After 14 years as CEO of SOFIA Capital Ventures and 25 years as a real estate professional, I have developed a deep insight into how deals get funded. I’ve worked on the commercial mortgage side, facilitated business debt, and helped raise millions in equity for start-ups and real estate projects.
As a commercial mortgage broker, my “job” was to act as an intermediary between a client seeking funding and the sources able to provide that funding, hoping to bridge the gap between the borrower’s “wish list” and the funder’s evaluation of risk, reward and return. For many potential borrowers, this has been a disappointing experience as they learned after many arduous months of trying to make it happen, that their deal was just not going to get funded.
On the other hand, for lenders, the experience with SOFIA Capital Ventures was mostly favorable, as we provided thorough vetting of projects and complete packages for underwriting. Our “come from” as a Concierge service meant we went deeply into each lender’s underwriting criteria, and did a good job of matching our clients with loan programs they could potentially qualify for. Lenders often treated us as a “preferred broker” and always took our calls and made our clients’ applications a priority.
NOW, as a semi-retired Commercial Lending Expert, Dr. Barbara Leuin is available for capital consulting to guide your project to successful funding.
Here’s the difference between a commercial mortgage broker and a capital consultant:
A Commercial Mortgage Broker deals with the loan portion of funding only. The typical role of a mortgage broker is to gather your information and provide it to a potential lender. Many mortgage brokers will “try” to get the borrower the exact loan they are looking for, and will shop the deal endlessly even though the specific funding the borrower is seeking — loan amount/LTV, interest rate, timeframe, debt service, and other terms — are nowhere to be found in the marketplace.
A Capital Consultant — takes a deep look at your entire project and advises you as to the best combination of debt and equity they can expect from the current marketplace. They may also introduce other funding sources, such as C-PACE, ground leases, tax credits, opportunity zones, etc. to help you get the best leverage from all of your resources. A capital consultant will also help you package your deal, prepare a pitch deck, investment-grade executive summary, and other materials that are designed for the specific audiences you are presenting to. And finally, a capital consultant will coach you to navigate both the debt side and the equity side of project or commercial real estate funding.
CASE STUDY #1: Clients approached SOFIA Capital Ventures in May of 2025. They were seeking an loan for a start-up project that exceeded the SBA 7a lending limits. In discovery, we learned that they were planning to open three facilities almost simultaneously, with an aggressive growth plan of 10-20 more locations in the next 3-5 years. They had raised a small amount of equity from friends and family and were stuck. We suggested they consider an investment bank that could provide up to 90% of the funding they were seeking. The client agreed; however, they were unwilling to engage our professional help to create a consolidated business plan or pitch deck. They felt that their presentation (of 29 pages) was the best.
We helped them raise their 10% “sponsor equity” portion through a program of daily coaching. However, after almost a year, their project remained un-funded. They blamed the investment bank for not doing their job, despite the disruption of the Iran war, and reverted back to an SBA lender for a single project location. As of today, they still have not closed on funding.
CASE STUDY #2: A contractor with 30 years’ experience was thrust into the role of developer on a type of construction project he had never done before. He came to SOFIA Capital Ventures for funding. He had priced out the construction costs and pre-sold a number of units, but had no comprehensive business plan or cash-flow projections. However, this newby Developer was entirely receptive to accepting help from SOFIA Capital Ventures. We prepared detailed cash-flow projections; created an Executive Summary and Pitch Deck and not only found him a local bank that would fund the project via a construction line of credit; we also helped him close an investment partner who provided additional liquidity, and got him in front of an extensive Angel Investor network where he anticipates closing a full equity partner to not only pay off the bank loan, but be able to negotiate all-cash discounts for materials to complete the remaining phases of the project. Win/win!
f you would like to set yourself up for 100% success in funding your project, CONTACT Barbara today!