Milo announced a new 30-year “crypto mortgage” that is aimed at allowing cryptocurrency investors to purchase real estate by collateralizing their crypto assets. Milo clients will be able to pledge bitcoins to purchase property, allowing them to continue to own crypto while and benefit from its potential price appreciation while diversifying into real estate. The company expects the loan product to be available to most applicants in early 2022 and, according to a statement, currently has a “large waitlist” where clients have been granted early access to qualify for loans.
ICE Mortgage Technology announced that the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority integrated Encompass Investor Connect and AIQ into its own technology suite, making it the first state-based housing-finance agency to do so. Encompass Investor Connect establishes secure workflows between lenders and correspondent investors to ensure delivery of loan data, while AIQ automates mortgage processes via artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify and extract data from documents.
Austin-based LendFriend Home Loans announced the opening of its new office in north Austin, located at 11000 North Mopac Expressway. The 16,200-square-foot facility will support more than 65 current employees and create new opportunities to expand the local team. The new office follows last year’s opening of a new LendFriend location in Jacksonville, and expansion into more markets is planned by the end of 2022, according to a company statement.
KKR announced the acquisition of Merchants Mortgage Trust & Corp. (MMTC), a real estate lending platform specializing in short-term mortgage products for experienced individual residential real estate investors. MMTC CEO Justin Land and the existing MMTC management team, headquartered in Denver, will continue to lead the company. As part of this transaction, MMTC also will acquire the outstanding interests in its affiliate, Orchard Funding.
