Finance

Maxwell, a startup that operates an online platform catering to mortgage loan officers and smaller lenders, raised $28.5 million in equity funding from investors led by the venture firm Fin VC and Wells Fargo Strategic Capital.

Button Finance intends to use the capital to develop its underwriting platform and increase hiring.

The enormous issuance is backed by a single loan secured by first-priority mortgages on a pool of about 6,148 single-family rental homes, and 299 townhouses.

The Series B investment round for the power buyer comes at a time when all-cash purchases account for almost a quarter of the market.

The Alabama company agreed to buy two nonbank lenders earlier this year. It’s still on the lookout for possible deals, potentially in corporate finance or wealth management, its chief financial officer told American Banker.

The firm, dubbed Polpo Capital, is looking to produce a 15% net return to investors with modest leverage by capitalizing on the coming distress in commercial mortgage debt as forbearance agreements expire

Several housing groups wrote a letter calling for “substantially improved written proposals” for the period starting in 2022, and support for chattel manufactured-home loans.

One winning bidder, who bought two of the four pools in the government-sponsored enterprise’s nonperforming loan offering, is a repeat buyer affiliated with a minority- and women-owned business.

The reception in the market to structured single-family CRTs' return at the government-sponsored enterprise was strong enough for it to plan to follow up this transaction with another one next month.

Gain on sale has dipped 130 basis points per loan since the third quarter last year, but over the same period, per loan expense is up by $1,216.