“Real Estate Finance provides the fuel that keeps the industry running”
The real estate finance business field is extremely diverse and complex. Employers range from pension funds, insurance companies, and private-equity firms, to commercial banks, private banks, and credit unions. Job titles range from investment banker, to mortgage bankers and brokers, and underwriters. Real estate financing is not just for home loans and home equity lines of credit. Major commercial loan business is done with refinancing old loans, new construction loans, permanent financing on leased projects, mezzanine debt, and acquisition loans. Typical job functions in the field involve consulting potential borrowers and originating loans, servicing existing loans by making sure payments are being made and taxes and insurance are paid, securitizing pools of loans to be sold in the secondary MBS and CMBS markets, and much more. Loan underwriters evaluate deals to determine loan amounts, creditworthiness of borrowers, and income potential of projects. Lenders usually specialize by product type including single family residential, multi-family, retail, office, industrial, and more. Lenders may also specialize by loan amount.