercial construction lending to keep up with the marketplace. By furthering the digital landscape, this type of technology will streamline company lending logistics so that commercial construction lending can work in tandem with the rapidly advancing systems of operations this technology provides.
The future of commercial construction lending is a beautiful place—if digital technology is the one setting the pace.
5 Ways Digital Technology Accelerates the Construction Lending Process
1. Lender Identification Automation
Using advanced technology, such as a construction loan marketplace, provides access to perfect partnerships between a large variety of lenders and builders. These marketplaces curate lender-builder relationships with precision and attention to detail by curating a group of lenders all focused on construction/development-type loans and who understand the landscape. By only providing the best of the best in the field, builders access the kinds of relationships necessary to make a project successful.
Initial steps, too, are easy and quick because—as we all know— time is money.
2. Improved Digital Financing
If the rates aren’t good, what’s the point? These digital marketplaces specialize in the best rates due to their unique history. The innovators behind these solutions understood how difficult it can be to get the right kind of financing while simultaneously managing all other aspects of a business using outdated tools. These solution providers were able to leverage their knowledge to create an upgraded technological experience for future builders in need of the best financing options.
3. Loan Closing Automation
To stay competitive, lenders must adapt to digital technology solutions for loan closings. Gone are the days of antiquated, closing document preparation, which typically involved attorneys who took several days to turn around documentation. After all, speed is of the utmost importance in all commercial construction lending. Slower loan processes mean later project start dates and delayed revenues to start. By hastening the end of the lending approval process, digital technologies also support lower fixed costs and lower closing costs, which all get passed on to borrowers.
4. Lending Negotiation.
Using loan closing automation further reduces cost and time-to-close. Loan closing technology eliminates the 100-page closing documentation, utilizes plain language and significantly reduces negotiations. This can help ensure that a lender stays in compliance and makes for a better and more transparent borrower experience, too, helping lenders increase their supply of return customers.
5. On-Time Draw Disbursements and Contractor Payments
These technologies, too, are designed to work for all parties involved in the contractual agreement between a builder and a lender. Since money is the end goal for all parties, the experience surrounding payment and draw-disbursement is carefully crafted to benefit each individual. Payments are instant, approvals happen in real time and information is uniform, no matter which side of the contract you’re on.
The Turning Point for Commercial Construction Lending
The next generation of commercial lending software makes generating closing documents simple, fast and cost-effective. Technologies like this help those in the construction lending space stay competitive, and they have the backing of industry-leading lenders at banks and credit unions of all sizes. With quality commercial lending software on their side, lenders have a trustworthy way to manage and streamline every step of the commercial lending process.
Companies seeking to gain an edge in the marketplace should align themselves with these technologies for a variety of reasons. They can accelerate company growth at incredible speeds, increase profit and provide the ability to increase employee numbers, as well as the number of clients taken on, adding to the overall allure of company image and branding. Companies that fail to take advantage of SaaS may find themselves performing at slower speeds, unable to keep up with competitors.
In the world of commercial construction loans, falling behind just isn’t an option. The pace is fast, and the details are nuanced. Streamlining processes to expand company value will accelerate your company into the future age of technology, giving it the ability to keep up and even set the pace.
