Trueline Capital Implements Land Gorilla to Double Loan Volume and Streamline Operations
About
Trueline Capital provides financing to developers, builders, and investors in the Pacific Northwest. Working with hundreds of customers they offer financing for residential, multi-family and commercial properties.
To learn more about Trueline Capital go to:
The Solution
“Partnering with Land Gorilla has been the biggest asset and benefit to us because it’s a complete solution for loan management and servicing,” said Peterson. “We don’t have to relay additional Excel files to auditors and to leadership for end of the year reporting.”
Trueline Capital has found that Land Gorilla’s platform—including Draw Management, Payments, Servicing, Borrower Equity Tracking, Guidance Line Management, and OneSite—has contributed in their success to streamline operations and double their loan volume.
“Our utilization of Land Gorilla has given us the confidence to grow and expand our company.”
Tylor Peterson
Senior Accountant, Trueline Capital
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“Land Gorilla Enabled Us To Double Our Loan Volume.”
Tylor Peterson
Senior Accountant, Trueline Capital
Goals:
- Scalable construction lending process
- Detailed portfolio reporting at any given notice
- Improve draw turn times for faster disbursements
- Easily track multiple funding sources and guidance lines of credit
Solutions:
- Draw management software
- OneSite web and mobile apps
Results:
- Increased construction loan volume by 50%
- Reduced draw turn time by 57%
- 100% of draw requests submitted through OneSite
- 93% borrower satisfaction rating with OneSite
“Trueline Capital was looking for a one-stop solution that would be able to scale their work without increasing headcount”
Introduction
After experiencing exponential loan growth, Trueline Capital was looking for a one-stop solution that would be able to scale their work.
“Our average loan size has been trending above a million dollars per loan,” said Tylor Peterson, Senior Accountant, Trueline Capital.
“Our loan size has gone up but our value per door has gone down to provide more affordable living space which equates to more doors per loan and more projects.”
With one manager to service these loans, and one loan operations person to assist with document management, Trueline Capital was looking for a solution to scale growth with the resources that they had.
“This is one of the key reasons we invested in software to manage a 50-loan portfolio without having to manage or increase headcount to get that done,” said Peterson.
After utilizing a previous software, Trueline Capital partnered with Land Gorilla because it filled in the gaps in what they were looking for.
“Land Gorilla’s ability to paint the whole picture, not just the construction holdback was a big deal for us.”
Tylor Peterson
Senior Accountant, Trueline Capital
Servicing
Prior to using Land Gorilla’s technology, Trueline Capital utilized Excel to track interest calculation and loan balance. Even after partnering with another construction loan administration software provider, Trueline Capital found that the solution didn’t track these aspects and Trueline Capital still had to manage this information manually.
“The Excel file was massive and reaching the limits,” said Peterson. “The Excel sheet served as our interest calculation tool and loan balance tool. This was what we used to create payoff statements and calculate monthly interest. We weren’t able to track interest income through our previous software provider. We were doing that through Excel so there was a lot of duplicate work,” said Peterson.
“When we made the change to Land Gorilla, we were confident in the entire management of the loan’s lifecycle. It shows the builder’s equity, loan, interest monthly use – with that all being there in one spot we can get a better idea of our projects from a reporting standpoint. Land Gorilla’s ability to paint the whole picture, not just the construction holdback and not just one piece was a big deal for us,” he added.
Draw Management
“Processing draws is much faster now because of Land Gorilla’s software, as well as improving our relationship with the inspection company that we exclusively use; it really streamlined the draw process for us,” said Peterson.
Previously, after the draw was funded, the entry was placed in QuickBooks and the draw activity was added into the Excel sheets for loan operations personnel to approve. With this process, Trueline Capital’s draw request to the funding cycle was between 7-10 business days. Now using the Land Gorilla solution, it only takes 3-5 business days.
“The biggest improvement is saving significant time managing our loans with twice as many loans than when we started two and a half years ago,” added Peterson.
Trueline Capital utilizes the Borrower Equity Tracking feature within Land Gorilla’s software to manage and monitor the borrowers’ contributions to the project.
At times, Trueline Capital requires the borrower to inject funds to the project. These funds may not be used right away, or they may be used toward specific work. With the Borrower Equity Tracking feature, they can discern between loan funds and borrowers funds when applicable.
“This feature is valuable because it holds our builders accountable for the amount they are responsible to bring into the project because it’s documented,” said Peterson.
“We saved significant time managing our loans with twice as many loans than when we started.”
Tylor Peterson
Senior Accountant, Trueline Capital
Trueline Capital manages multiple projects utilizing the Guidance Line of Credit feature, allowing them to track multiple end loans under the guidance line. Independently, those end loans can have their own budgets, document center, notes, and messaging capability as well. Additionally, the Guidance Line of Credit feature allows for tracking of the borrowing limit, committed amount, and disbursed amount.
“Having access to this feature is another bonus for our team as a leader in the industry,” said Peterson.
Trueline Capital reduces draw turn time by 57%
Dashboard
The Dashboard feature provides Trueline Capital a snapshot of their portfolio in real-time to view loan activity, maturing loans, pending draws and change orders.
“We’re able to mitigate risk with our ability to socialize the status of these loans and better identify customers who we haven’t heard back in 60 days. By doing so, we are able to send our field representatives to meet with customers, engage with them and encourage them to keep the projects moving,” said Peterson.
“We’re able to mitigate risk with our ability to socialize the status of loans and keep the projects moving”
Tylor Peterson
Senior Accountant, Trueline Capital
“OneSite
The simplicity and ease of use is staggering.”
Tylor Peterson
Senior Accountant, Trueline Capital
With OneSite, borrowers can submit a draw, access the budget of record, upload documents, order inspections, and send and communicate with Trueline Capital all in one place.
Trueline Capital’s previous software provider had limitations in their portal, as that solution didn’t have mobile apps and could only manage the construction holdback. This was frustrating to Trueline Capital’s customers and added extra work on the back end for their internal team to process the draw.
“Before there was no way for the builder to see the entire piece of the loan and now with OneSite, they get a full view of their project. The fact that the entire loan is represented in OneSite is the biggest asset to our borrowers. They can log in and they can see what the loan balance is all in one place,” said Peterson.
In addition to using Land Gorilla’s software for draw management, Trueline Capital implemented OneSite, a branded web and mobile app solution to allow their borrowers to easily submit draw requests and easily exchange information with the Trueline Capital team.
Trueline Capital has integrated OneSite into their draw process where 100% of their borrowers are using the solution.
“We don’t accept draw requests any other way besides through OneSite. Borrowers like that OneSite gets their funds paid faster. Their ability to provide accurate draw information all at one time is what gets them paid the fastest,” said Peterson.
“Borrowers like that OneSite gets their funds paid faster.”
Tylor Peterson
Senior Accountant, Trueline Capital
“(OneSite) helps us maintain our positive reputation that we are the best in the industry when it comes to servicing loans.”
Tylor Peterson
Senior Accountant, Trueline Capital
OneSite is also beneficial for borrowers who have multiple projects with Trueline Capital.
“For example, we have customers who have 3-4 projects with us,” said Peterson. “These borrowers can easily input draw request information, sign and submit and then go to the next one on the list and do the same thing. The simplicity and ease of use is staggering.”
Trueline Capital customers found OneSite provides a simple and fast process when requesting draws and uploading documents. “This cuts time from any back and forth, and most importantly gets them paid faster,” said Peterson. “It’s also beneficial for us because it helps us maintain our positive reputation that we are the best in the industry when it comes to servicing loans.”
“We can confidently go out to the market and say not only can we close your loan in just a few days, but we can also fund each draw request within 3-5 days. We now have a track record of that especially during the pandemic. It’s added to our ability and credibility,” he added.
Land Gorilla and Trueline Capital Partnership
Since partnering with Land Gorilla and using their technology, Trueline Capital has reduced draw turn time by 57% and as a result has increased construction loan volume by 50%.
“Our utilization of Land Gorilla has given us the confidence to grow and expand our company, and by doing that we’ve driven better results to our investors,” said Peterson. “Through that trickle down effect, it has increased our investor’s confidence in us.”
“Our relationship with Land Gorilla has been great!” said Peterson. “We’ve done several different software launches and Land Gorilla was an easier one to implement. The Land Gorilla team did a great job in explaining the ins and outs of the software and assisting the overall migration of loan information. Their ongoing support and responsiveness have been good, that’s for sure,” Peterson concluded.
“Partnering with Land Gorilla has been the biggest asset and benefit to us because it’s a complete solution for loan management and servicing.”
Tylor Peterson
Senior Accountant, Trueline Capital