Clark Street Sets Up REO Buyer Database

""Clark Street Capital"":http://www.clarkstcapital.com, a Chicago-based provider of asset management and advisory services, announced on Monday the launch of its ""Bank Asset Network"":http://www.bankassetnetwork.com. The company says the online portal is the first buyer-centric database of its kind offering a secure, tailored venue for the investing public to purchase REO properties.
Clark Street says that while banks throughout the United States are burdened with an unprecedented volume of assets, there are few viable avenues for finding buyers ready to make deals amenable to both parties. The company says its Bank Asset Network helps bridge this gap by providing a proprietary database of direct buyers and by focusing specifically on U.S. real estate assets, from mortgages to REOs and everything in between.
According to Jon Winick, president of Clark Street Capital, banks want to sell assets and buyers want to buy, but the problem is price. ""The Bank Asset Network will help bridge the bid/ask spread and offer the broadest spectrum of customized buyers available,"" Winick said.
Through Clark Street's Bank Asset Network, buyers submit a detailed profile of their investment criteria through a private online portal, free of charge. The submission process filters participants based upon key categories, such as: performance level, desired markets, type of real estate asset, tenant, loan balances, pool sizes, lien positions, loan types, property types, existing interest rate, and length/terms.
Clark Street Capital will then leverage its banking relationships to structure customized transactions. These transactions can range in size from a bank selling a single REO to a local investor, to a highly complex joint venture involving multiple buyers.
According to Clark Street, prospective buyers gain access to off-market transactions from community and regional banks that they would not otherwise receive, and then have the opportunity to consider specifically tailored transactions that meet their individual investment criteria. In addition, Clark Street says sellers can quietly and efficiently sell real estate assets under the terms they specify, ranging from performing and non-performing whole loans to REOs.
The company claims that the end result is simple - deals are made, and buyers and sellers are matched with far fewer complications than exist without the network.
Brooks Moore, regional director for Zions National Real Estate, said, ""The process of joining the Bank Asset Network registration is the best that I’ve experienced - the specifications are just right, with enough detail to specify the assets which we are interested in acquiring.""
Peter Westmeyer, VP for MB Real Estate, added, ""This is an innovative and valuable tool to help narrow the bid/ask gap between buyers and sellers. Sellers often want to sell large pools of assets to one buyer, whereas buyers have highly specific acquisition criteria.""