Speed, Simplicity, and Certainty: What Every Real Estate Investor Needs in a Capital Partner

By Michael Ciaburri

When you’re competing against four other developers for the same property, the difference between winning and losing comes down to one thing.

Who can close first.

Last week, we funded a million-dollar loan on a $16 million luxury home in Fort Lauderdale. Second position behind a $6 million first mortgage. From first call to funded in seven days. The developer won the deal because he had certainty of execution. While his competitors were still gathering bank documentation, he was closing.

After 36 years in commercial finance, including eight as president and CEO of a community bank, I’ve seen both sides of this equation. I understand why banks operate the way they do.

And I know exactly why that doesn’t work for real estate investors.

At Worth Avenue Capital, we built our entire approach around three principles: speed, simplicity, and certainty.

Speed Wins Competitive Deals

You already know this. In competitive situations, whoever puts money on the table first gets the asset.

Traditional bank loans take 30 to 60 days to close. Sometimes longer.

We close in one to two weeks. That timing difference isn’t just convenient. It’s the competitive advantage that lets you move on opportunities your competitors can’t touch.

Banks get stuck in their process. Cash flow analysis takes one to two weeks alone. Then comes committee approvals. Regulatory review. Documentation requirements that stretch timelines even further.While you’re waiting, the deal goes to someone else. We streamline the process because we evaluate deals differently. As a short-term bridge lender, we focus on equity position and exit strategy, not five years of cash flow projections.

That lets us move fast when you need it most.

Simplicity Means Less Time Away From Your Business

Here’s what banks require: multiple years of tax returns, detailed business financials, employment verification, cash flow projections, and a mountain of other documentation.

Here’s what we need: updated personal financial statement, most recent tax return, and an appraisal.

The difference matters because your time has value.

Every hour you spend gathering documentation is an hour you’re not running your business or finding your next deal. Every dollar you pay your accountant and attorney to assemble a bank package is a dollar that comes off your bottom line.

We keep it simple because we’re focused on what actually matters for short-term bridge financing. Do you have equity in the property? Do you have a clear exit strategy? Can you execute your plan?

If the answers are yes, we can move forward without bureaucracy.

Certainty When You Need It Most

The worst feeling in real estate is having a deal fall apart because your lender couldn’t perform.

Banks operate under FDIC scrutiny. Even when a loan makes perfect sense, if it doesn’t check every regulatory box, they’re forced to create reserves against it. Those reserves come out of their capital and earnings.

So banks say no to solid deals. Not because your project is bad. Because their formula says they can’t do it.

As a private lender, we don’t have that constraint. We can make lending decisions based on the actual merits of your deal, not whether it fits a regulatory formula.

That means when we say yes, you can count on it.We also handle situations differently when challenges arise. If you come to us mid-deal with a problem and a plan to fix it, we work with you. We’re in this for the long-term relationship, not just the transaction.

Banks assign troubled loans to low-level officers with no decision-making power. Their approach is to call the loan, involve lawyers, and grind you down with their deeper pockets. We bring in lawyers only as a last resort. Our goal is to resolve issues as partners who understand real estate and want to see your project succeed.

The Real Cost Calculation

You might be looking at a bank offering 8% versus our 12% and thinking the choice is obvious.

But here’s the math that actually matters.

That 8% bank loan takes six to eight weeks to close. Ours takes one to two weeks. You’ll spend hours gathering five times the documentation banks require. You’ll pay your accountant and attorney to help assemble the package.

Factor in your time away from running your business. Factor in those professional fees. That 8% loan really costs closer to 10%.

Our 12% is fully tax deductible. Factor in the tax benefit and you’re looking at an effective cost around 8%.

But the real difference is what you can do with that speed.

You closed four times faster. You have the use of the money immediately. You can monetize the asset that much quicker. In competitive situations, you can make offers with certainty while your competitors are still waiting on bank approvals. The private lending market reached $1.6 trillion in 2024 and is projected to hit $2.6 trillion by 2029. Real estate investors are figuring out that speed, simplicity, and certainty are worth paying for.

What Really Matters in Your Deal

We evaluate deals based on what matters for short-term bridge financing.

Your background and track record. The viability of your project. Your exit strategy. Whether you can execute your plan within a 12-month timeframe.

We’re lending on equity position and your ability to either refinance with a conventional lender or sell the property within a year.Good people with solid projects and real exit strategies get funded. Even when the cash flow formula says no.

That’s the advantage of working with a private lender who understands real estate and has been on both sides of the table. We know what banks do wrong because we’ve lived it. And we’ve built Worth Avenue Capital specifically to solve those problems for developers and investors like you.

Speed. Simplicity. Certainty.

When you need capital that moves at the speed of opportunity, those three principles aren’t negotiable.