Unlocking the Secrets of Private Lending

Erika Proctor (01:31)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pro Show. I’m your host, Erika, and today I’m excited to chat with Anthony DeBenedictis, the managing partner at Evons & Capital. Anthony, it’s so great to have you on the show.

Anthony DeBenedictis (01:44)
Thanks, Erika. It’s great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Erika Proctor (01:47)
I think our listeners are really gonna love your unique perspective with being in the lending space. So let’s dive on in. Anthony, for those unfamiliar with your world, walk us through how you got into this side of real estate.

Anthony DeBenedictis (02:02)
So it is a very unique portion of the market that I would say has been in a very upward trajectory really since 2008, Erica, since the mortgage crisis when businesses were struggling. That really just continued ⁓ with banking contagion. It’s been an ongoing theme. It never goes away.

What we’re really focused on is regulation in the space. So we have top tier banking and finance attorneys that provide correction, oversight, risk management. They oversee what we’re doing in the space. It is fairly large. Right now, the space hovers right around or under $2 trillion. There are top analysts over at some of the bigger institutions out there that see this market.

upwards of 20 trillion by the end of 2030. So ⁓ what does that really mean? It truly means that there’s an opportunity here in private lending and private credit, which is what we are. a private credit platform. And what makes this unique is the ability to really get consistent returns from a liquidity perspective.

So the way we’re designed, or our platform is designed, is for our lending partners, which is what individuals are. They’re not technically investors because they don’t get a K1 being a lending partner member on our platform. Technically, they get a 1099. They’re getting income monthly, so 20 % annually with monthly distributions of both principal and interest.

In many ways it is unique from traditional hedge fund formations, but it truly is all about ⁓ our legal arm and the ability to have top tier attorneys overseeing what we do.

Erika Proctor (04:34)
Yeah, awesome. And Anthony, which markets do you operate in and what’s the main focus when it comes to real estate deals?

Anthony DeBenedictis(04:42)
pretty agnostic. We’re very diverse in the businesses that we serve. Many of these businesses are still compromised and fragmented by the supply chain of COVID and everything that’s happened through the pandemics, which we were successful to overcome. We’ve never missed or delayed a distribution, but we serve businesses and we use different techniques and strategies along with AI to be able to navigate

where we should be deploying capital. So that’s really what we do. We provide action capital for businesses that don’t really have the ability or the backbone to be able to withstand too much time before they need capital for inventory, payroll, where they are to be able to serve those businesses and bridge the gaps of traditional banks that don’t have the wherewithal because of congressional stipulations

like Dodd Frank and something called Basel 3, the end game that make it difficult to serve these businesses as quickly as we can, sometimes within hours. And we mitigate that risk by keeping the receivable strategies that we encounter with these businesses fairly trim. I would say our average size receivables about 150,000.

and they’re anywhere from 90 to six months in terms of timeframes. And we give these businesses the ability to buy the receivable back that we purchase through debit and credit card transactions. So small increments, so less painful. The underwriting process is fairly quick. But to answer your question directly, we’re very diversified across many business sectors.

Erika Proctor (06:18)
That’s really cool. Anthony, have you noticed any emerging trends like new financing structures or regulatory shifts that are impacting your work in any way?

Anthony DeBenedictis (06:29)
You know, we’re always moving. We’re never in one place. We actually did a press release not too long ago about navigating exactly what you’re saying in the markets. We’re never stagnant or focused on one area. Erika, we’re always, you know, moving the needle. So it’s hard to really pinpoint one specific area.

Erika Proctor (06:48)
Now with all of those deals that you’re doing out in the lending space, do you have an example of a challenging one that you had to make a shift to turn things around?

Anthony DeBenedictis (06:59)
You know, it’s that’s probably for another

podcast with our CEO who leads our underwriting and risk management team. ⁓ I think that would be part two. I’m more on the lending partner side where I’m bringing in capital allocations to participate in what we do on the other side of the house. So great question, but not on my side.

Erika Proctor (07:42)
Mm-hmm.

Ha

Got it, got it. Well, with all of your expertise, what kind of advice would you give to anybody in the real estate space that needs your services? How can they be more prepared going in?

Anthony DeBenedictis (08:10)
I would say keep your powder dry. The opportunities here on what we’re doing is the power of compounding, being able to take the returns that we’re bringing or lending partners and stagger that principal and interest that you’re getting every 30 days and leverage your time and capital. So those are the real three assets that I would say always be prepared to save time.

and leverage capital and that’s really what we’re able to do for our lending partners.

Erika Proctor (08:38)
You know, on our podcast, we have a lot of listeners that are looking to grow and level up their business. With all your experience in the industry, do you have any advice for people looking to grow and build their network?

Anthony DeBenedictis(08:52)
Yeah, mean, you for what we’re doing here, I think it’s a perfect opportunity, especially for a real estate investor who might need to have capital put to work before they actually find the perfect opportunity for them to strike when the iron’s hot. And while they’re doing that, they could be getting paid income while they wait. So, you know, the best advice I can give is,

Let me outline and show individuals what this opportunity of Anza looks like and how they could really benefit from patients and get a return because that’s what this is all about. We’re all looking for the opportunity to put money to work. And in some cases, with real estate, you have to be extremely patient. There’s a beginning and an end game. And what we’re doing at Avanza, it’s a constant flow of liquidity.

So the best advice I can give is take a look at what we’re doing here.

Erika Proctor (09:46)
Awesome. And Anthony, I want to know what do you see next on the horizon for Ravon’s and Capital? What goal are you guys aiming for?

Anthony DeBenedictis (09:54)
That’s a really good question. because it is such a growth oriented scenario in what we’re doing and the unit of economics is so incredibly impactful, the ability to scale this sometimes becomes so overwhelming that we put our own brakes on, Erica. We don’t always keep our foot on the pedal because we’re dealing with

independent sales operators out there that are bringing our underwriters and our risk management team literally hundreds of opportunities a day for businesses that are seeking capital immediately. And out of those hundreds of deals that we’re looking at, we’re only picking maybe a handful. So, you know, on one side of the coin where it’s tempting to maybe look into a more

a higher level of what we’re doing, more institutional or maybe even mezzanine, we’re very comfortable in a very secular trend that we’re in right now. It’s been very favorable, extremely profitable, and ⁓ with the legal oversight and the way it’s modeled and the formation that we have, for right now, it’s a very hard question to answer specifically, because right now, we’re very comfortable with the growth that we’ve been experiencing.

And it’s all about calculations here. So until we get final numbers, usually by year end, it’s hard to see what the next growth step is going to be. Very difficult.

Erika Proctor (12:01)
Got

it. With all of those deals that you get that you have to decide whether you’re going to go with it or not, how do you filter and decide which ones are worth pursuing?

Anthony DeBenedictis (12:11)
Great question. I’m more on the capital allocation side, I’m more capital development, but I can tell you, they’re using several different tools, not just traditional underwriting tools, they’re using AI now. They’re using machine learning to look back at data, to check businesses that may not have any open defaults or any open bankruptcies.

They’re looking at so many different contingencies before they’re just, you know, given a green light to a strategy and deploying capital to a business. Even though we’re, you know, lightning speed compared to a traditional bank, there’s still a lot that goes into making a final decision before moving forward. It goes through several different channels and then has to be greenlit by, you know,

the upper threshold of our risk management team. So there’s a lot that goes into that.

Erika Proctor (13:02)
Yeah, totally. Anthony, how you brought up AI, how do you feel about AI and what kind of effect do you see in your industry?

Anthony DeBenedictis (13:12)
Yeah, I think AI, especially in our industry, is being utilized and there’s no stopping that, right? So we have no choice but to be a part of that trend. And we leverage that opportunity. It’s extremely useful for what we’re doing. There’s no question about that. It gives us a great idea of the sectors that we want to be focusing on.

It gives us the ability to pinpoint the businesses that need as opposed to want capital and what the best opportunity is in terms of not getting defaults. So AI is extremely essential and we use it really in all aspects of what we’re doing here at Avanza.

Erika Proctor (13:53)
Yeah, cool. Before we close, Anthony, if someone wants to connect with you, maybe collaborate, learn more about what Yvonne’s Capital is doing. What’s the best way for them to reach you?

Anthony DeBenedictis (14:02)
They can reach me directly on my cell phone. I can give you my number. They can reach me on my email, anthonyatavanza.nyc. My telephone number, my direct line, 914-536-7565. It’s anthonyatavanza.nyc.

Erika Proctor (14:15)
Anthony, thanks so much for sharing your insights and your journey.

Anthony DeBenedictis (14:18)
My pleasure, Erika. Thanks for having me.

Erika Proctor (14:20)
For everyone tuning in, if you found this episode valuable, make sure you’re subscribed. We’ve got more conversations lined up with pros like Anthony who are shaping the real estate world. We’ll see you on the next episode.

Anthony DeBenedictis (14:31)
Thank you so much.